A very fun game

A couple of weeks ago, I put together a kind of a scavenger hunt/spy game for Greg and Ellie. Here's how it worked:

When Ellie woke up on Saturday morning, I told her that we were going to play a game where she and Daddy would find Mommy. I handed her an envelope and told her that I was going to leave the house, and when I called her, she should open the envelope and follow the directions to find me.

When she opened the first envelope, she had to fill in the blanks and the answers told her where to go:

1. Twinkle, twinkle little ___________.
2. This word rhymes with "ducks." _____________.
3. This is the opposite of "off." _______________.
4. The big body of water we live next to is called ______________ Michigan.

So, at the end of that, she was supposed to get "Star bucks on Lake."

When they drove to Starbucks, I had left an envelope waiting for them at the counter. In that envelope, there were two puzzles to put together. The two puzzles were of Sesame Street characters going to school. The note told them to go to where the puzzle indicates and find the thing that Ellie pledges allegiance to every day.

At Ellie's school, I put an envelope at the base of the flagpole, in a big mound of snow. It had a picture of a playground in it, with a teeny tiny X drawn on the slide. That told them where the next envelope was.

They just had to run across the school grounds to the playground to find the next envelope. This envelope had a pad of paper, a pencil and a note telling them to sit in the car and solve a puzzle. I can't remember all the parts, but here's the idea of it:

1. Write the first letter of your mom's first name: ____
2. Next to that, write the first letter of your favorite treat (ice cream): _____
3. Next to that, write the first letter of the first name of our new president. ____
4. Next to that, write the last letter of your favorite monster's name: _____
5. Next to that, write the first letter of the name of the best doggie in the whole world! (Abby) ____
6. Next to that, write second letter of your dad's first name: _______
7. Last, write the first letter of the color of Martha's fur on the show Martha Speaks (yellow) _____

Once Ellie had written the word "library," the note gave them a call number of a book. They had to drive to the public library, find that book on the shelf and flip to the last page. That's where I put the last envelope.

In this envelope, they had to work out a simple letter/number code. I won't write that out, as it would be a little cumbersome in this format, but the answer they got was B-o-r-d-e-r-s.

And that's where I was waiting for them! Ellie came running in about an hour and a half later (longer than I thought it would take them) and they both said they had a great time! It would have been more fun if it hadn't been 10 degrees outside, but most of the time they were indoors. I definitely plan to do another one, especially once the weather gets warmer.

It was lots of fun for all of us!