Making a pirate map

Like many children, Harry is fascinated by pirates at the moment. There are so many different crafts and activities that you can do on a pirate theme, and I decided to re-visit a craft that I remember loving as a child - making a pirate map.

We took a piece of plain white paper, and used a teabag dipped in a small bowl of water to paint on it to make it look old. When it was dry, I used a candle to burn around the edges of the paper. This makes it sound a lot easier than it was - it involved a lot of frantic blowing out of flames and a smoke filled kitchen. Harry's map also ended up with a somewhat larger hole than intended, after the paper continued to smoulder once blown out.

Then we decorated it with felt pens. I drew some things out for him to copy, we made mountains, beaches, trees, paths and of course an X marks the spot. Then we crumpled it up and flattened it out to make it look really battered. A truly authentic pirate treasure map!

If you are looking for more pirate crafts you might like my pirate treasure chest and salt dough treasure to fill it with!