Treasure Box crafting

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my little ones are into pirates, treasure, Peter Pan and adventure at the moment.  I didn't mention, but we've also been watching "Art Attack" on CITV.  It's much better than CBeebies' "Mr Maker" because, for a start, they do real art, and for a second, he is much more into using recycled materials and doesn't waste nearly as much paper and card as Mr Maker, who insists on cutting a small shape out of the middle of a large piece of paper (oops, sorry, this is a real bug-bear of mine, I'll get off the soap box now!).  Anyway, Neil Buchanan on Art Attack shows quite a lot of papier mache being used for all sorts of things, so we were inspired to use this technique to make our very own pirate treasure chest, which includes a secret compartment for your treasure map.


We started off with a cardboard box.  I used the cardboard box to measure, and cut out a rectangle of cereal box card the same width as the box, and more than twice the depth, allowing for a curved lid with a flap for the secret compartment in the lid.  I folded this piece of card and taped it in place, then cut out two more pieces of card for the sides of the lid and taped them in place too.

Next came the messy bit.  We brushed the entire box, lid, tape and everything with a mixture of half PVA glue and half water and then stuck on lots of bits of torn up kitchen roll all over, leaving no gaps.  The children did the outside, and I filled in the gaps and did the inside.

Once this is dry you can paint it.  C and Bug chose blue and purple and just went for it.  Afterwards I just put their clothes straight in the washing machine and them straight in the bath.

Once this paint was dry I added some details in black, and once this was dry they put in some "treasure".  I think the next project may be to make some more treasure!