Outside pursuits

SEE those slack-jawed kids in front of the TV? It’s time to unplug the video game platforms and DVD players that have been abuzz since the holidays and get the little junkies into e-tox.

To help dampen their cravings for Halo 2 and SpongeBob during electronics withdrawal, skip the Serenity Prayer and whip together a scavenger hunt. It’s a simple way to reintroduce them to things they haven’t experienced lately, like fresh air.

Write a list of natural artifacts that someone with a short attention span might reasonably expect to find in the neighborhood -- or at the park or beach -- then ratchet up the degree of difficulty according to age.

Chaperoned preschoolers could bag a rock the size of a fist, for example, and older children could find a speckled rock the size of a fist. There’s only one rule in this game: No creatures may be harmed, and they must be released. Here is a small sampling of scavengeable items:

Y-shaped stick

Fist-size speckled rock

Red leaf smaller than the palm of your hand

Snail shell

Bone

Owl pellet (a good source of bones; see previous)

Flying insect

Feather longer than your pinkie

Mushroom of a color other than brown (never eat one!)

Yellow wildflower

Green beach glass

Pod containing a teardrop-shaped seed

Salamander/lizard

Sand crab