Alright, let’s share some truth—sometimes it is hard to come up with new ways to keep our kids engaged and excited. They might get stuck doing puzzles every day for a couple weeks, obsessively (oh wait, just mine?). Or perhaps playdough time is the flavor of the day, either way things can get old fast, but I believe I had a parenting win a couple weeks ago that I want to share with you! It kept my three-year-old connected during our neighborhood walk, which sometimes can get a little boring for him when the walk seems the same every day. Anyways, I decided we were going to go on a book scavenger hunt! This isn’t something you have to prep for or get any special ingredients or supplies for. All you need is a book with some outdoorsy elements to it and your kids!

I picked Good Night Lake by Adam Gamble and Cooper Kelly. I figured this was our best bet from our bookshelf because of the pictures that would go along with our walk by the pond. I explained that we were going to take this book with us on our walk and as we flip through the pages, we were going to look for the items in real life! Wouldn’t you know it, Tucker opened to the first page, and we saw the geese and even a baby goose just like the picture. Then we turned the page with a huge frog and lo and behold a huge frog was right on the bank of our pond! If this was a game, Tucker thought we were winning. We kept going along the path and as we turned the pages we talked about the trees and birds and other aspects of nature. He was completely enamored with this real-life search and find. Once we made our way through the book we were satisfied because we even found a lighthouse. It was a lawn ornament, but it was at least three feet tall, so it counted! Tucker fell asleep on our way back to the house—another bonus for this walking adventure because he has been fighting naptime.

I’ll be honest, this walk wasn’t any different than our normal daily walks. However, if you ask Tucker, he will tell you it was completely unique. He will point to the Good Night Lake book with an extra glint in his eye and a big smile on his face and describe in detail all the amazing things he saw on our scavenger hunt! We went on a family walk after dinner the other night and he said we should have brought our book. Isn’t that the amazing thing about books—making those memories as we turn the pages. Bringing new life to the ordinary day to day activities. All we did was take a book with us on a walk and it created more childhood magic than I could have anticipated. So, I’m giving myself a parenting gold star and a pat on the back! Let’s hope I can think up something else new and exciting soon…

Have any out of the box parenting wins you’d like to share? Post it in the comments below.

I would love to hear if you try this little adventure on your own and what book you use to do it! Have fun making your next ordinary walk absolutely extraordinary!