Pirate Treasure Hunt Game
Introduction: Pirate Treasure Hunt Game
For my son's fifth birthday party we decided on a pirate theme and instead of letting him just hand out candy treats at school I made a Treasure Hunt game out of it. The kids each get their own unique treasure map and need to find the right spot on the island to dig for treasure!
This instructable involves a lot of cardboard, printed paper, cutting and glueing. And of course sweet sugary Pirate Treasure! Or whatever healthy treat you like ;)
So, me mateys, ARRR you ready to start crafting? Let's Go!
Supplies
Tools
- (laser) color printer, preferably wide-format (B/Tabloid/A3)
- craft knife or box cutter
- cutting mat
- hot glue gun
- ruler
- thermal laminator machine with clear laminating pouches
Materials
- cardboard, preferably large flat pieces without folds
- double sided tape
- wooden skewers (optional)
- treasure!
Step 1: Preparation & Printing
The game I made has room for 12 treasures and a separate larger compartment with treats for the teachers. The island is 70cm in diameter, which is about 27.5 inches. I printed the images on A3 paper, which is the standard wide format here in Europe, but it will work on Tabloid or B size paper as well.
If you want to go bigger or not quite as big I got you covered. I attached a pdf file with just the island as a whole that you can scale up or down to any size you like using common image editing software.
NOTE: the treasure maps I provided are based on a 4x3 grid on the island (see image). If you want to 'bury' more treasures (on a larger island) you will also have to make more treasure maps yourself by printing the island twice and cutting it in however many maps you need. Also if you make the island higher/thicker you will need to adjust the edge image that will go on the outside later.
If you have decided what size you want to make the island and have prepared the print documents (either the files I provided or your own) you can start printing. I used a professional laser color printer at work because the ink doesn't stain or smear when it gets moist. But seeing this probably is a one-day thing any printer will do just fine.
The important thing here is to print the file using the 'fit' or 'shrink' option. This way your printer will not cut off a small edge of the image but will simply shrink the image to within the printer's print margins. This ensures your island pieces will fit together perfectly.
The treasure maps can be printed using the 'multiple' option to print 4 maps on a single page.
Remember to turn 'print on both sides' off ;)
Step 2: Creating the Island
Get your printed documents, a cutting mat and a knife and carefully cut out the island pieces. In my case I had six pieces. 74
There should be a thin white margin on two sides where the printer shrunk the image. Cut off all the blank paper and check to see if the image lines up with the neighbouring pieces.
Next get your cardboard. I didn't have a large enough flat piece so I used two pieces and taped them together. If you need to do this as well, make sure you DON'T line up the edges of the cardboard with the edges of your island pieces. This makes it easier to attach the paper and makes it a bit sturdier.
TIP: to make opening the flaps easily in the next step, rotate your cardboard so that the lines go horizontally. This way you can fold the flaps upward.
I'm not a big fan of craft glue because it makes the paper wet and wrinkly so I often use double sided tape to fix paper to cardboard. Simply cut off thing pieces of tape and place them along the edges and some in the middle. Leave half of the tape sticking out beyond the edge of the paper so you can use the same tape to fix the next piece. Carefully line up the pieces by the edges and gently lower them down onto the sticky tape.
TIP: first put the paper in place BEFORE removing the thin layer of film. Once correctly aligned, lift up one corner and remove the film of one piece of tape while holding the paper in place. Then gently let the paper fold down onto the tape to fix it. Now you can fold the paper over and remove all the other film layers and then let the paper roll back over the tape, using your hand to create a smooth surface.
Once the paper pieces are fixed to the cardboard you can cut away the excess cardboard around the edges. If you want you can get your treasure maps and check if they fit the island like I did. This is not necessary though. 636