The Skeleton Hunt

What you need

• One small toy skeleton, light enough to move with one hand
• A list of low places: a welly boot, a cereal box, behind a cushion
• A house rule everyone can see: no climbing
• A cloth bag, so it can be carried between hiding places

How to do it

1. Show the skeleton on the first morning so everyone knows what they are looking for.
2. Each night an adult moves it somewhere low. Nothing that needs a chair, a counter, or the top of a wardrobe.
3. In the morning the search starts. The finder can name one place that is out of bounds the next night.
4. If a toddler is in the house, keep the toy larger than a mouthful and search together.
5. On Halloween the skeleton sits in plain sight, as if it has finished travelling.

One household's version

The skeleton spends one morning in a welly boot and the next behind the cereal boxes. A child finds it before breakfast. Nobody stands on a chair. The note on the fridge says “feet on the floor.”