How to Make a Treasure Map
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BIC®. All opinions are 100% mine.
My boys love to play pretend. My 4 and 6 year old boys especially have a great imagination and love to head off on their pretend adventures. My home is often filled with superheroes, knights, pirates, and other characters they pretend to be throughout the day. I created an easy treasure map for them to set off on an exploration and they loved it! Let me show you how to make a treasure map in just a few minutes!
You’ll need:
- Parchment paper, packing paper, or construction paper
- BIC Mark-It™ Permanent Markers
I started by grabbing recycled materials from a package I received. You don’t need anything fancy, just find a scrap piece of material to get started or use a piece of construction paper if you don’t have anything around that you can recycle.
Crinkle up your paper by balling it up and then smoothing it out flat a few times to make your paper soft and weathered looking.
Next, tear down the edges of your map to give it a softened edge. Don’t worry about perfection, in fact the rougher the edge the better for making your map look and feel authentic.
Roll in the edges to make the map like a scroll and press down on the roll to slightly crease the roll to help it hold the shape of the rolled edge.
Now, it’s time to start drawing on your designs. I started with making an “X” for the treasure location, a compass rose and adding fun landmarks for my kids. My map included a cave, crystal rock, palm tree and the sandy beach landing location.
You’ll also want to fill in other fun details on your map like naming your treasure map or adding how many paces between each destination. I even added fun directions like “circle Crystal Rock” or “head through Whisper Cave” which let my kids get active when they’re exploring and do more than just walk from destination to destination.
Then, add in some pirate coins for fun and for effect! You can also hide a treasure for your kids!
We had so much fun with our treasure map! I loved watching my 4 year old roam around the house telling me what spot he was at next and excitedly shouting that he found the treasure! This super simple craft takes no more than 5 minutes and will provide tons of fun for the kids. This idea came as part of BIC’s Month of Merry Marking free PDF printable available on their Facebook page!
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Head over to the BIC Facebook Page to get the booklet of merry marking and a coupon to start marking this or one of the other fun seasonal ideas available! Plus, you can also grab a $1 off coupon to help you save on BIC Mark-It™ Permanent Markers!
Now, I nominate my 3 sister-in-law’s to give this project a try with their tots! Naomi, Karen, and Emily – it’s your turn!
This is fabulous! I love it. Pinned and tweeted. Thanks for being a part of our party! I hope you stop by on Monday at 7 pm. We love to party with you. Merry Christmas! Lou Lou Girls
What a fun idea for a whole entire afternoon of play. I will have to make one of these for my grandson as he would absolutely love it! I also need to get me some of those Bic Markers…they look like they have way better colors than my Sharpie’s. Thank you for sharing with all of us on the Oh My Heartsie Girls Wordless Wednesday.
Wishing you a wonderful week.
xx
Lysa ~ Co-Host OMHGWW
I need some of those bic mark its!! So cool for school projects too. Love the treasure map!
This is so cute! Davey would LOVE this! Perfect to make for a hiking adventure!
What an adorable treasure map! It would be so cool to make a map that lead to a gift or something fun! I think I’ll try one out with my kids.
any pirate lover would love this treasure map! I can easily see my pre-schooler getting a kick out of one because she loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
That is such a cute idea. I would love to do this as part of a birthday party theme!
This is so neat! My daughter used to love anything to do with Pirates, she would have loved this when she were littler.
Looks like your kids made a cute map! My girls would love to make one too!
LOVE your DIY Treasure Map idea! BIC markers are my favorite and I use them for everything. I especially love how you crinkled up the paper to make it look old! great idea.
What a great idea, I’m definitely doing this with my daughter. She LOVES pirates and was even one for Halloween!
it looks amazing. So simple too, those are supplies we all have
We geocache so this would be fun to make and leave as one of the cache or give to kiddo to tell her we are going on a special adventure.
Wow, I love this. A wonderful adventure.
Thanks for sharing this great idea. My son’s are going to love this!
This is such a cute idea. My son would have loved this when he was younger.
We used to do treasure hunts all the time when the kids were little. They used to love to follow the map and find the treasure.
This is a neat idea! My son is very into pirates, but I never thought to create a treasure map for him. I am going to do this once he’s feeling better (sinus infection, ugh!).
How fun! Great idea indeed! Perfect for a kid’s pirate party
What a super fun idea for children! I do love all of the colors of the Bic Mark It markers. I am going to be picking up a pack for my daughter’s stocking this year!
This is such a great idea. Maybe I will make a treasure map to find the stash of Christmas presents.
This is absolutely adorable. I don’t know any child that can resist a treasure hunt.
Such a smart, fun way to use your markers. I bet the kids here would love a treasure map too!!
How creative is this??!? I had no idea BIC made markers so this is fun thanks for sharing!
This is such a fun craft. My son would love making it and searching for treasures.
I’m so going to try this. My 5 year old was Blackbeard last Halloween!!
My grandson (prince) is very into Jake so I’m loving this and doing it with him!
This is adorable! My daughter would just love this, and I love this too.
One of my fave memories as a kid! We loved making our own maps!
What a great way to keep kids busy on a snow day! This would be fun to make too!
That is the cutest idea ever. My kids would LOVE that.
I love this idea. I am going to have to try it with my daughter, because she likes Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
thats so cool i will try that at home with my sister
hah! That is absolutely adorable and I imagine TONS of fun for the kiddos. I love imaginative ideas like this!
A treasure map, how cool is this, great to make one for the kids gifts and have them hunt for them. Love this awesome idea.
Oh, this is such a cool idea. My nephew would love this. Thanks for the idea.