Create the Perfect Treasure Chest

I think every little boy goes through a pirate and treasure phase!  This is a super simple way to join in the fun and create a happy memory! 

Step 1:  Create a treasure map - for tips check out this blog post! 

Step 2:  Create a treasure chest!  You can find one of these at most any craft store or you can get on Amazon:

Step 3:  Paint the box.  They key to making it look old is different shades of paint.  Paint it brown.  Then while it's still wet, add gray on top.  Then add some black streaks.  Then add brown streaks.  

Step 4:  Fill the box!  Not so much anymore, but Michaels used to have a colorful rock station for kids.  If you don't find them in a store, you can find similar ones here.  Other super fun fillers are pyrite and chocolate gold coins!

Step 5: Have one adult stay with the kids and one adult go to the location to hide the treasure and the map!  (Inside a bottle is always fun.)

Step 6:  Once you're all at the location - make sure the kids find the map - then tell them a story about how you've always heard there was buried treasure around there.  Maybe this map leads to it!  

Quiet Book - Matching Game

I found some dump truck buttons on Etsy and thought they would make a perfect matching game for Kellan's Quiet Book.  Actually a pretty hard matching game - they're all the same shape, same wheels, but all have two different colors on them.  My next challenge was that there weren't enough different color combinations.  So I problem solved that #likeaboss and used markers to make some new color combos.  

I had to really think through this one.  For the game to be fun more than once, you have to be able to move the pieces around, so I cut out a lot of little squares.  I sewed Velcro to half the squares and hand sewed a truck button to half the squares and then sewed the Velco squares and the truck squares together.  Then I cut flap pieces, sewed those to the background pages, finally I sewed Velcro under the flaps.

My mom and I played it and it was very fun!

Thinking of making a Quiet Book - an assortment of felt will help get you started!

Quiet Book - Snail Lacing Page

For this project you'll need:

Felt: 9x9 blue, 9x9 purple (any shell color), scrap green, light pink (any body color) and white
pony beads
shoe lace
needle and thread
sewing machine
googly eyes (or you can make them out of black and white felt)

Steps:
1. Cut out felt pieces
2. Sew spiral shape onto shell (large circle piece of felt).  I used the triple stitch feature on my sewing machine so it would show up better
3. Hand sew the pony beads
4. Sew the felt pieces down
5. Sew the shoe lace to the bottom and cover it with another layer of grass.
6. Add googly eyes If you're making a Quiet Book - an assortment of felt is a great way to get started!

Learning Your Name Quiet Book Page

This is a pretty cool page!  To make the "paper" I used different colors of thread in my sewing machine.  On white felt, I sewed the top and bottom lines with a tight stitch and then the widest possible stitch for the middle.  Then I cut my nephew's name out of a double layer of felt, then I stitched them together, to give the letters a bit of weight.

The other side of the spread was a little pocket, with a snap closure to store the letters.