Treasure Hunting With Kids

Geocaching is searching for hidden prizes using a GPS unit (like Garmin).  This is great fun, and my kids and I had a ball doing this in the past.  And while I still enjoy geocaching, the prizes in the cache wasn’t exactly a great find, in fact my kids were pretty disappointed!

So why not go old school and actually create a treasure map?  You could go big time and buy resume paper that has a yellowed marble look, this would make the paper look old-fashion (at least to the kids, especially if you burnt the edges after printing the map with the direction on it). 

Next go to the dollar store and find the cheapest container that looks wooden or like a treasure chest.  I would go with a toaster size container or smaller if I were you!!!

Now bury the mini-treasure chest in the woods with money or a valued toy in a ziplock bag, or some kind of weatherproofing (maybe it would be better to wrap it in plastic, just to keep it more authentic).  Kids most likely don’t know that pirates didn’t have plastic back then…

I’m going to make the map just like we see on TV, with landmarks (try to make them cool as possible),  and the number of steps to get to the landmarks…

I think it would be best if one child does this at a time, but if both do it and the prize is money, you should have them come to an agreement to split the money 50/50 before the treasure hunting starts!

Of course I personally wouldn’t wait too long before searching for the treasure after burying it!!!  Tell them the day before that you’ll have a surprise for them the following day, just to build up anticipation!

I’m sure your kids will get a treat out of this if it’s done well 🙂

Optional Step:  If you kids are a bit older, make the map so that part of the instructions are missing, then have a GPS coordinate as an X marks the spot kind-of-deal.

Bests,

MR

10 thoughts on “Treasure Hunting With Kids

  1. What a fun idea!

    Heads up on burning the edges- it’s hard and dangerous, trust me on this. You might want to just rip off the edges to give it that raw look and rub some ashes on it (or just color it black). If you are going to try it, burn the edges before drawing a map so that you don’t accidentally burn off any important landmarks. If you don’t want to spend the money on resume paper you can take plain paper, crumple it up, soak it in tea/coffee for awhile, and let it air dry.

    Craft stores have little wooden treasure chests that you can paint and decorate.

    Have fun with your kids!

    • Great additions!

      I especially like the crumble and soak the paper in tea/coffe for a while and let it dry! I’ll try that out!

      I think I will skip the burning of the edges all together… Thanks for the tips!

  2. Awesome idea! I didn’t even know there was something like this! I’ll have to wait a bit before Jr can appreciate this though!

  3. I have gone geocaching a lot with my youngest son. Actually, one treasure was hidden in the woods right by my house, which was fun.

    If you do go geocaching, bring bug spray! I got eaten alive the last time I went.

    Regarding the treasure map, that sounds like a really fun idea. Let us know how it works out, and if it was more fun than using a Garmin.

    • How cool! We’ve went to a few locations, and always had a blast!

      For the treasure map, I’ll have to do it in a month or two! If I wait much longer my son will be way to old (if he’s not already). My daughter should still find it fun though!

  4. Your post and suggestion remind me of scavenger hunts from my college fraternity days! Around 20+ years ago, a group of friends resurrected this for parties. Groups of people would compete and the final prize was another person’s house where we had dessert. Those were great times. Anytime you can share an experience with your children , it is great!

  5. That’s a great idea. There are tons of hiding places around here. A couple of our friends likes geocaching and we went to find the 1st geocache when they came up to visit us.

    • I’ll definitely go geocaching this summer again too. But like Kris says, I’ll make sure I have plenty of bug spray. Last time I was eaten alive…

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