Arrrr! Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt?!
This simple craft is a great way to spend an afternoon with the kids using ingredients you will have around the house.
Treasure map craft
Supplies:
- paper (I’d recommend either white printer paper or a brown paper bag cut into a sheet size)
- paint brush
- coffee grounds
- brewed tea
- markers
Optional supplies:
- washi tape or decorative tape
- scissors
- toilet paper tube
- ribbon
- baking sheet
Step by step:
With adult supervision, brew a cup of black or dark tea overnight, let cool.
Collect coffee grounds.
Place your paper, tea and coffee on a baking sheet or put newspaper under to control mess.
Baking tray or newspaper will help keep the liquid from seeping through.
Crumble your paper, the more you crumble it the more aged and soft the paper will become, just like old parchment! Feel free to tear corners or poke holes to give it an even more distressed look.
Dip the brush into the tea and then into the coffee grounds to collect some of the grounds on the brush. Paint the tea/ coffee mixture onto the paper. Be generous with the mixture, but gentle to avoid too much tearing. If it tears a little that’s okay! It will look even more like an ancient treasure map!
Once thoroughly covered in grounds, let dry for a few hours.
Remove the dry coffee grounds and decorate your aged paper! You can make up a fantasy island or use your real home as inspiration. Hide treasure somewhere in the house and have family members use the map to track it down!
Optional steps:
You can make a seal to keep your map rolled up using a toilet paper tube or ribbon.
Cut the tube to desired size and decorate with tape or markers!
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