Works for Me Wednesday - Make it a Mission

**This week's WFMW was a comedy of errors. I wrote this post. Then wrote a different one and had forgotten I wrote and scheduled the first one. So, this is a two for one deal. The title on Rocks in My Dryer was for an Art related post that you can find here. Sorry for the confusion!**

My girls have a tendency to tire pretty quickly of their toys. I've tried rotating them, elminating them, and reorganizing them. But, the bottom line is, there are some days when toys just don't cut it.

So, on those days, I have to get creative.

My kids love adventure. They love a mission. So, I've started giving them secret missions to accomplish. Kai is into superheros right now (and Ivy is into whatever Kai is into) so we have secret superhero missions. All it takes is a little role playing, a little creativity, and a little storytelling to get the mission started.

For instance, get a manila envelope and write top secret across the top with your child's name(s) on the front. Fill it with age appropriate "clues" needed to complete their mission. For Kai and Ivy, I'd put magazine clippings of household or outdoor items they need to find in order to save the day. You could also make it more educational by writing coded messages for them to figure out, clues leading to books where they'll find info inside with another clue, and other tasks to get them digging into things that have some educational value.

They spend hours on their mission and I get to interact with them but accomplish my own things at the same time.

I've found that all it takes to get things started is a push in the right direction and the kids' imaginations take over from there. My girls spent an hour and a half outside the other day hunting down Ogres with their bug catching kits. And I didn't even do anything other than hand them the nets and tell them they had to save the day from Ogre invasions. They did the rest.

So, that what works for me. Secret super hero missions. To see what is working for other moms, visit the "Mom I'm Bored" edition of Works for Me Wednesday over at Shannon's Dryer!