Camp Mommy: treasure hunt!

This week for Camp Mommy, Bug became a pirate and I organized a treasure hunt in our backyard. This one took a little preparation from me, something I started doing right after last week's Camp Mommy. I bought the treasure chest from Michaels (I believe it was a 50% coupon I used, so it cost me $5). For those of you who know me, you can attest to me being "some what" of a perfectionist (Type A personality) all the way...haha...okay, I am 100% a perfectionist. So I did something that was not needed, and Bug probably wouldn't have cared either way, I painted the treasure chest with metallic and gold sparkle paint (obviously an extra cost you can leave out and the fun would not be affected). I also made a treasure map, by soaking paper on a baking pan in some coffee for about 3 minutes, poured the extra away and ripped the edges after the paper was wet. I also made some holes in the paper with my fingernails. I then put the paper on the baking sheet in the oven at 200 F for about 10 minutes (I kept checking it, and when the paper's edges started curving up, it was done). Now you could end this here, and it would fulfill the purpose of looking aged...but again with my Type A personality, I burned the edges and holes with a candle. Then I drew out the map, highlighting specific landmarks of our backyard to help Bug navigate the map. I also added a bit of learning to the hunt, by creating certain check points labeled with numbers 1 - 5 (in the "aged" paper). Each check point had a chocolate gold coin to add to the atmosphere of finding a pirate's treasure.

To complete the imaginative play, I purchased some pirate attire. From Dollarama, there was a $2 pirate set with an ax, a bandana, an eye patch, a pirate scope (what Bug calls it), and some pirate jewelry. I found a foam pirate hat at Michaels ($5) and a foam pirate sword at Dollarama (which I preferred Bug playing with instead of the plastic ax). He got into the role quite quickly and was very excited to go find his treasure!

He actually navigated the map very well, and used his trusty pirate scope to search for our big tree (one of the check points). Then after the tree landmark, the next stop was his treasure, but he had to go through some tall grass (we've had so much rain this past week and it hasn't been cut...but it aided in the fun for our camp mommy activity today). He used his pirate sword and pretended to hack away at the imposing blades of grass (okay, mostly weeds). He was a very happy boy when he got his treasure!

Now, what you decide to put in your treasure chest is entirely up to you. I decided to put some cheap candy and toys (the chocolate loonies, I believe are a must though) in ours. Also, not that I don't spoil my children, because I do; but a lot of the time I'd rather the toys I pick up at random be used or given for a special activity. I don't want the boys to expect "presents" all the time. So, within his treasure loot, I spent a little extra money on some special transformer toys...just to give this pirate a little bit of extra happy!

I have to say, after Camp Mommy is done for the week, I already start planning the next one...I think I may be even more excited for these days then Bug is. Unfortunately, Bear was asleep during this Camp Mommy. So extra cuddles and kisses will come his way once he's up!

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