The first thing you do is purchase a treasure chest. I went to my local JoAnn Fabrics and used my 40% coupon to get our treasure chests. While you are at the fabric store purchase 1/2 a yard of outdoor fabric. You will use this fabric to make your treasure maps later.
I let the kids use basic acrylic paint that is super cheap to paint and decorate their own treasure boxes. They enjoyed the activity and it keep them occupied for about 25 minutes. (My camera had a smudge left from little fingers that I didn't notice until later. )
Several days later we made our treasure maps to lead to our treasure chests. One helpful hint I have discovered dealing with paints and children is to place only a few drops of water in each color. This way when, (because you know it is when), they accidentally tip the tray over it will only spill a minimal amount. I use a syringe, probably due to my medical background, but it is the easiest way I have found to control the amount of water and where the water is going. I picked this one up during a trip to the pharmacy. They are very handy to keep around.
My little painters had fun creating their treasure maps and explaining what everything meant. I think their favorite part was painting the X. Using the outdoor fabric will prevent leakage through and it will not make a mess. I cut the 1/2 yard of outdoor fabric into manageable squares of about 14 X 14.
Here are our masterpieces. One thing I would like to do, but have not yet is find a few rocks outside about a quarter in size and spray paint them silver and gold. This way we can actually have some "treasure" in our treasure chests when they find them on their hunt.
Happy Hunting
You are so creative!! I love this:)
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