Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
How I Made My Kids Excited About Moving to a New House
36
items Moving with kids is rough. Mine cried for a week about leaving their friends, their old rooms, their favorite tree in the backyard. I needed them to walk into the new house and feel something other than dread. So I set up scavenger hunts, room reveal...
Sections
6
Scavenger Hunt Setup Supplies
Prize Stash for Each Room Discovery
New Room Personalization Kits
Moving Day Comfort and Snack Station
Neighborhood Exploration Gear
First Week Traditions to Make It Feel Like Home
Scavenger Hunt Setup Supplies
I wrote clues on cards and hid them in every room so the kids had to explore the whole house just to find their prizes. They were so busy solving riddles they forgot to be upset about the move.
Grab this to make colorful clue cards for each room. I cut them into arrows, stars, and question marks. My 6-year-old kept every single one and taped them to her new bedroom wall like trophies.
Crayola, Construction Paper, 240 Pages, 12 Colors
Use these to write clues that won't smudge when tiny sweaty hands grab them. I wrote riddles on each card and my 8-year-old still quotes the terrible puns I came up with at 2am the night before.
Sharpie Permanent Markers, Fine Point, Black, 12 Count
Stick clue cards to walls without ruining fresh paint. Learned that lesson the hard way at our last place where tape pulled off a chunk of drywall. This stuff peels right off clean.
Scotch Mounting Putty, Removable, White, Holds 1 lb, 2 oz
Keep a stash for assembling puzzle-piece clues. I glued photos of each room onto cardstock so the kids had to match the picture to the actual space. Worked like a charm for the toddler who can't read yet.
Elmer's All Purpose School Glue Sticks
Slap these on boxes with clue numbers so kids can find the right box in the right room. My son turned it into a race and unpacked his entire room in 20 minutes. Normally getting him to pick up one sock takes an hour.
Avery, Shipping Labels, 2" x 4", Glossy White, Pack of 250
Toss these on doorframes, inside closets, under light switches. For anyone whose kids are old enough to read but young enough to still get excited about sticky notes with smiley faces. That window closes fast, use it.
Post-it Super Sticky Notes Limited Edition Pack
Prize Stash for Each Room Discovery
Every room needed a small reward waiting at the end of each clue trail. Nothing expensive, just enough to make each space feel like it belonged to them already.
Split these up and hide one container per room. My daughter found the purple one in the bathroom and declared it her favorite room in the house. That's all it took. One dollar of Play-Doh.
Play-Doh, Party Pack Clay, 10 mini cans, 10 oz total
Stash one car in each room and keep the last one in the garage. My son raced them down the hallway and suddenly the long empty corridor wasn't scary anymore, it was a racetrack.
Hot Wheels 20 Car Gift Pack (Styles May Vary)
Pair this with a note that says ‘this room is yours to make colorful.’ My kids painted welcome signs for their bedroom doors on day one. The new house stopped being ‘the new house’ and became theirs.
Crayola Washable Kids Paint Set, 10 Ct, Kids Arts & Crafts
Scratch-off cards feel like magic to a 5-year-old. I wrote secret messages under the coating for each room. ‘Look under the windowsill for your next clue’ had them sprinting through the house.
Melissa & Doug Scratch Art Mini Notes 125 Rainbow FSC
Tuck one of these into the closet of their new bedroom. When my daughter opened the closet door and found a little stuffed animal waiting for her, she hugged it and said ‘this room likes me.’ I almost lost it.
Squishmallows: Original 5" Plush Mystery Box - 5 Pack
Snag these for the kitchen clue finale. Nothing says ‘this kitchen is going to be fun’ like finding chocolate in the pantry. Works for kids aged 3 to 43. I ate one too, no regrets.
Kinder Joy Eggs, Sweet Cream and Chocolate Wafers
New Room Personalization Kits
The fastest way to kill moving sadness is to let kids make their new room feel like theirs within the first hour. Not next week. Not after everything is unpacked. Right now, while the boxes are still stacked.
Bring these out on the first night. My kids were nervous about sleeping in a strange dark room. We stuck stars all over the ceiling together and suddenly bedtime was a planetarium, not a punishment.
Celestial Stars & Planets Glow in the Dark Wall Decals
Use these so kids can hang their own drawings and photos immediately. My son put up a picture of his old best friend right next to his new window. Having familiar faces on the wall made the blank room feel less lonely.
Command Small Picture Hangers, 4 lbs Capacity
Let them draw on the windows. Sounds chaotic but it washes off and suddenly that weird window in the hallway has a dragon on it. My kids drew a map of the neighborhood they wanted to explore. Instant ownership.
Crayola 8 count Washable Window Markers
Throw this down in their empty room before furniture arrives. Kids sat on it, played on it, claimed it. Something soft on the floor of a bare room makes it feel like a space that wants them there.
Mainstays Transitional Solid Black Indoor Youth Shag Area
Wrap these around the bed frame or drape them across the ceiling. My daughter helped me hang them and said her new room looked like a fairy house. She slept through the whole first night, which never happens somewhere new.
