How to Make Amazing DIY Treasure Stones for Kids

Learn how to make FUN treasure stones that are hard like rocks that kids can easily break open to find a treasure inside! Get the easy treasure stone recipe and step-by-step instructions.

There’s just something magical about creating a cool kids activity out of basic ingredients you already have. These treasure stones I made for my son’s jungle safari birthday party are just that!

What are Treasure Stones?

Great question! A treasure stone is a fun creation that you make that looks like a rock and is hard on the outside, but is easily broken by a child with their hands to reveal a treasure inside.

treasure stone rock broken with toy snake inside

Making treasure stones is similar to making play dough. The main difference is that small toys are baked inside of the dough balls.

Kids love to break open their “rock” and find treasure inside!

broken treasure stone with pink toy snake inside

What Toys Can You Bake Inside a Treasure Stone?

You can add many different types of small toys to the inside of these treasure rocks.

plastic animals
kids rings and necklaces
coins
toy cars
and so much more!

The sky is really the limit. Most items are protected as they bake in the oven by the dough that surrounds them.

Be sure to keep an eye on your treasure stones while they bake, to be safe.

What Do You Do with Treasure Stones?

Turn the stones into dinosaur eggs for a dinosaur dig party like we did.
Treasure stones can be made to look like cannonballs for a pirate party.
Let the kids go on a hunt for the “rocks” in the backyard.
Pass them out as party favors at the end of a party.

Kids (and adults) of all ages will love breaking open their toys and seeing what’s inside!

Helpful Tip: This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to make more for a party or lots of friends.

Want to see the unique twist I gave these for our jungle safari party?

All our little guests wore jungle explorer tags. They searched through the jungle to find elephant dung specimen for scientific experiments. 😉

I made the dough a bit more wet for these. That way they flattened out when they were baked, which made them look more realistic.

The “elephant dung” was hidden all over the yard, then kids had to go on an expedition to find them all.

boy holding broken rock with blue ball inside

Thankfully, the adults all thought it was hilarious. The kids loved breaking their rocks open and finding out what was inside.

Check out more of our jungle safari party to see our party decorations and food. In part 2, I share our activities, cake, and FREE printable safari passes.

Enjoy!

Print Pin Recipe

DIY Treasure Stones

Learn how to make DIY treasure stones that are hard on the outside like rocks that can easily break open to find a treasure inside.

Active Time5 mins

Baking time45 mins

Total Time50 mins

Course: Kids Craft

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy, kids

Materials

1 cup flour
1 cup used coffee grounds (I get them for free from Starbucks since I don't drink coffee)
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup sand (You can use beach sand, playground sand, sand from Home Depot, or even cornmeal if you don't have any sand)
3/4 cup water
Small toys and prizes (Marbles, plastic animals, fake or real coins, and plastic jewelry are all great choices!)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees F. Combine all of the dry ingredients, then slowly add in the water and stir until the mixture becomes a dough. If the dough is still too wet, add some flour or sand to get the right consistency. The dough should be nice and firm, and not too wet.
Roll a piece of dough into a ball, add a toy or two to the middle, then roll the dough back into a nice, smooth ball.
Place the balls of dough on a foil-covered baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes. Be sure to let them cool completely before letting kids break them open.

Notes

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to make more treasure stones!

This DIY treasure stone article was updated in February 2021 and was originally published in January 2014.