This bad boy was the bane of my existence for a good 2 weeks but it paid off in the end, allow me to explain.... :)
So summer reading has been in full swing around here, and I have been in a tizzy planning the super coolest games and activities for my summer program called "Can You Dig It". P.S. - I planned my entire program on Evernote by the way (which was awesomely helpful for this typically unorganized almost-librarian!) Anyhow back to the behemoth that you see above... It started as a large lcd tv box and, as my unhealthy obsession with cardboard projects continued, I decided to turn it into a punch box game, like this.
My idea was that I would read this book,
and then lead the kids on a treasure hunt that ended at the punch box where they were to uncover their buried treasure by punching through the holes and rifling through the "sand" (aka rice). Sounds easy right? Sure, but this program was for 35 kids, and I had to have a hole for each kid to punch through, thus many hours were spent precisely cutting circular cutouts big enough for tiny 4th grader hands. Now if you yourself, feel up to the challenge of creating this mama-jama, then the first thing you are going to need is tape....I mean an obscene amount of tape! Take a look at the tutorial I linked to above, then come back, I'll wait...Oh hi! Welcome back, alright, so once you have used said tape for the tissue paper here is the tricky part...I really wanted to give the kids the feeling of "digging in the sand" without actually using messy real sand in the library. So i decided to fill the bags with rice, but that doesn't work when you are putting them on upside down. So I placed the treasure (in my case plastic bugs, lizards, snakes, and mardi gras beads) on the tissue paper squares which were taped to the inside of the holes. I then dumped 2 or 3 scoops of rice on top of each item, followed by taping the bags over the top. It is a little tricky to place them just right. But if you use enough tape everything should stay well secured when you (with the help of a very nice friend) flip it gently over. At that point you can then tape the box back together. I layed my punch box on the floor so the kids could really feel like they were digging in the ground, but I have seen many tutorials where they leave the back off of the box and hang it up. Either way it is sure to be a hit! As soon as the kids discovered the "pirate beach" they swarmed to it like ants on a piece of candy. So if you are feeling ambitious and crafty, give it a try and let me know how it worked out for you. :)
