Ahoy, mateys! Have you heard the news? Disney is releasing an all-new Tinker Bell movie, The Pirate Fairy! I don’t know about your kids, but our girls love the Fairy movies. Truth be told, so do I…they’re so inventive and have a great message: be true to yourself and honor your talents. So in anticipation for the new movie, which you can own on Blu-ray™ and Digital HD starting April 1, I devised a fun pirate treasure hunt over the weekend. We had so much fun dressing up as pirate fairies and digging in the sand in our living room! It was a great way to kick off our Spring Break.
Here’s a closeup of our “treasure chest.”
And here’s our “treasure map.”
It couldn’t be simpler to re-create this fun activity in your home. You’ll probably have most of these supplies around already, especially if you have small kids who still have tons of plastic trinkets. Here’s what I rounded up:
Hunt for Buried Treasure
Supplies
- Plastic tablecloth
- Cardboard box
- Scissors
- Brown paper
- Markers
- Play sand (you can buy this at any hardware store)
- Plastic jewels, gold coins, etc.
- Sand toys–we found that the shovels and sieves were all we needed
- Pirate hats and scarves
- Desert island mural (This is optional, but it makes it feel more realistic; we got ours at Jo-Anns for 40% off of $7.99)
Steps
- Tack the mural (if you buy one) up on a blank wall. You could also make your own, but the realistic-looking one was fun.
- Spread the plastic tablecloth out on the floor.
- Cut the flaps off of the cardboard box and use a marker to draw on some wood grain. Doesn’t have to be perfect!
- Fill the box about 3/4 of the way with play sand.
- Mix the gems and trinkets into the sand, burying them as much as you can.
- Meanwhile, have your kids draw a treasure map. We just used some brown packing paper that was kinda crumpled. (Actually, my husband sketched one out for us…we did this on a Saturday, so he was actually home!)
- Dress up in pirate fairy garb, hand your kids some sand toys, then just stand back and watch the magic!
This was so easy, guys, and yet it provided so. Much. Fun. A little messy? Yeah, a little. But the plastic tablecloth helped a lot with that, and having wood floors made cleaning up the sand that did migrate very simple. I have to say, I’m not always the mom who’s into this kinda thing. I generally encourage our girls to make their own fun. I frequently make simple crafts or bake with them…or if they wanna play a board game, Uno, or read with them, I’m in. Activities that require imagination, though, aren’t my forte. The thing I realized, though, is that sometimes just setting the stage is enough. The treasure hunt I devised was just a jumping-off point for our girls. After they were done looking for the buried treasure, they took the couch cushions off and pretended they were on ships dodging crocodiles! I was reminded in doing this fun activity with them how fleeting their childhoods are.
Now, I’m sure when we get the The Pirate Fairy movie on Blu-ray and Digital HD April 1, I’ll be asked to re-create the magic of this particular Saturday afternoon. Who knows if I can? But I’ll think twice before saying no.
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