Another one for my collection of inclusive Creative Play Ideas. These activities have been tried and tested by my 2 Autistic, sensory sensitive/seeking, learning disabled children as well as neurotypicals.
Today we're designing - and bringing to life - a treasure map!
This activity is suitable for a cognition level of about age 5 for solo play and perhaps 3 if an adult is present throughout.
You may wish to use scissors if you're creating puppets out of paper or card for example - so go slowly and be safe.
Approximate preparation time: Depends a lot on the features of your treasure map, but when we play it's usually about 30 minutes drawing and about 30 gathering things around the home to recreate the map.
Senses stimulated: SIGHT, SOUND, TOUCH, (Plus potentially VESTIBULAR & PROPRIOCEPTION)
There's something really special and exciting about a treasure map isn't there?
I think probably everyone reading this has had a fun experience with a treasure map of some kind in their life.
This is the way we play with treasure maps here at Sonshine Art central. It's great for rainy/too hot days when you're mostly indoors and also an excellent choice of activity if you have guests around as they can take turns to create treasure maps for one another.
What you need:
Ideally LARGE sheets of paper - We use the brown packing paper you find in lots of delivery boxes these days - they're already the classic treasure map colour and often have crinkles and folds which add to the authenticity of an old, map! If you don't have that available don't worry, any paper large enough to draw on will do!
We don't use scissors to cut the map: Tearing is more fun and makes unique shapes for the maps. But, of course if you prefer you can cut the sheet of paper to the size you/your child wants.
Fine liners, felt tip pens or pencils
Supplies to recreate the map once it's drawn! (See How to Play for more details)
How to play:
Ignite your imagination! We like to put ourselves into character to create our treasure maps;
Are we the captain? The First Mate? The cook? The deckhand?
Did we draw the map? Or find it? Or steal it?!
Usually we like to decide on the treasure first. What is it?
Then we need to know where on the map it will be. Mark it with an X
And of course, what do we need to do to get to it?
What obstacles are we going to encounter on our journey to the treasure?
The classics for us are some kind of cave/maze, then some monsters/villains, some tricky terrain (like a whirlpool or quick sand) and maybe a mysterious character who asks riddles...
We don't mind the odd scribble-out or sketchy line on our artwork so we tend to go straight for pens - no need to be very precious with this - the point is much more about the content and much less about the execution!
Once your map is full of adventure you get to recreate it in your own space using stuff around your home/classroom/garden!
For example - Tristan drew a robot for one of his treasure maps and decided to recreate it in Lego for the treasure hunt.
One of the villains was represented by a toy dinosaur one time.
Another time we turned our pirates into lollipop stick puppets.
Once he had a volcano on his map so we made one out of a cone of paper and some tissues for the lava!
For quick sand we used biscuits whizzed to crumbs in the food processor! Don't forget to bring along a trusty pirate crew if you can! I hear dogs can be awesome First Mates!
It can be really fun to work out together how you're going to recreate the drawing in real life.
HAVE FUN!
Learning & Development
All sensory and creative play is excellent for development:
fine motor skills
boosts imagination,
improves social, play, communication and observation skills
sparks curiosity
develops hand-eye coordination
improves focus and attention
supports emotional regulation
turn-taking
stress-relief
fun!
& creates opportunities for CONNECTIONÂ
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