Today Veronika helped make “gems” at home to take to the sandbox… A beach-sized sandbox that is! Although you could do this activity in a backyard sandbox (or inside!), there was something about being out on a real beach that doubled the fun.

To start, Veronika helped gather some special rocks from outside, and then we made them even more special with silver and gold paint. I assumed she would use a brush to paint the rocks, but she loved dunking them right into cups of paint!

This gave them a beautiful coating, although admittedly they took longer to dry. To speed up the process, I used a hair dryer on low, because we couldn’t wait to get outside.

It was time to head to the beach and see if X marked the spot! While Veronika wasn’t looking, I dug a hole and buried the rocks, along with a few other treasures from home like plastic gemstones and fake coins. If you’re burying items like this, make sure you keep track of them so you don’t leave any trash behind.

I handed her the shovel and encouraged her to dig. She was so delighted when she uncovered her first find, a golden coin.

We kept digging and used a toy colander to “pan” for the gold. She loved scooping sand into the colander, as well as watching it sift down.

When all the treasure has been collected, you can even leave the natural rocks behind for the next lucky pirate to find!