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!