craft stick trinket box

We did this craft while we were in Michigan over the summer. You see, Kat's a "trinket" kind of kid. She loves all things small. Tiny things. Random, unrelated little toys and pieces of toys. Sparkly little baubles and beaded things. The kinds of things I inevitably step on when I walk into her room in the dark. In my bare feet!

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I saw this craft on a great website called Free Kids Crafts. They suggest a craft every day, if you're so inclined, although some look too complicated for my taste (see homemade chalkboards).

For this craft, you'll need a package of multicolored craft sticks (two packages if you want a larger box), glue, and five large beads (four for the legs and one for the handle). We used wooden beads from the craft store and painted them pink. The rest of the directions, per the above-linked website and adapted by me, are as follows:

Start with 10 craft sticks. Line up 8 craft sticks to form the bottom of your trinket box. Glue the 9th and 10th craft stick lengthwise across the top and bottom to hold them together.

Make another set exactly like the first. This will become the top of your trinket box.

Add two more sticks on the bottom lengthwise pieces to start building the sides. Continue adding sticks, alternating right/left, and top/bottom, until you reach the desired height.
. Glue a bead to the middle of the top and glue beads to the bottom of the four corners. Let stand to dry before handling. Once it's dry, you'll have one more place to store all those tiny, precious trinkets from which your kid refuses to be parted.

In our case, I should probably get started building a few more!

With love from The Valley of the Sun.