Jack’s front tooth has been coming in over his baby tooth. The baby tooth, much like it’s owner, has decided stubbornly not to move an inch. It’s really stuck in there.

We were hoping it would work itself out and gave it a good amount of time, but no luck. The dentist would have to extract it.

Against the dentist’s wishes, Adam sat in with Jack. He said Jack did very well. There was crying when they shot him Novocain. A few times. I cringe thinking about it. And he said he felt them yank the tooth out. But by the time I saw him, he seemed fine.

They put his tooth in a little plastic treasure chest. While Adam put the older boys to sleep, I set to work on Jack’s favorite gift from the tooth fairy – a scavenger hunt.

In the past I have drawn Jack maps, but since Jack is learning to read at school, I thought words would make for better clues this time.

I wanted to share this in case you want to use it for your own kids, or any loved one. And not just for the tooth fairy, it could be for anything! Wouldn’t it be cute if that naughty elf on the shelf stole the gifts and sent your kids scrambling around the house with clues looking for them?

So, first I picked ten spots to hide clues…

Each clue was put in an envelope with the number clue on the front. On the back corner I wrote where the clue is located (basically copied the clue in front of it before folding it into the envelope.) I didn’t add the number on the clue in the picture, but I think it’s a good idea to do that also. Jack often wants to re-hide the clues and do the hunt all over again, and if you do this it only takes a second to stick them back where they were.

Next hide the clues.

Jack followed all the clues to ‘Breakfast Time’. The only mistake I made here was being too clever. I had his last envelope, the one with the money in it, on his breakfast plate. He wanted to know if I saw the tooth fairy put it on. I could see the gleam of suspicion in his eyes.

Finding the clues.