Frog has a new toy. It cost me, well, let’s just say it was very very cheap. As cheap as a box of treasure comes, in fact.

At nearly 16 months, my daughter has decided she’s not particularly interested in toys any more. She’d rather play with real stuff. It doesn’t really matter what stuff, as long as it’s stuff.

Useful stuff is best; a bowl, a wooden spoon, some pegs. Anything that isn’t a real toy and which I’m likely to need within the next half an hour.

So we decided to make a box of treasure. A box of treasure, filled with real stuff. The benefits to this are threefold:

1) Actually making the treasure box occupied my easily-bored child for a good half an hour.

2) Playing with the stuff in the treasure box provided yet more time when she was occupied.

3) It meant she kept her chubby little hands out of my cupboards for a good, oh, half an hour at least.

Warning: Only exceedingly rich and talented parents may create such an incredible treasure box, due to the hugely expensive contents and lovingly painted interior. Obviously.

Contents include: A pair of gardening gloves, some conkers, a few shells, a couple of walnuts, some scraps of fabric, a teaspoon, a lemon juicer, a luggage label, two painted toilet rolls.

All very expensive, I’m sure you’ll agree.