Nursery Rhyme Scavenger Hunt

My kids love scavenger hunts--most likely because they usually get a treat at the end of them.  A few weeks ago when I was at the library with my four year old we picked up this cute book called Max and Ruby's Treasure Hunt.  I loved how the grandma in the story used nursery rhymes for the treasure hunt clues.  The book had cute little lift the flap envelopes on each page and my four year old had so much fun trying to figure out the clues along with Max and Ruby.

I thought it was such a fun idea that I decided to recreate something similar for a fun St. Patrick's Day surprise for my kids. I created eight clues using nursery rhymes and placed them around the house.

When the kids arrived home from school they were greeted with this sign.  

The first clue was inside. The clue read:

Jack be nimble,

Jack be quick,

Jack jump over the ________.

By the candlestick they found their second clue.  It read:

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?

I've been to London to see the queen.

Pussy cat, pussy cat what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under her ________.

By a chair was clue number three. It read:

There was an old women who lived in a ________.

She had so many children she didn't know what to do.

By the shoe tray was clue number four. It said:

Hickory, dickory dock,

The mouse ran up the ________.

The clock struck one,

The mouse ran down.

Hickory, dickory dock.

By the clock was clue number five. It read:

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle.

The cow jumped over the moon.

The little dog laughed to see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the ________.

By the spoons was clue number six. It said:

Little boy blue, come blow your ________!

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.

Clue number seven was in the car by the horn. It said:

Miss Marry Mack, Mack, Mack,

All dressed in black, black, black,

Had silver ________, ________, ________,

All down her back, back, back.

 Clue number eight was by my sewing machine near the button box. The clue said:

Old Mother Hubbard, went to her ________,

To fetch her poor dog a bone.

When she got there the ________ was bare,

And so her poor dog had none.

And at last in they headed to the cupboard! This was end of the treasure hunt and where they found their treat--little pots filled with the best treasure ever, chocolate!

We usually don't do much to celebrate St. Patrick's day at our house but if I have the time to throw something together I do think it's a fun way to make childhood magical.  The kids had a blast tracking down the clues and the joy on their face made it very much worth my time putting it together. These kiddos of mine won't be little forever. We also had our traditional rainbow fruit salad for lunch.  Healthy and delicious!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Pirate Party Treasure Hunt

Turning four years old is a pretty big deal at our house. It means you get to have your first birthday party with friends.  My son has been looking forward to his first party for a long time and was excited it finally came.  His party was actually a few months ago but I'm just getting around to sharing it.

My recently turned four year old loves everything!  Big construction trucks, police men, firemen, knights, super heroes, you name it--so when coming up with a theme for his party I knew he could easily change his mind from one day to the next.  For a while a pirate themed birthday party had been brewing in my head--because what's more fun than a treasure hunt?  Luckily I was able to convince my four year old that was what he wanted to do--and he loved the idea!  Even months later he still talks about his pirate party.




Invitations:

I love to create digital party invitations for my kids birthdays and I love to send them through Paperless Post. They have a lot of unique options that other evite sites don't have, which is why I find their site fun to use. If you've never used Paperless Post I highly recommend you check it out. I think you'll love all the options they provide for creating a great invitation for your next event!

Decorations:

I'm not huge on decorating for parties.  I usually do a lot of balloons and maybe a banner or two.  When the kids are this young I think they could care less about fancy decorations and I don't care to spend my time and effort on them.

Walking to the front door I drew a path to follow and "X marks the spot" with chalk.  Simple but fun.

I'm finding that my chalkboard easel from IKEA makes an easy detail for parties.  I've used it for a couple of parties now and decorated it to fit with the theme.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the decorations but balloons are my favorite way to decorate lately.  They are inexpensive, fill the space well, and what says party more than balloons?  I love to put balloons on sticks like this and put them in dollar store vases to create a balloon "bouquet".  It's a great way to add balloons all over the place and I love that my sticks can be used over and over again.

When the kids arrived they got to decorate their "pirate loot bag".  The bags were used throughout the party to hold the prizes they received at each station.  I had lots of pirate stickers as well as a sticker with their name on it (that I printed off onto labels) so we could keep track of who's bag was who's.  These bags also doubled as their goody bags that they got to take home at the end of the day.

After that the kids gathered round to begin the treasure hunt.

Each stop on the map had an activity or game and when complete they got a treasure/small toy to add to their loot bag.  The hunt ended with a treasure chest pinata.

I hung pictures on the wall at the location of each game that coordinated with the pictures on the map. This way the kids knew what to be on the lookout for and could find our next activity.

For the first game we headed upstairs to walk the plank.  The balloons represented water and the kids had to walk from one end of the board to the other without getting "wet" or touching a balloon.  When they made it to the other side they got a toy for their loot bag.

We then headed back downstairs to find that our ship was under attack!  Cannon balls were flying everywhere.  Each child had to pop their black balloon to save the ship.  Once popped they got another toy for their loot bag.

We then headed for the kitchen table and did a pirate craft.  When planning the party I came across a lot of cute pirate crafts but knew things could get crazy fast with a whole boat load of four year olds.  I decided to keep things ultra simple on my part and and bought a dozen of these pirate sticker scenes for the kids to decorate.  The sticker scenes whet in their loot bag when they were done.

After that we followed the map to story time.  I love reading stories to this age group.  They love stories!  How I Became a Pirate by David Shannon was a hit.  When the story was done they got some more loot for their bag.

We then headed into a dark cave (or the basement) where we were greeted by some vicious crocodiles blocking our course to the treasure. 

The kids used these knobby balls to blast them out of the way.  Once our path was clear of crocodiles the kids got to add one of the balls to their loot bags.  Then it was on to the treasure!

Pinatas are the best kind of treasure, right?  Instead of their treasure chest being filled with gold nuggets there were fruit nuggets for everyone.  I thought the fruit nugget were fitting and the kids seemed to like them.

With the treasure hunt being done we headed back upstairs to open presents and have a treat.  Since my son isn't eating wheat or dairy right now I decided to make rice crispy treats instead of the traditional cake and ice cream.  I shaped the rice crispy treats like treasure chests and added some details by piping on chocolate.  The kids thought they were great.

And here's the happy birthday boy!

Yo-ho-ho!  It was a fun adventure filled day!