I keep a supply of nuts and a container of Sunsweet Ones (individually wrapped prunes) on my desk for grazing throughout the day. I know how this sounds, and to give you a balanced picture, let it also be known that I have been on a quest for the perfect hot dog and hamburger for quite a few years now. I like to balance working out with pigging out.

Anyway, I recently finished off the last prune and found myself staring at the empty canister, wondering what I could use it for. It had definite potential to be repurposed for something else… Robot part? Shaker? Drumstick holder? All viable uses. What about a look and find tube? Bingo! It would make a perfect look and find tube! Really, you can use any plastic container that you wish, such  as a soda bottle.

I consulted with my wife about dying rice for the filler, sine she had recently died pasta for another project. I used her technique and it worked out great.

The tube held two cups of rice with a little room to spare, so I divided that into five ziploc bags, adding about a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol and about four drops of food coloring to each bag. Then I let my daughter shake them to her heart’s content. We spread out the rice on a foil lined pan and  left it out to dry while we played outside in the snow.

Later that day, I looked around for tiny items to hide in te tube. I thought about putting little miniature people and animals in it, but I didn’t want to have run out and purchase anything since I had already made everything else from what was readily available. My list of found treasures is below. I mixed them with the rice and dumped it all into the tube, using super-glued to seal it. I’d also recommend some packing tape on the lid. This is one toy we do not want to break in the car!

• Saxophone lapel pin
• Pink Pez
• Blue M&M
• Brown M&M
• Mini green M&M
• Flintstone vitamin
• Chalk
• Pistachio
• Cocoa dusted almond
• Broken red crayon
• Goldfish cracker
• Red bead
• Pair of googly eyes
• Pencil eraser
• Black pen cap
• Red paperclip
• Washer
• Drywall screw
• Penny
• Nickel
• Dime
• Match stick
• Yellow paperclip
• Hair clip
• Large nut
• Small nut
• Dog treat
• Pushpin
• Pen spring
• Tiny yellow hair band
• Blue gem
• Toothpick

When my kids get board of finding item from this lists I’ll cut open the container, throw in some different tiny treasures, and seal it back up in a new container. You can also take a picture of all the items so your  kids can know exactly what they are searching for (I wish I would have thought of the BEFORE I sealed the lid).