Keep 'em believin' series Part IV
‘Twas the week of Thanksgiving and all through the house… everyone was watching TV and playing video games. Again?!
We have all been there. The kids are bored, and it is easy to default to the old reliables. So it is time to get them thinking and exploring again.
Shake things up a little bit with a Santa Scavenger Hunt…
Last week we introduced you to Holly Elf. She sent out a note asking children for help when Santa was missing in last week's rock hunt game. It was a great way to let kids feel like they were a part of the North Pole Team by helping the elves locate the big man himself.
This week, we want to give the kids a chance to actually put their hands on things that belong to Santa, bringing a whole new element to help them believe. What a way to build excitement and magic!
Santa is back from his travels of last week. But he is missing his glasses!
My kids would totally buy this because I am ALWAYS losing my glasses. Christmas magic and flying reindeer don't keep you from getting forgetful, especially during his busy season!
So your kids wake up to a note from Holly Elf (the elf in charge of finding Santa and his things). He has lost his glasses and he can’t check his list twice. We have created a letter you can use, if you’d like. Print it out here.
Holly gives the kids some ideas about where Santa was while checking up on the children of the world.
And now the hunt begins.
So where do you get your hands on Santa’s glasses to hide? While you may be able to find wire glasses at a thrift store, which certainly can work, I am using the glasses found right here in the Santa Proof Evidence Kit and the Santa Proof Deluxe Evidence Kit. Both have enough props that your child can find several things on their hunt. Or you can save some things for them to find on Christmas morning.
Both kits include glasses, Santa’s sleigh license, gloves, an award for best decorated tree (for Santa to leave on the tree on Christmas morning), and a thank you card Santa leaves near the plate of cookies (also meant for Christmas morning).
Holly suggests that the kids check to make sure they are on the nice list before finding his glasses that will allow him to read his list! They can do that here. And I am pretty sure they are on the nice list! But it may give them something to work on to be sure they stay there.
So going off the clues Holly leaves, they check the kitchen. They look inside the oven and find… nothing! Well, almost. If I do this later in the day I might surprise the kids with cookies. But this early in the day they may only find a recipe Santa left for his favorite cookies. When he visited he probably knew it was too early for Christmas cookies, so he thought he would leave a suggestion for later.
Then he checked the kids’ rooms. If they are messy, you can use this as an opportunity to tell them to pick their clothes to see if it helps them spot anything. If you want the kids to get a few clues from the Santa kits, this is where I would place Santa’s gloves. I am going to scent mine with a little vanilla extract, because I am sure Santa's gloves would smell like cookies!
He read through one of the kid’s favorite books. Or maybe it is a favorite book of the season? In our house that would be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. So I would leave that out away from the other books. And look at that! It looks like Santa was reading it. He used his license to mark a passage he meant to get back to. But he must have left in a hurry, so he never got to finish the book. He will need that though! So put that aside and keep looking for those glasses.
Now try to figure out where Santa may have sat down to doze off. Check around the couches and the comfy chairs. Did he take his glasses off and set them on the table? Or did they slip off of his face and land under the couch? In our house he probably put them on the table, but then a cat batted them under the couch. But eureka! The kids find the glasses!
So they spend time trying them on, taking pics with Santa's glasses. My son will want to compare the glasses to pictures of Santa online for “proof” that they are really his and of course I help him investigate. That is when I also point out how official looking the sleigh license is.
They give all of the Santa clues to you to send back to Santa in the North Pole. But the fun doesn't have to end there. Suggest that they make a sleigh so Santa’s effects can fly back to the North Pole. Here is an easy cut out sleigh here.
So bring magic to the season by helping kids connect with Santa!
For proof that Santa is real, pick up one of our magical Santa Proof Kits.
