Treasure map / Scavenger Hunt

This blog of my favorites, because it features a fun craft, an even more fun activity, and also lets kids get outside! I would especially recommend this if the weather is super nice outside and you have a big backyard so you can dig around a little. This is the most fun if you're also a teacher and have a bunch of kids to do it, so that they can trade treasure maps and find what their friend has hid at the "X". Let's get started! Materials (w/ substitutions in parenthesis)

For Treasure Map:

• A4 printer paper (better if you have brown construction paper)

• Colored Pencils (or any colorful medium)

For Treasure:

• 2 square pieces of paper

• Literally anything you have in your house! A lego figurine, cute polaroids, lip gloss, or a small gag gift for the person hunting for your treasure

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Step 1:

Okay, so you COULD hypothetically tea stain your A4 paper to achieve the aged brown treasure-map look above, but I'm assuming most of you don't have time for that.

If you do have time though, here are the steps I've found to work:

1. Rip off the edges like so to give your paper a rugged look

2. Dab a wet tea bag along both sides of your paper, padded with a paper tower to not wet your tables --> give it 15 minutes in the sun on a cookie rack to dry

3. When completely dry, crumple up your paper, open it up, and tada!

Step 2:

Once you have chosen a victim of landscape, as well as where X marks the spot of your treausre, it's time to make a silly replica of it on your treasure map! I love an almost Diary of a Wimpy Kid art style for these, and above I've demonstrated with a generic backyard. In this scenario, the treasure is hidden in the tall grass to the left of the bird bath. Please take as many creative liberties as you want at this part! Use color pencils, markers, crayons, whatever you have on hand! On the last step of the scavenger hunt, feel free to make it cryptic and fun. For my bird bath, I drew a tempestuous sea roaring over some jagged mountains, with birds gliding around the scene. Besides it all, of course, draw your red X and you're done!

🌟 I find it fun to roll up your treasure map and tie it with a hair elastic to give to someone else, and await your treasure to be found.

Step 3:

Now that you have the map, it's time to actually obtain your treasure. To make the 'chest' that contain your treasure, I put instructions to a simple origami box below. Just for the formalities of it being a treasure hunt, you don't want your prize laying strewn in the dirt, do you?

Again, the prize can be anything. It can be a nice message for whoever finds it, another piece of ingenius origami hiding inside, some figurines you're ready to say goodbye to. We all already have so many hidden treasures inside our homes! Take a moment to reflect before you click buy on the brand new squishy stress ball or glittery ornament you probably (definitely) don't need.

So overall, this craft lets your kids get outside to touch some grass, introduces some great bonding moments, and can nudge them to realize how many trinkets they already own! Enjoy and let me know if you end up doing this in the comments.