Map Maker Treasure Hunt
Courtesy of WomanLinks.com

Kids love a treasure hunt...help them create their very own!

Materials: 

chalk or white board
chalk or markers
a 'treasure' for hiding

Skills: 

map reading skills, listening skills, logical thinking

Hide the 'treasure' in one room of your house. (We used a carved wooden
fish. My sons informed me that it was in fact the long lost Emerald Fish
of Ancient Greece! LOL) On your chalk or white board, draw shapes to
represent various pieces of furniture or other landmarks in that room. Be
sure to include a legend or a key explaining what each shape means. We
used green rectangles for tables, purple rectangles for windows, etc. Mark
an 'X" to indicate the location of the 'treasure'. Depending upon your
child you may need to provide clues, such as writing what something is on
individual shapes, or guiding their reasoning process. Try to give as
little information as possible, and you'll almost be able to see the wheels
spinning. 

Once the kids have found the treasure a few times, and have a grasp of the
game. Let them hide the object and draw the map, while you become the
treasure hunter. It's probably the most fun you can have reading a map!

Catie Gosselin
http://www.womanlinks.com

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