Pirate Treasure Hunt!

I have such an easy fun idea for all the parents out there. It required seriously less than 60 seconds in prep, but kept my son so excited and engaged for over an hour. Its an easy pirate treasure hunt! 

All you have to do is draw a map on a piece of paper of your yard, neighborhood, wherever you'd like to go for your walk. Think of landmarks that your child would know about. For us we did a big tree with a hole where an owl lives, the local dog park, a nearby fountain, etc. Be creative and try to use ideas that could be incorporated into a pirate theme. For example our nearby cemetery that was on our map became finding "Captain Hooks" grave. Be creative and your kids will love it even more. We even wore bandanas and took our binoculars to make it even more fun. 

I ripped and burned the edges of our map to make it authentic looking, then rolled it up and tied it with a ribbon. My son went crazy over it. The day I showed him the map it was raining, but I told him we would be going on our treasure hunt the next morning. Seriously the second his eyes opened he yelled "lets get the map!" 

Our map ended up back at our house, and of course an X marked the spot where the treasure was hidden. Our treasure included pennies and jelly beans. It was such a fun adventure, and so easy to put together as a parent. Hopefully making fun memories your kids will carry with them always.