Long car ride + bored mama = a “hey wouldn’t it be fun!” idea

My kids love the TV show Survivor: the whole concept of being left to survive in the great outdoors fascinates them as do the complexity of the challenges.  On our drive down east I was under caffeinated and trying to stay awake when I came up with the idea to have a Survivor challenge on our trip.

In theory the daily challenges are supposed to occupy them for 15-3o minutes and maybe (just maybe) result in some bonding and team work.

I know, wishes and dreams.

They were thrilled when I explained to them what was going to happen and immediately went all Pinterest-crazy on me: “where will you hide our clues? what does the idol look like? where will our tribal council be?”

Me: (furrowed brow, darting eyes) Okay well what I planned was…

They forced me to level up my plans and I’m now required to provide them with clues to their challenges AND hide them.

For their first challenge they had 30 minutes to build a fire pit on the beach AS A TEAM. No one cried, they finished with 30 seconds to spare, and they were exhausted. Win!

(Dad is now known as Jeff Probst)

Their reward the following night was roasting marshmallows in their new fire pit.  Many attempts to light the fire with flint later and we pulled out the matches.  Let’s blame the wind.  And the damp tinder.


Their second challenge was an individual one: they each had to find five shells that were different colours and the first person to present me with their collection was the winner.  In his excitement to play my oldest didn’t listen to my instructions and lost valuable time, my middle got side tracked looking for shiny metal treasures, and my littlest was victorious!

Share: