Indoor Bible Scavenger Hunt!

My children have been very into creating scavenger hunts for each other lately.  I'm not at all sure where that obsession came from, but it's been fun to watch them.  So when I was trying to decide on something special to do for Friday night worship, it just seemed like a perfect idea to create a scavenger hunt using the Bible!   It was so much fun that I thought I'd share it here.  :)

We started off the game by reading Psalms 119:105 - "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."  I told them that God's Word was really going to guide their path this night!  And I sent them on their way by giving them their first Bible verse to look up and try to figure out where it was leading them.  They were off and running!

We went through all of the clues and the final clue led them to a bookcase where I had hidden cake!  It was quite a hit.  :)

So here you have it!  An Indoor Bible Scavenger Hunt...  make it your own...  use as many or as few clues as you'd like.  Make up your own clues - there are so many options in that Great Book!  Look around your home and find an object that you could hide a clue in/on and then look up that word in a Bible concordance or online and find a Bible verse that you could use as a clue.  :)   For instance, my son Nicholas has a feather collection on his wall.  Most people wouldn't have that, so I didn't include it in the PDF, but we used the verse Psalms 91:4 - "He shall cover thee with his feathers..."  It made it a little extra special.  :)

Click on the graphic above to download your copy.  Enjoy!

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The Waiting Game

I know you've been there!  Waiting at a restaurant for your food to arrive and hearing that non-stop question - "when is our food going to get here?!"  Well, I've collected dozens of ideas from across the net (out of necessity!) and compiled them into a list for you (and me!) to pull out when the need arises!

Here they are!  You can also download a printable sheet to tuck in your bag.  :) 

1. Word Association - The first person says a word (for instance, “grass”) and the next person comes up with a related word (such as “green”) and so on…

2. Tell jokes - think of your best ones or make some up!  Knock, knock, etc…

3. Pictionary - No, you don’t have to bring the whole game along - just start drawing something and have your kids guess what it is!

4. Which hand is it in? - use a pack of sugar, your straw trash, or a piece of your napkin - it doesn’t matter!  Whoever guesses correctly gets to hide it next!

5. Lip Reading - Mouth words, songs, or phrases and see who can guess what you are “saying.”

6. Rock, Paper, Scissors! 

7. House of Cards - Build a house of cards using sugar packets.

8. Tic Tac Toe - Don’t have paper?  Make a board out of straws or knives and then use Splenda and Sweet n Low packets for Xs and Os.  

9. Chopsticks Challenge - crumple up little bits of napkin or paper and see who can move them the fastest with the chopsticks from one pile to another.  Don’t have chopsticks?  Use two straws.  Have little ones?  Bend one straw in half to make it easier.

10. Toothpick creations - create letters or pictures using toothpicks.

11. Origami - learn at least a couple of things you can make out of paper to entertain or teach the kids.

12. Coin Count - take the coins out of your purse or pocket and practice counting money!  Ask kids how to make 32 cents with the fewest coins possible or to give you a dollar’s change from a 42 cent purchase, etc.

13.  20 Questions - think of something in your head and give the other players 20 yes/no questions to ask you in order to guess it.

14. Beginning and Ending - “I’m thinking of a word that begins with Z and ends with O - what is it?”  Whoever guesses gets to go next.

15. Scattergories on-the-go - Think of a category and then try to come up with a word in that category for every letter of the alphabet.  Take turns around the table or collaborate - whichever works best.

16. Doodle game - someone makes a doodle on paper and the next person has to turn it into something.

17. Would you rather..? - Make up silly questions to ask your kids!

18. What If…? - Make up a scenario while looking around the room and let the kids carry out the story.  For example, “What would happen if the power went out?” 

19. Pick-up Stix - using toothpicks!

20. Round Robin - Start telling a story using just one sentence and then rotate through each person allowing them to add one sentence.  Could get quite interesting!

21. I Spy - make it more or less challenging based on the ages of your kids.

22. Memory Quiz - group objects from the table (silverware, salt shaker, sugar packs, etc.) or from your bag and give kids 10 seconds to look at them.  Have them look away while you remove one object.  The first one to guess what’s missing gets to arrange the next round.  

23. Twistie ties or pipe cleaners - Save those produce bag ties for your purse or grab a pack of pipe cleaners and let the kids create!  I’ve witnessed some seriously cool creations!

24. Card game - keep a favorite in your bag!  Uno, Phase 10, Skip-Bo - whatever works!


There were plenty of additional ideas that involved either excessive wasting of consumables that belong to the restaurant or making too much noise or just otherwise didn't fit into my idea of what's appropriate to do in a restaurant, so I didn't include them.  ;)   That doesn't mean there aren't more good ideas out there!  If you have others, please do share in the comments!

Hope this takes the pain out of waiting for all of us!  

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First day jitters

Monday we celebrated M, N and E's 10th birthday!  They are so excited to be double digits now!  Since we had cake at a church outing the day before, they decided they didn't want cake again - so they opted for peach cobbler (which worked out great since we had a half bushel of them fresh from the farm!).  

Tuesday we officially started the transition back into school days.  Of course our learning hadn't stopped for the summer - they've been crazy busy in the outdoors learning all sorts of stuff in our new home environment!  And if I had a nickel for every book they read this summer I'd be well on my way to vacation!  ;)  

Our day started out great - worship, journaling time, and then math.  Math took a while because we started a new curriculum this year (Math U See) and I had to get each kid into their appropriate materials.  Overall that went great, although I won't make any early calls just yet.  

What happened next (well, after finishing up canning my spaghetti sauce, feeding the kids lunch and getting cleaned up!) was not something that I was prepared for.  I hadn't planned on doing history our first day, but since M was bugging me about it (yes, he was dying to get started!) I decided that I would sit down and start gathering what we needed.  I had also chosen a new curriculum for history this year - and by first glance, it seemed like a good choice - it started at creation and included God in history, which is something that you don't see often.  As I sat there looking through the book, I began to get an overwhelming feeling.  Suddenly I was having thoughts like "I can't do this!" and "where is the nearest school?!"  My feelings completely surprised me as up until now I had felt fully confident in our decision to continue homeschooling and had even encouraged friends (who were on the fence) to do the same.  

I called a friend.  The friend I knew I could count on to listen to my cry for help and talk some sense back into me.  The one that would pray with me and reassure me that God knew the answers even if I didn't just yet.  Do you have a friend like that?  I sure hope so!  

After talking with some homeschooling friends, I quickly realized what set me off about the particular curriculum we had and took steps to change up what our plan will be for the year.  For as panicked as I was, it still amazes me that I am completely calm and collected again.  It's only through the grace of God that happened.  

Are you struggling with any kind of issues as you start this school year?  I'd like to share something that I put together to print out, fold and stick in my Bible.  As I do my devotional each morning, I will see this paper and claim some promises.  :)  I hope you will, too.  

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