by Charlene DeLoach of CharleneChronicles.com
One rainy afternoon, I was cleaning my kitchen drawers and had various kitchen tools on the counter, like whisks, spatulas, and an apple corer. My three year old found in the rubble a kitchen timer shaped as a ladybug. He thought it was cute and loved when I showed him it made a “tick, tick, tick” noise when the timer was set. As he stared in delight, I had an idea.
I told him to go hide in the other room and close his eyes. As he did so, I turned on the timer and hid it behind some pillows in our family room. I called for him to come out and find the timer using his ears and not his eyes. At first he didn’t hear it, but as he got close to our family room, he heard the faint “tick, tick, tick” of the timer. As he searched, he heard it getting louder the closer he got, and found it behind the pillows on the family sofa. He jumped with joy at his find and wanted to do it again. We played for 15 minutes and I hid it in various locations: in a cabinet, in the laundry basket, in the coat closet and, my personal favorite, the dog’s bed. He search for it using the sound to guide him.
We used it as a teachable moment about hearing and ears, and it got him away from the TV and tablet. We play the game all the time now when he is bored with his toys, and it gives us both a fun break. If you don’t have a timer, you can find cute ones on Amazon. Since it is so small, stash it in a diaper bag to keep the little ones entertained at Grandma’s no-toy-house too. For less than five dollars, it is a fun alternative to traditional Hide-and-Seek, and a perfect game to play on those long school vacation days, rainy Saturdays or snow-days!
Follow Charlene DeLoach on Twitter @CharChronicles or her Toy Insider Pinterest Board.