Mainstays LED Outdoor String Lights, 100 Mini Bulbs
Perfect for the kid who left behind a garden or a favorite outdoor spot. My son missed the plants at our old house, so building this little terrarium on his new windowsill gave him something alive and growing to care about right away.
Creativity for Kids Grow 'N Glow Terrarium Kit
Moving Day Comfort and Snack Station
Hungry tired kids in an unfamiliar house with no furniture yet is a recipe for meltdowns. I set up a snack station on the floor of the kitchen before anything else got unpacked and it became home base.
Scatter individual bags throughout the house as scavenger hunt fuel. Hungry kids don't solve clues, they cry. Keep them fed and the adventure keeps rolling. I went through all 30 bags on day one and regret nothing.
Goldfish, Cheddar Crackers, Snack Pack, 30-Count 1 oz
Toss these in a cooler since the fridge probably isn't cold yet. Learned that one the hard way when we arrived and realized we had no cold drinks and three overheated kids. Cooler plus juice pouches saved us.
Capri Sun Juice, Variety Pack, 6 fl oz, 40-count
Set this up in the living room for the first night. Sleeping bags inside, flashlights on. My kids thought camping in the living room was the greatest thing that ever happened. They begged to do it again the second night.
Ozark Trail 6 Person Instant Cabin Tent, 10 ft x 9
For the adults who also need to sleep before the bed frame gets assembled. I inflated this in the tent with the kids and we all piled in together. Woke up with a foot in my face but everyone was smiling.
Intex Dura-Beam® Standard Downy Queen Air Mattress 10
Keep a stack ready because your actual plates are buried in box number who-knows-what. We ate pizza off paper plates on the floor for three days and honestly it felt like a picnic every meal.
Great Value 8.5 Inch Disposable Paper Plates
Throw snacks, crayons, small toys, and clue cards in these so everything stays organized in the chaos. When you can't find anything else, at least the ziplock bag system works. Saved my sanity multiple times.
Hefty Slider Gallon Size Storage Bags
Neighborhood Exploration Gear
Once the indoor scavenger hunt was done, I extended it outside. We walked the new block with a checklist and the kids rated every house, tree, and dog they spotted. Suddenly the neighborhood had stories.
Hand these to your kid and tell them to spot three cool things on the new street. My son found a hawk on a telephone pole and declared our new neighborhood ‘way better for birds.’ That was his turning point.
Kids Dreamingbox, Practical Foldable Small Size
Bring this on the first neighborhood walk. Kids can scratch off a picture every time they find something on the checklist. Turns a boring walk into a treasure hunt without you having to plan anything complicated.
Melissa & Doug On the Go Scratch Art Hidden-Picture Pad
If your kid's old bike didn't survive the move, replace it fast. My daughter rode up and down the new sidewalk for an hour and came back saying she found a girl her age three houses down. Problem solved itself.
Schwinn Elm Kids Bike, 16-Inch Wheel
For the kid who needs to burn energy after being trapped in a car for hours. My son scooted to the end of the block and back twelve times while I pretended to unpack. He slept like a rock that night.
Razor Kick Scooter Parts
Pack this with a water bottle, snacks, and the neighborhood checklist. Give each kid their own explorer bag. My daughter wore hers every single day for a week and called herself the block captain. She's 7.
JanSport Superbreak Backpack
Pair this with a challenge to hit a step goal exploring the new area. My son walked to every single house on the street to see if anyone had a trampoline. He found two. Steps goal crushed, new friends located.
Fitbit Ace 3 Kids Activity Tracker
First Week Traditions to Make It Feel Like Home
The scavenger hunt got us through day one, but the first week needed rituals. We started small traditions that only belong to this house so the kids stopped comparing everything to the old one.
Snap a photo in every room on day one and tape them to the fridge. My kids review them every morning and laugh at how empty everything looked. It's becoming a before-and-after project they actually care about.
FUJIFILM Instax Mini Instant Film Twin Pack
Pick a recipe and bake something in the new kitchen on night one. We made banana bread and the smell filled the whole house. My daughter said it ‘smelled like home now.’ Cheapest therapy session I've ever paid for.
Customer reviews for The Pioneer Woman 8-Piece
Unpack real dishes by day three, even if everything else is still in boxes. Eating off actual plates at an actual table made the kids stop asking when we were going back. Small shift, huge difference.
Mainstays Chiara 16-Piece Stoneware Dinnerware Set, Navy
Light this on the first evening. New houses smell like paint and cardboard and strangers. One familiar candle scent made the living room feel less like a showroom and more like a place where people actually live.
Yankee Candle, Clean Cotton Original Large Jar
Sit down together and draw your favorite thing about the new house so far. My son drew the backyard tree. My daughter drew the bathtub because it's bigger than our old one. Now those drawings are framed in the hallway.
Crayola Blend & Shade Colored Pencils
Spread this in the backyard on the first warm evening and eat dinner outside. We watched the sunset from a yard that didn't feel like ours yet, and by the time the stars came out, it did. Start that tradition early.
Blanket Tote XL Outdoor Picnic Blanket