While many in the community are stuck at home self-isolating, one resident has found a way to brighten up the neighborhood: By making a paper flower scavenger hunt for kids living in the area.

Tami Martin, who lives near Connecticut Avenue off of State Road, decided to create the game after noticing neighbors with kids walking near their house to get some much-needed fresh air.

“We have a four year old, he’s been getting a little stir-crazy,” Martin said. “So we did a scavenger hunt in the house with Easter eggs.”

After seeing that others in the vicinity had the same problem, Martin said, they decided to make a little game for the area’s children.

“We thought it would be a nice little thing to do for the kids in the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s spring, and it would be good to focus on something nice, the positives.”

Martin designed and put together some construction paper flowers with googly eyes, and put them into numbered plastic bags to protect them from rain before hiding them in various locations in the area.

“I like to do crafty things,” she said. “It was just something fun to do. We did it together, and my husband and I walked around the neighborhood putting them up.”

The game was a success, with residents searching high and low for all ten flowers and posting photos to social media.

“It looks like the adults in the neighborhood were enjoying them as much as the kids,” Martin said, adding with a laugh, “But our son, he could care less!”

Martin plans on taking the flowers down after a week or so — but she hopes it won’t be the last time residents can enjoy an isolation-friendly scavenger hunt or similar activity. 

“Maybe it’ll catch on,” she said. “It’s a good way to keep everybody busy and upbeat and outside, take your mind off everything.”