Backyard Archeologist

Don't you love the Target Dollar Spot!  We do!   Last summer I found some awesome excavation kits there for just $1.  I was super excited to see them again this year.  We are definitely going to pick up some more.  Each kit contains one "artifact" that is made of chalk or a chalk-like substance that is actually meant to be chipped away to reveal a hidden gem. I tucked four kits: sphinx, pyramid, sea shell, and fossil head away for a "rainy day" and completely forgot all about them!  That is, until little miss got a sand table for her fourth birthday and I remembered them again.  One evening, I hid them and told her that some ancient artifacts had been buried in her sand and she was an archeologist and needed to carefully find them. 

I gave her a shovel, a large paint brush and a small paint brush and told her the function of each.  The shovel was for poking and digging around to initially find an object.  The large paint brush was to gently brush away the sand and the small paint brush was to clean the object up once it had been removed entirely.  She ate it up and got straight to work!  

Look how serious she took her job of finding the artifacts.  

Using the large paint brush to brush away the sand.  

She was so excited to pull this ancient pyramid from the sand!

Next, she found this ancient sea shell.  

Using the small paint brush she gently brushed away the sand.  

This fossil head was an exciting find!

And finally she found the sphinx!

She loves hiding them for daddy every night.  The neat thing is, she doesn't even know that there is a hidden gem inside each one.  Going to milk the fun for a while longer before we let her in on that secret!

What is your favorite find at the Target Dollar Stop?

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