Treasure Seasons Project Box Review

*Ad

Having two children who love to keep busy means that I am always on the lookout for plenty of fun activities that will not only challenge them but also bring them joy so when Julia from Treasure Seasons Project Boxes asked if we would like to review her summer box I was thrilled. With 12 well-thought-out projects aimed at all ages, a 50-page detailed magazine with clear instructions and photos as well as nearly all the tools you’ll need to carry each activity out, this bumper box seemed absolutely perfect for my boys. This is how we got on…

About Treasure Seasons

Treasure Seasons is run by Mum of one and teacher, Julia. With a passion for nature, the environment, Montessori and Waldorf learning practices and spending time with her family, Julia wanted to create a seasonal box that would incorporate all of these aspects. The Treasure Seasons Project Boxes are designed to foster an appreciation for each season, help families find joy in the little things, and spend quality time celebrating the simple every day.

Julia says:

“One of my ideas behind creating Treasure Seasons was that, in my opinion, a fulfilling family life does not necessarily mean you have to open your home to garish colours, noisy toys and endless piles of plastic.

• It does our family a world of good to have a calm home with lots of natural elements and also to simply have fewer things. It helps to ground us and as so often, this then reflects in how we interact with each other and our family life.

• I love making things, but I have seen my fair share of “toddler crafts” that provide two minutes of brightly coloured entertainment only to end up in the bin shortly after.

• I don’t think it is necessary to separate craft or activity boxes into those for adults and those for kids. It’s all about the way we adapt an activity. With clever scaffolding (hence why the project booklet has turned into quite a chunky booklet), more challenging activities become accessible for younger children and often, the end product is something that continues to enrich our family life even beyond the creative process. We end up creating something that fills us with pride as a family and something that we welcome into our home without generating tons of non recyclable waste.

• So I guess what I’m trying to say is that the style of Treasure Seasons is one of calm, inspired by nature, full of heart and soul, a bit bohemian, a bit minimalist, but still decorative in an aesthetic way.”

*Image courtesy of Thyme Lane Photography & Treasure Seasons Project Boxes

The Treasure Seasons Summer Box

At the time of the review, Julia had just launched the summer box and with school still coming out early and the 6 week break coming up this seemed ideal.

The projects included in the Treasure Seasons Summer Box are:
• Summer Suncatcher
• Cress Hedgehog
• Giant Bubble Wand
• Cardboard Insects
• Strawberry Semi-freddo
• Avocado Tree
• Dried Flower Ornaments
• Dried Flower Lanterns
• Recycled Paper
• Pinwheel Card
• Lion Wall-hanging
• Scrap Windchime

As mentioned above, the box is packed full of almost everything you need to do the projects with the exception of items such as scissors, sticks, colouring pencils/pens, paint and so on. The items that are included have all been packaged with no plastic, little waste, reusable pots and recyclable and compostable packaging. Perfect for the eco-conscious family.

Treasure Seasons Project Box Review

When the Treasure Seasons Project Box arrived I was blown away by the detail, by how beautiful everything was and how premium it felt. This is far cry from the cheap craft sets you can buy in the supermarket, with their plastic pieces, glitter, fiddly felt, tiny parts that are easily lost and so on. This box is everything I had ever wanted to find from a kids craft set and more!

The magazine is a wonderful touch and the work that has gone into creating this is clear to see. With a tick list for the equipment required, detailed instructions and stunning photos, there is no way you can go wrong. I think what I loved most was that it felt really personal. Julia has written it as she has done the projects herself with her own son and so you feel as though she is really speaking to you and advising you on how best to carry them out.

Each project in the box can be carried out by children of varied ages (with some adult help for smaller ones) or you could even choose to do some yourself as a bit of mindfulness time in the evenings.

Before you begin with any project I would highly recommend thoroughly reading the magazine as some activities are required to be done before another, for example, you will need the wooden ring from the Lion Wall Hanging to make your recycled paper so you will need to do your paper project first but Julia has made this very clear with the order of the projects in the magazine so just check this before jumping straight in.

Cardboard Insects

We started our box with the cardboard insects and because there are no small parts and you have everything you need right there in the box, we could carry it all outside and enjoy this activity in the garden.

The boys are aged 3 and 7 and both could easily get on and colour their insects all by themselves.

