Nature Crafts & Activities: Make a Discovery Box

Making a discovery box is like doing a treasure hunt. The idea is to make a special box, and fill it with stuff kids find interesting.  There are two main ways to use the box:

1. Do a treasure hunt (you’ll find a treasure hunt PDF print out blow) where the kids look for something in relation to the prompt: Here are a few examples:

• Find something pink: this may be a pink toy, a milk bottle lid, a hair clip or a plastic spoon from Wendy’s Ice cream
• Find a stick: keep in mind it has to fit in the discovery box
• Find something rough: this could be bark, sand paper or corrugated paper

2. The other way to use a discovery box is to have it handy for any sort of collections like rocks, leaves, flowers, coins and shells; all the little things that kids find interesting.

Make a Discovery Box

Our Discovery Box is made from a shoe box wrapped in gift paper. Below are other ways you can decorate the box:

• Use brown paper and allow the kids to draw over it
• Glue pictures from junk mail or magazines over the entire box
• Use a plastic container (instead of a box) and decorate it with stickers

Below are a variety of free printable labels you can use.

{click the picture for the printer friendly PDF file}

{click the picture for the printer friendly PDF file}