Quite some time ago I was seeing us getting bogged down with home education and blog reviews. Life wasn’t very interesting and we were missing some of the fun we used to have together each week. What was I going to do? I came up with our Tuesday Treasure Brown Bag Surprise!
Mondays are always very manic with loads of laundry (all having to be dried over radiators, which makes for a long day of turning the clothes so they dry evenly), dishes, cleaning, and getting back into a routine after a weekend. I have a meeting on Monday nights, so I’m always feeling especially run-down on Tuesdays so I thought this would help liven things up.
To start off with, I had the children decorate up some plain brown paper bags. They knew I was up to something mischievous, but they didn’t know what.
See…already the kids were having more fun!
Then I gathered up some little things from around the house that I’d been saving ‘for a rainy day’. Do you have a stash of things like that? Little trinkets and activities to bring out at a moment’s notice when a child has accomplished something fabulous or shown an outstanding attitude in the face of adversity? Something to bring out when one of the kids (or Mom) is ill and we all need to take our minds off our troubles? Or a last-minute something to add to a special Christmas gift?
On this occasion it was a couple of activities from a subscription box sample I’d ordered, a science project Mom sent over from Canada, and some other little items I had stashed away for a rainy day.
I randomly put these items in the bags (without the kids seeing what little treasures were going into them); making sure that there was enough in each bag for both kids to have something to do; either together, or separately. I stapled the tops of the bags to seal them and tucked them all away into a box in the closet.
Now each Tuesday when we’re feeling like we need a creative pick-me-up, I bring out the bags and the kids get together and choose one to open, never knowing what they will find.
One week it might be a recipe, the next a craft.
We even took a bag with us on our camping trip to break up the week and have an activity to do if the weather was bad.
Now that our school year is about to ‘officially’ start up again. I want to keep some fun elements in it, and our Tuesday Treasures are going to become a part of it.
What do you do to keep some excitement in your week? I’d love to have more fun ideas up my sleeve; please share them in the comments below.
More boredom busting ideas:
Lori says
What a fun idea! The simplicity of it is nice and all being figured out ahead of time – genius.
Crystal says
Aw, thank you! It’s extra fun to do if you’re learning about Pirates, too!