Art Project: Desert Treasure Boxes

In preparing for our "Expedition in the Desert!", I came up with this idea so that the children would have an open-ended project to help them go deeper with the stories they hear. If you are doing a desert theme with your children at church or at school, it is a fun way to help them contemplate more.

The first step is to give the children small, plain craft boxes to decorate. I ordered mine here.

Then have the children decorate the boxes however they like. (I specifically did not decorate one beforehand to show the children, so that they would not simply copy mine!) I provided them with both paint and colored construction paper.

This child covered his box in construction
paper and made a latch for it.

The next step is to put a small amount of sand in the box.

Then, we gave the children air-drying clay (I use this brand) and asked them to make a small "treasure" to go inside the box. I suggested that they make something that either reminded them of a desert story or of their friendship with God.

The children made a variety of things: camels, crosses, a challis, a spiral. 

Below you can see my set-up for this particular project. I placed paint, brushes, water, glue, scissors, colored paper, sand and clay in an orderly manner on the table. I like to place things like scissors and glue in trays to keep them from getting scattered everywhere.

If you try this project with your own students, please let me know.  I'd love to hear about how it went and see pictures!

Linked to Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions