Treasure Hunting with Kids

When you have a mom that’s obsessed with clean parks, trash pickup at playgrounds is the next best thing to geocaching.

But, truth be told, my kid loves a good hunt. For a long time my son was content with simply picking up glass and chucking it into the Home Depot paint bucket. Knowing that glass shards are dangerous (small gorilla grip gloves are ideal) and make a good clanking sound made the activity all the more exciting. He even learned to dislodge recessed glass by using a stick, like a chimp that makes use of a twig to extract termites from a decaying tree trunk.

The novelty of glass wore off over time, so I purchased a 40” rolling magnetic sweeper to pick up all sorts of treasures. We’re back in business now. Like a push vacuum, the sweeper has wheels. Simply run the sweeper over a section of dirt and before you know it you hear the clank of the magnetic bar apprehending the offending metal object. Congratulations, you’ve struck gold!

My son effortlessly recruits playground kids as old as 12 to join in on the hunt. There’s a plethora of bottle caps to be found at parks, and they make the loudest clanking noise. The unusual items such as metal plates are good ”finds” in my book. One of my top treasures is a rusty nail. They will puncture through shoes, and have no place in parks. Moreover, nothing ruins a good bike ride like a flat tire. The same can be said for glass, but that’s ”[my job now] your job, mom.”

Although not nearly as glamours as bolts to my four year old, I give high fives for hazardous waste (aka AA batteries). With heavy winds and rains, it’s very easy for batteries to end up in storm drains. However, far more plastic objects than batteries end up in our waterways. Now if we humans could only make a plastic sweeper! (If we did, it would probably be made of plastic.) The amount of plastic bits that end up in the drain and in the stomachs and nasal cavities of wildlife is appalling. I’m equally repulsed by plastic island. Picking up trash isn’t risk-free, but there are more risks to doing nothing.

Even on non-litter play days, upon departing a playground I try to remember to ask my son to pick up and dispose of three pieces of litter (the usual band aid, squeeze cap, straw, deflated balloon, or obnoxious metallic confetti); this rule also applies to any neighborhood friends I escort to the park. With a ritual of trash pickup, you’d think my son wouldn’t dare litter; well, I’m still working on that behavior. But, at least he picks up way more treasures than he drops.

Angela Akridge
Executive Director, Newark Parks Foundation
info@newarkparks.org
www.newarkparks.org