Pirate crafts

by Tiana Bobby likes to pretend and lately it's been all about pirates. I blame a few key episodes of the Backyardigans as well as his Nanny ( my MIL) for buying him some shorts covered in skulls with crossbones. Since he's going around the house growling "YO HO HO" and "Scalawag!" already I figured I'd take a trip to Michael's for a craft idea, making a treasure chest!

While there I found a plain wooden box with a hinged rounded lid and a latch, a set of six bright tempera paints, some paint brushes, a package of rhinestones, some pirate themed stickers in the scrap booking section and SCORE OF ALL SCORES a foam pirate hat (a mere $5)!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sassy_red_head/5594087536/

I figured Bobby could choose to either decorate his treasure chest with the rhinestones or he could just put them inside as his "jewels". He spent a good amount of time sloshing paint all over the box and putting on some hand prints. As we waited for it to dry, I unveiled the hat and dug out an empty paper towel roll to use as a telescope for some pretend play to pass the time. Once it was dry, Bobby wanted to decorate the box with the stickers. The pull off pretty easily so after he went to sleep I stuck them on with some craft glue. I hid the jewels all around the house and we went on a treasure hunt to find them all. Once all his booty was in his treasure chest we buried it (hid it in the powder room) and drew a treasure map on the chalkboard so Daddy could find the treasure.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sassy_red_head/5593501339/

All in all it was a good day of fun and all the supplies cost under $20 and everything we made has been in use ever since.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sassy_red_head/5593497841/

Tiana is mother to Bobby Hurricane. You can catch her being generally awesome over at Sassy Red Head.