This post may contain affiliate links.
Kids love treasure hunts. They also love anything related to pirates. Today I want to share with you a fun way to make a pirate treasure hunt map for your kids using Google maps.
Grab a fun book to pair this activity with: The Usborne Official Pirate’s Handbook written by Captain indigo Stormface (a.k.a. Sam Taplin). It is a funny book that teaches kids how to be a pirate, anyhow not to be a pirate!
It teaches about all kinds of things like the ship, the flags, how they fight, how they talk, and more. It also teaches about some of the false myths we have of pirates, like walking the plank and wooden legs. My son loves reading this book. 
Inspired by this book we wanted to show you a fun pirate treasure hunt related activity that we have done a few times at our house.
How to Make a Pirate Treasure Hunt Map of Your Yard:
Go to Google maps and take a screenshot of your house in the satellite view.
Then use an image of a grid with coordinates and overlay it on top of the image. You can use my image below. It is a PNG image with a transparent background. This means it can easily overlay another image with the background still showing through.
You can easily create this in any photo editing program or app. I like to use PicMonkey for making my images. But any image editing program will work!
Just overlay a grid image over your picture you are using. I changed my grid to white when I made it in PicMonkey so it would show up better.
I use this map to hide clues for my kids. I give them puzzles that they have to figure out that lead them to the coordinates. At each coordinate I hide a clue around the yard. At the end, like every great treasure hunt, there is some sort of little treasure for them to discover (I usually hide a treat or something for them.
Treasure Hunt Clue Ideas:
Hide clues in the mailbox, in a favorite climbing tree, under the front door mat, on the swing set, on a light, under a rock, under a patio chair or table, etc…
My kids really love doing this. Now that I know how easy it is to put together, I though I would share it with you guys so you can make your own pirate treasure hunt maps! It is a fun way to get kids exploring and active in the summertime, too!!
Want more map skill activities? Check these out:
Hurricane Mapping STEM Activity for Kids
Me on the Map Geography Nesting Cans
Missy @ Dot-to-Dot Connections says
What a GREAT idea, Karyn!! My kids would LOVE this!! Thank you so much for sharing!
TaMara says
What a fun idea! My small people would love to do this!
Pat Soule says
Wow. My kids would love this. And the treasure map is a FABULOUS idea!! RRRRRrrrrrrrr!!
Alison says
I love the treasure map idea! I’m so going to do this with my little guy! Thanks!
jenn says
Pirate stories for little children. I love this map idea my boy will be so excited!
Audrey says
We’d love the Pirate’s Handbook!
C.L. Murphy says
What a fun post! I’d love to win Pirate Stories for Little Children!
jen says
That’s awesome!
Kathy says
I would love the Pirates Handbook, but Pirate Stories for Little Children looks great too.
sunny says
We’d love to have The Usborne Official Pirate’s Handbook !
Daria says
How awesome!
Rebecca Ray says
I love the idea of making a coordinate graph with Google Maps. Totally cool!
Jen Ray says
I was actually searching for some pirate themed ideas for school, this is awesome!
Jill says
A treasure hunt would be a great activity for the end of summer, thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you for helping to bring a spoonful of reading fun to the Poppins Book Nook this month!
shelly says
Argh! Me maties would be lovin’ the Pirate Stories for Little Children! Our reading theme for the school year is BOOKS ARE A TREASURE featuring pirates!
Lauren says
What a brilliant idea! This would be great for anywhere else too, we have a big reserve near our house so I could always make a Treasure Map of that area. Thanks for sharing something that my boys will love to do!
Ticia says
Now that’s a fun concept.
Dvescuso says
My boys would love Pirate Stories for Little Children!