Treasure Hunting

Since the children were small we would take them on lots of walks and "look for treasures." To my son, finding treasures means bottles caps, car parts, rubber bands....anything that can be used for making inventions. For our girl it means butterflies, bugs, lizards, feathers or special leaves and lady bugs.

Going to the beach is one of our favourite treasure hunting places...

Shells are amongst the loveliest treasures to find and we have some lovely ones that we've found on our beach adventures.

You know how we love the amazing patterns and designs...

...but there are other treasures you can find on the beach....

ones that you pick up and visit but then leave behind when you go....

Some are past treasures...no longer living but nevertheless interesting...

This one made a very interesting "show and tell" time at school.

and then there's the interesting folks we meet on our adventures, like this little fella and his friends who popped up to see the children while they were swimming one afternoon....

We've tried to teach the children that not all the silver and gold in the world needs to be found on jewellery or in shops....some of it is free!

This tree was so much more amazing in real life than even the photos can show.

But perhaps my favourite moment on the beach was on a recent holiday, discovering what I call

"Paws, Claws and Digits"

Found all in the same area but made at different times.

The paws were from a dingo, the claws those of a seagull and then my daughters digits were last to follow the same trail.

As we leave the beach we explain to them to leave only your footprints behind and take the experience with you!