Sandbox Treasure Hunt For Your Kids

My three year old daughter has been all about hunting for things lately. Whether she is purposely hiding her lovey from me or going on bear hunts, she loves looking for things. This made a sandbox treasure hunt an obvious activity choice for her birthday party. Since she wanted an under the sea themed party, I thought a hunt for seashells would be perfect.

While we used this seashell hunt as a birthday party activity, you can easily use it as an activity for any occasion. We haven’t put it away yet and both kids still love digging for seashells in it.

Making a Sandbox Treasure Hunt

Materials:

• Sandbox or wading pool
• Play sand
• Seashells
• Plastic shovels
• Snack size plastic bags

Creating:

It is so easy to set up a seashell sandbox treasure hunt. Before the party started, we took several bags of play sand and filled up a plastic wading pool that we already had. An actual sandbox would work even better. We actually ended up buying one later, when we knew how much both kids liked it. Then, we mixed in a whole bunch of seashells. We used basic white clam shells, but there are also really fun mixes of all sorts of different seashells. We hid some shells deep down and we left some on the top since we had a wide age range of kids coming.

I also filled a bucket with plastic shovels and plastic bags and placed it near the sandbox. In case I wasn’t around, I taped instructions on the outside to help explain that it was a seashell hunt. You can get a copy of the instructions and seashell bag labels here.

Once the party started, we told the kids they could start seashell hunting while we waited for everyone to show up. Any seashells they found they got to put in their favor sand pail and bring home. Several of the kids really enjoyed it. Even my one year old son was set in the very middle of the sandbox and had a blast.

Outcome of Our Sandbox Treasure Hunt:

I’m so glad that we decided to do this sandbox treasure hunt for my daughter’s under the sea party. It was such a nice and easy activity to set up. Plus, my kids loved it so much that we still use it on an almost daily basis. They put the shells they find back in the sand when we clean up, so they never run out of shells to find. I hope your kids enjoy it as much as mine did. What others things do you think would be fun to hide in the sand?