Egyptian Treasure Boxes

My 9 year old worked hard this Fall, helping a neighbor clear out tree limbs from a tree that had needed trimmed. When we realized the neighbor didn’t want the limbs anymore, he asked if he could have them for a project. He wanted to make some tree blocks for his brother and sisters for the holidays. We carefully looked over the limbs for the best ones and neatly stacked them up against the house so that we could cut them the next evening.

The next day we got home after a field trip and realized that the electric company, who had been trimming trees along electrical wires, had seen our neatly stacked limbs and apparently decided to dispose of them for us. Carefully laid plans for a young buy’s gift for his siblings were quickly waylaid. A friend offered a couple of logs, and we once again planned to make some tree blocks to go with our standard unit blocks. When I tried to help him cut them, we quickly realized that our saw was not appropriate for the size logs we had. Once again, he needed a new gift idea.

As Yule approached and we were running out of time for him to make something, we took a trip to the store. Looking around, he found some small and inexpensive wooden boxes that were perfet for treasure boxes. He picked out a different color of paint for each person and painted them at home. Then he used a black sharpie marker to write each of their names in Egyptian heiroglyphics. These were well received. All of the kids have stashed little treasures away in them. My four year old even listed his treasure box as one of his favorite gifts.