For Christmas last year, Nicki got me the Elf on the Shelf. I had wanted one but couldn’t justify paying that price. But since it was a gift, we enjoyed it thoroughly!
Since we never did Santa with the boys, I thought it might be fun to do the elf with them. We didn’t use it as he reports back to Santa, but more as a search and find game. We read the book together and they named him Steve. We did agree that they would try to find him each day, but they couldn’t touch him, or he would lose his magic and couldn’t play the game. Of course, after the first day, Patrick reported that Mac touched Steve ‘to see what would happen.’ They were rather upset when Steve didn’t return for a few days. Once he got some magic back and returned, they really got into it and followed all the rules of the game.
It was so much fun to see both boys get into it. Even Mac had fun finding him and seeing what he was up to each day. I did not go over the top as some do, but it was fun to get a little creative! I forgot to take pictures some days, but here’s a look at what we came up with over all.
Patrick: “How can Steve have Uno?! They’ve only played three cards!” Smart one.
Patrick: “OH no! Steve is playing the Playstation. Steve, you can’t play video games ’till Friday AFTER school!”
Patrick (rather upset): “Steve is playing MY guitar! He’s going to break it!”
Mac said that a friend’s elf was in a hammock one morning, so he made one hoping that Steve would sleep in it!
Patrick (in a whine): “Steve used my library books to play the piano!!”
Checking out the new fish tank.
Trying to steal Mac’s presents.
Saying goodbye before heading back to the North Pole for the summer.