Every time I read one of these mouse invasion posts, I still can't help but laugh a little.
When my kids were in the 1st and second grade they were found to be incredibly talented and were invited to participate in the Odyssey of the Mind program. If you don't know what that is, look it up. It's really a great challenge and fun activity for gifted-talented kids to help them think outside the box and exercise those remarkable minds.
My wife and I ended up sponsoring the chapter from the kids school and we had about 9 kids in the group. As part of the instruction and training, we had to encourage the kids to use their minds, to literally think outside the box. One exercise that was standard at each session was to get them to sit in a circle and then ask a series of questions. The kids had to fire off answers as quickly as they could.
For example, what can you do with an umbrella? After the standard answers of, keep rain and sun off, the kids would go into over-drive .... use it as a spear to go spear fishing. Use it as a lightning rod in a thunder storm. Use it as a sword to sword fight with your brother. Use it as a poker on someones butt! The answers would get hilarious, they also stretched their minds to think of other ways to look and think about their world around them.
I'll NEVER forget when the question came up in the guide book for the parent leaders: How do you get rid of a mouse in a house?
After all the trapping methods were exhausted, it got real interesting, and one answer I'll never, never, never forget that one of those little squirts came up with that got absolutely everyone laughing so hard, the remaining time we had together was spent on just that one question. How do you get rid of a mouse in a house? The life changing answer .... even for me? was? ... "burn the house down!"
My son and daughter are now 32 and 33 years old. I still laugh when I think of that answer!