Jake (7) cut all of his out by himself with ease but I obviously had to help William with this due to his age. Once they were all cut out, we followed the images to glue the insect parts together. The boys chose an insect each but there are more in the box so this is an activity you can do and come back to.

Pinwheel Card

The pinwheel card project seemed a perfect second choice as we wanted to create some thank you cards for teachers and birthday cards. What I loved about this was how straight forward it was to follow.

The coloured card for the wheels all have a template to follow which you cut out (very fiddly so an adult will probably have to do this) and then you fold to create the shape and pin in place. William really surprised me by getting very involved in this activity, he particularly enjoyed making the holes for the pin. I started him off by guiding him and then he took over:

The final results are just stunning, aren’t they?!…

We then popped out to find some sticks so we could also make some windmills:

Cress Hedgehog

This was the project I was looking forward to the most and it didn’t disappoint.

Both the boys immediately got straight into creating their hedgehog shapes using the clay provided. William only needed a small amount of help to get him started and to get the initial shape happening. The concentration in the room was clear to see as they both quietly got on with this activity and used the images to get ideas for adding the finishing touches to their hedgehogs.

Once these were made, we added a glue varnish and left them to dry. Then we lined them with foil, added some cotton wool pads and the cress. William was very proud:

Recycled Paper

We next went onto make the recycled paper because we had the idea of turning these into sweet-smelling bookmarks as gifts.

This was a really simple task and one that everyone can easily get involved with. The boys happily sat ripping up bits of paper we had used or partly used during homeschooling.

We added water, left it to soak overnight and then gave it all a blitz with the handheld blender. The kids loved that part! Once completely mushed up, we mixed in lavender to give our paper a lovely scent. Then you use the wooden ring to place the mixture inside and leave it to set.

Once dry you have pretty recycled paper that you can cut out to make shapes, cards, bookmarks and so on.

This project was fun, easy for all ages and made a lovely homemade gift.

Lion Wall Hanging

The lion wall hanging would make a wonderful bedroom decoration or gift and I was really excited to get stuck into this.

This project is very fiddly but it is great for older children and adults. I started it off and then once I got the knack for it I showed William who again, surprised me and picked it up quickly although he couldn’t quite keep it up but being 3 that was to be expected.

This project took more time, patience and skill than the others we had done but it was so satisfying to watch come together.

And once completed we were all over the moon with it…

Giant Bubble Wand

This is my last project to review for you because this as far as we have got with the Treasure Seasons Summer Box but doesn’t it already seem as though we have done so much? We still have plenty more to keep us busy over the summer break which just goes to show how much you get from this box.

The Giant Bubble Wand may well be my favourite so far because it just brought so much fun to what had been a bit of a day.

Both children were feeling a little bored at home and hadn’t wound down from the end of school so we took a look through our trusty box and chose to make the bubble wand.

With this project the only equipment we needed to add was a pair of scissors and two large sticks. Again, the instructions were easy to follow and the great thing about this is that you can make it over and over again. We had so much fun trying to get good bubbles and everybody got involved:

Overall Thoughts

The Treasure Seasons Project Box has brought us weeks of fun activities, crafts and memories, I have been so grateful for it. It has been our go-to when the children have been a bit bored, when they’ve had a few hours to fill after school and when they have needed to get away from screen time. You can see how much we have already done and yet we still have more projects to complete. This box isn’t just for a one-off arts and crafts session, it is a carefully curated project box designed to last you for months and helping to keep the whole family occupied. I would most definitely purchase this box in the future and cannot wait to see what ideas Julia has cooked up for the Autumn! Not only will it save me wasting my money on crafts bits that usually end up in the bin, but it also prevents extra waste, it provides items that can be kept or given as gifts plus it challenges children in a variety of ways. The Treasure Seasons Box gets big thumbs up from all of us!

The Treasure Seasons Summer Box is currently on offer over on the Etsy page with 10% off but I can offer you another 10% off via this link (it will be taken off automatically at the checkout). You can also follow Julia and keep updated on future boxes over on Instagram.

*I was sent the Treasure Seasons Project Box in exchange for an honest review. As always all opinions are my own. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.

Pin for later:

If you enjoyed this post you can follow more of our life, opinions and antics over on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Plus feel free to come and join in with my parenting group ‘From One Parent to Another’ on Facebook.

If you’d like to contact me you can either leave me a comment or drop me a line via my contact me page.

For other topics similar to this one check out these suggestions below…