Occupy Your Kids With a Literal Treasure Hunt

The early days of the pandemic saw us rummaging through our homes in search of long-forgotten colouring books, dusty board games, and half-finished craft projects — something, anything, to keep little kids busy on what felt like the world’s longest rainy day. It wasn’t long before I was suggesting all sorts of weird parenting hacks, often involving ice cream and popsicles, and I don’t intend to stop now, when we need every random idea an internet stranger can possibly dream up.

Today’s oddball advice comes in response to a plea on Twitter from someone “asking for a relative” how we are supposed to keep small children entertained at this point in the pandemic — assuming this relative is not an idiot and has already tried unhelpful suggestions like “puzzles” and “books,” that is:

Okay…imagine this relative is not a fool and has done all the obvious games and bought all the obvious craft, code and adventure gadgets and games

— Lexi Alexander الكسندرا ميراي (@Lexialex) January 17, 2021

What this relative needs to do, as at least one person on Twitter understands, is start hiding cold, hard cash:

Hi six one dollar bills and tell them they can keep them if they find them.

— DC Women Kicking Ass (@dcwomenkicknass) January 17, 2021

Another person concurred with this suggestion, saying she sometimes hides her daughter’s trinkets while she’s asleep or asks her to help find some lost item for her baby sister. But that feels slightly more sinister than simply sending them on a house-wide treasure hunt.

And depending on their age, you might not even need to go as high as dollar bills; I think coins would suffice for a four-year-old.