Melanie, what’s this say?
J-u-i-c-e. Sound it out. Juice, that’s right.
Off Kate dashed to look in the fridge, under the juice carton, where indeed she found another heart. She needed occasional clarification when trying to read my handwriting, but mostly just needed encouragement to sound out words.
Coffee pot! Under the coffee pot! MAMAAAA? What’s the coffee pot?
Ohright. I probably should’ve sent Cameron looking under the tea pot. That one he would’ve known.
Sound familiar? Yup, it was time for another treasure hunt. I’d been trying to think of a way to work it with two kids, in a house that’s … ah … cluttered. But in the end it was easy. Pink hearts for Kate, blue for Cameron. Each had similar clues, and the same number, just in a different order. Candle, mantle, kitchen, door, fridge, table, toaster. I had a good mix of household words in the treasure hunt clues, some that the kids could read easily, some that they had to sound out. Kate’s better at reading than Cameron, of course, so I gave her some of the harder words. Sure, sometimes I had two kids needing help reading a word at the same time, but hey. First come, first serve, and the next one can just cool his or her heels and wait a moment.
Of course Cameron got his favourite clue: Look in Mama’s pocket! Off I dashed with Cameron in hot pursuit, until he caught me in the hallway. Kate had the same, only it was in her Dad’s pocket.
I normally hide the treasure at the end in a hat, or under a pillow, but this time I made it harder. The final clue was to look under a table; kitchen for Cameron, dining room for Kate. The Kindereggs (ohright, those aren’t in the US, are they? Think Easter egg with a little plastic capsule in the middle, containing a cheap toy or game) were taped to the bottom of the tables!
Ten minutes of prep time meant about twice as many minutes of fun, with practice reading to boot. Not bad!
Next time though, it’ll be made clear to a certain six year old boy that the treat at the end is dessert, for after dinner. Because there was at least another ten minutes of total meltdown after the game was done.
One in 36 Million 