Thanks to Energizer® for sponsoring this post.
The other night we were going to make s’mores and I thought it would be fun to have the boys hunt for the chocolate. I got the idea from the candy hunt that we’d been to a few weeks before while we were camping. The campground had hosted a flashlight candy hunt where they dumped a bunch of candy all around an open field and then had the dozens of kids find the candy using flashlights. The boys had so much fun during it but I thought I’d add my own educational spin on it to keep their minds sharp during the summer slump. Instead of finding the candy in the field I hid the candy in the house and had them hunt for rocks that would spell out the secret location of the candy.
I wrote one letter on each rock and used different colors for each word’s letters so that the kids could figure out which letters went together to help them figure out each word. For example, my hint was “in the kitchen where food is kept cold” (aka the fridge) so each word was written one letter per rock but all letters in each word were written in the same color.
While the boys were inside we hid the rocks throughout the grass in the backyard. Once it got dark they headed outside, flashlight in hand, to find them.
You’ll want a good flashlight for this activity. We love the new Energizer® Light Fusion Technology 3-in-1 flashlight because it features a spotlight and area light in one versatile handheld light. It also has sturdy fold-out legs for hands-free use and a pivoting head to direct light where you need it. Energizer® flashlights and batteries help power up the fun for all of our summer nighttime adventures.
After they’d found all the rocks they brought them over to the patio table and began to figure out the words. I was proud that they figured almost all of the words out by themselves. For the word “kitchen” I told them what it started with and then had them look at the other words to try and figure it out. Once they connected the “k” word with “food” they were able to guess that the word was kitchen.
When they figured out the secret message they were so excited and ran inside to the fridge to find the chocolate for the s’mores. This was a great activity and one I can see us repeating for many different things. We can have flashlight letter hunts for messages like where we are headed on vacation or what fun thing we will be doing over the weekend.
What fun message would you share through a flashlight letter hunt?
Oh my gosh that was such a clever idea! The s’mores were such a good reward for their flashlight hunt!
This is such a fun and creative idea! I bet your boys absolutely loved this activity. I’ll have to remember this idea for when my two are a little bit older.
This is one of the coolest ideas ever!!! How clever of you!!! I am going to play this with my family for sure!!!
I am in love with this idea. My 7 year old would go crazy for this
What a brilliant and fun idea! I’m pretty sure that my niece would love it! My family as well.
This looks like so much! I think my kids would love to do this with their friends!
This is so fun! It will be great when the sun starts setting a little earlier too!
This is such a fun idea! We are actually going to be spending some time in a rental home in two weeks for a fun summer vacation and I was thinking of some kind of games and scavenger hunt for the kids. This is a really good idea, thanks!
What an amazing idea! Can’t wait for my kid to grow a little more, so we can play this.
Great idea. Nice activity for the kids. Can’t wait to play this on Halloween’s eve too! :)
What a fun idea! I love stuff like this that you can do at home without having to spend a bunch of money. My son would love to play this game. We will have to try our own version.
This is kind of amazing! What a fun activity for a sleepover.
What a unique, cool idea … I definitely need to try this!
What a fun activity for the kids. Also a great way to let them legit use the flashlights. ;)
This letter hunt is a great activity for the young ones. It is not only fun, it also teaches them analytical and problem solving skills. Cool!
Very cute idea. I’m always on the hunt for ways to make things fun. This definitely fits the bill.