Preparing for V-day
The Evans' family traditional treasure hunt has thrilled the children for ten years (give or take a year), but this year, I thought I might have to give it up. In fact, I told the three remaining Evans children that there would be no treasure hunt because I have been wicked busy the last few weeks and hadn't even thought about the treasure hunt.
But mommy guilt set in (horrid horrid mommy guilt--why is it I feel like the scum of the earth when I can't do a treasure hunt, but I have no problem yelling at the kids until my voice goes numb? Mommy guilt is a false friend) and I spent yesterday morning before church coming up with three little puzzles to satisfy my need to make the obtaining of Valentine candy difficult for my children.
Here's how it's going to go. (Kate, if you read this and spill the beans to any of your siblings via text or facebook or phone or any other manner, you will not receive any packages from me for a year. Don't spoil the fun for the others!) The three will come home from school to three pieces of paper taped to the front door. They will be allowed to pick one. One is a maze and two are quiz-like in nature. The maze has little numbers all over it--the goal is to get through the maze and to write down each number as it comes up in the path. So at the end, the child will have a string of various numbers. The quizzes will also yield numerical strings (one quiz has to do with hymns and he or she will need to write down the hymn number of each hymn quoted, the other quiz has to do with the periodic table of elements and he or she will have to write down the element number of each element that is the answer to a trivia quiz question).
Then around the house, they will notice little pieces of paper, each with a letter and a number on it. They will go around the house to figure out which letter corresponds to which number and thus they will decode a message that will tell them where a candy treasure is hidden. I'm going to hide the pieces of paper all over the walls of the house, some in obvious places, others will not be so obvious.
I'm excited for Valentine's Day! I'm going to have my camera ready for stash-finding!
Would you like a sneaky peak at a couple of the quiz questions? (the maze I made using puzzlemaker.com--a favorite website of mine for all my puzzle-making needs)
Here you go:
1. Also known as "spelter"
2. Because of its reactivity to water, it is usually stored under cover of a viscous hydrocarbon, usually petroleum jelly
and...
1. Once he groaned in blood and tears, now in glory he appears
2. Bringing happiness and joy, rich blessings from above
Can you answer correctly?
But mommy guilt set in (horrid horrid mommy guilt--why is it I feel like the scum of the earth when I can't do a treasure hunt, but I have no problem yelling at the kids until my voice goes numb? Mommy guilt is a false friend) and I spent yesterday morning before church coming up with three little puzzles to satisfy my need to make the obtaining of Valentine candy difficult for my children.
Here's how it's going to go. (Kate, if you read this and spill the beans to any of your siblings via text or facebook or phone or any other manner, you will not receive any packages from me for a year. Don't spoil the fun for the others!) The three will come home from school to three pieces of paper taped to the front door. They will be allowed to pick one. One is a maze and two are quiz-like in nature. The maze has little numbers all over it--the goal is to get through the maze and to write down each number as it comes up in the path. So at the end, the child will have a string of various numbers. The quizzes will also yield numerical strings (one quiz has to do with hymns and he or she will need to write down the hymn number of each hymn quoted, the other quiz has to do with the periodic table of elements and he or she will have to write down the element number of each element that is the answer to a trivia quiz question).
Then around the house, they will notice little pieces of paper, each with a letter and a number on it. They will go around the house to figure out which letter corresponds to which number and thus they will decode a message that will tell them where a candy treasure is hidden. I'm going to hide the pieces of paper all over the walls of the house, some in obvious places, others will not be so obvious.
I'm excited for Valentine's Day! I'm going to have my camera ready for stash-finding!
Would you like a sneaky peak at a couple of the quiz questions? (the maze I made using puzzlemaker.com--a favorite website of mine for all my puzzle-making needs)
Here you go:
1. Also known as "spelter"
2. Because of its reactivity to water, it is usually stored under cover of a viscous hydrocarbon, usually petroleum jelly
and...
1. Once he groaned in blood and tears, now in glory he appears
2. Bringing happiness and joy, rich blessings from above
Can you answer correctly?
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