As summer vacation stretched on, Ashley and I were trying to figure out a way to keep Logan and Eli busy while we were at work. Every summer, my sister and her three kids make the trip to Michigan from Arizona. But by the middle of July, they've gone home and with their departure, things tend to feel dull. Screen time becomes king and summer tans fade as more time is spent inside.
Luckily, right as the tan lines were almost gone, I discovered GooseChase. If you're unfamiliar, GooseChase is a scavenger hunt app that allows you to create custom missions or pull from a pre-made list. The creator of the hunt logs in to goosechase.com to set-up the game and then shares the code with participants, who can join via the app on a mobile device.
Naturally, as I started putting the hunt together, the missions steered the boys toward doing activities that I wanted them to do. For instance, the mission called, "Books...Check Em Out," required them to read for 30 minutes and then post a video of Grammy (who agreed to babysit them on scavenger hunt day) saying that they did indeed read. Some missions had Logan and Eli searching for golf balls hidden in the yard. Others required research. Many required photos or videos to be uploaded. The photo above is of Eli riding Sandy the Horse at Meijer, completing the "Giddy Up" mission, which conveniently made a grocery run fun.
The prize for scoring enough points was getting to choose what we ate for all three meals in a day and getting to choose a movie to watch before bed. Apparently that was enough motivation. Throughout the day I watched as photos and answers were uploaded. Logan and Eli had a blast and I had a lot of fun getting the updates.
I have attached the list of missions below--there are 60 in total. If you're interested in making your own GooseChase scavenger hunt, I would be more than happy to help you along or answer any questions you might have. It might make for a great snow day activity! Happy hunting!