Last weekend was cold and the kids were feeling a bit bored. We ended up enjoying some tech-free time together. Wow, just saying “tech-free” is Zen to me. I loved having a tech-free childhood. We got bored – a lot! But we also got creative. We discovered new things about ourselves. Sometimes even embarked on really cool adventures with other kids in the neighborhood. Today we rarely allow ourselves to get bored. We simply pull out our phone, tablet or other gadget. Honestly, it’s actually hard to get creative these days. Cue The Adventure Challenge Book! During our tech-free day we scratched off The Helpless Baker challenge.
This post is NOT sponsored by The Adventure Challenge. This is just a product I’ve bought and use with my family. There’s several editions; family, friends, couples and I believe a singles one. For the sake of this post I’m only referring to the Family Edition.
Full Disclosure: There are affiliate links within this post which means I may get a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks in advance for supporting me and my family!
What is the Adventure Challenge?
The Adventure Challenge is a book of 50 adventures. Each adventure is hidden behind a square waiting to be scratched. Each page features a couple of scratch off squares with a hidden adventure, a space for a photo and a few lines for personal thoughts. I like that there are hints about each challenge such as average cost, time, indoor or outdoor, time of day and if the adventure is going to be messy. My kids of course like scratching off the square and revealing our next adventure.
The Rules – Whatever the challenge is, you and your family MUST do it! There’s no take backs, once it is scratched you have to do the challenge regardless of how silly or weird its sounds to you, you HAVE to do it! But after doing a few of these and feeling a bit weird at first I say JUST DO IT! Regardless how weird it sounds we always seem to have fun and the kids love it!
Document Your Adventure – After you finished the challenge take a photo and write your thoughts. We bought the book and camera bundle. The mini polaroid camera makes it easy to have an instant picture. BUT getting the settings just right is sometimes a challenge in itself.
Afterwards write a few thoughts about the adventure. With us we assign a scribe and then collectively come up with what to write in the lines provided.
The End Result – When you are done with the challenge, you not only had fun but created a cool memory as a family that will last a lifetime. After completing all 50 challenges you’ll also have a really cool memory book to look back on.
Let the Adventure Begin
To use The Adventure Challenge book, gather up your family and have them pick a random square to scratch off in the book. We usually rotate who gets to scratch off the square and reveal the challenge. This time around Livi was the scratcher. The weather was cold so outdoor adventures were off the table. After a few minutes her and Grayson decided on The Helpless Baker.
The Helpless Baker Challenge
Behind the square read: Put on your aprons- it’s time to bake a cake for the whole family! But WAIT! There’s more…half of your crew has to be blindfolded! For this deliciously challenging kitchen adventure, have everyone pair up- one blindfolded baker and one guide. The baker and guide must work together to make the cake (either from scratch or box, it’s up to you) Only the baker is allowed to touch the food. When the cake is complete, everyone has to eat it without using their hands!
Adventure Challenge Customizations
T-Shirts – I opted for t-shirts rather than aprons. It was an easy craft for the kids and protect their clothes. It also doubles up as a sweet keepsake.
I bought black t-shirts and iron-on letters from the craft section at my local Walmart. This is an easy task for kids ages 7+ to do with little supervision. After several minutes of brainstorming the two came up with “Top Chef” and “Chef Jr”.
Tip: It’s cheaper to buy the plain t-shirts in the craft section rather than on the racks. They also have other colors to choose from. You can also find plain shirts at Michael’s or AC Moore.
Participants – This adventure I just let the two older kids do it as my husband had to work and Teigan is still a bit too young for this challenge. It would have been more fun with two blindfolded people walking around the kitchen so maybe we will revisit this challenge in the future with the 4 of us playing.
Frosting- The other thing I added was frosting the cake because cake is always better with frosting and it just adds to the fun.
The Result
Grayson didn’t do too bad following directions from his sister although she did let him walk into the wall. It was also interesting to see Grayson figure out other ways to do things without making a mess. For example he felt for the bowl to crack the egg. He also put the measuring cup on the counter rather than holding it in his hand and felt for the cup before pouring the oil. He kept a finger in the cup to know when the oil was at the brim. I think that last trick is one that he has seen my mom do. She is legally blind but still very much independent in the kitchen and occassionally bakes with them.
Teigan was in the background happily eating tomatoes.
Commonly Asked Questions
Where Can I Buy The Adventure Challenge Book? You can buy it on The Adventure Challenge Family Edition on Amazon. Just click the link and it will take you to the book we have and love.
Do I have to follow the challenge exactly? No. As I mentioned earlier I modified our Helpless Baker Challenge to fit our situation. I like to use the book for ideas and modify whenever I see fit. It still does what I bought it for which is get my family off their gadgets and have fun together.
Are the challenges expensive? Some are a bit pricey but the great theing about The Adventure Challenge Book is that it has a key code beside each adventure. This code tells you whether the adventure will require money and an estimate of how much you’ll need to spend before scratching off. I usually tell my kids what our budget is and that helps them select a challenge.
Is there a subscription box? Unfortunately, no there isn’t. There’s a subscription box for the couples edition that comes once a month but not for the family edition. Maybe in the future they’ll have one – fingers crossed!
Are the challenges all at home? No, there are some that are outside in your backyard and outdoors. The key code along side each challenge will let you know which challenges are at home, in your backyard, outdoor, requires a lot of time, and whether it should be down in the day or at night. So, you can definitely plan accordingly using the key code.
Overall Thoughts of The Adventure Challenge
The kids had fun trying to blindly bake a cake and frost it too! I can’t wait to do our blind baker date night…something tells me it’s going to be similar but a whole lot sexier….ay! Did it just get hot in here?! lol! In case you are wondering we also have The Adventure Challenge Couples Edition. It’s a great product that lets us all reconnect in ways we probably wouldn’t have thought of on our own.
Did this turn into a review of the Adventure Challenge Book? Well, I hope it gave you a deeper insight of what the book is about. At the very least, I hope this post gave you a fun idea to do with your family.
With love from Catt
~XO