Print your own fun-filled family treasure hunt

You don't need to travel far from home to have a fun-filled adventure. Kids love playing games – and even more so if there's the promise of a treat at the end. With a little creativity and the help of some Creative Park papercraft designs, your Canon printer and double-sided Matte Photo Paper, it's easy to create your own mini-quest at home – whether that's a treasure map leading to hidden chocolate coins or an adventure map with challenges along the way.

Once you've decided on the location for your challenge, you can print out maps to share with family and friends, and then make your own treat-filled treasure chests to hide around your garden or local park. It's an ideal option for birthdays or gatherings, or just a great way to keep the kids entertained during the summer holidays. Plus, it's a fun printing project that the whole family can get involved with – and it can all be done in seven easy steps.

Once you've decided on where you're going to hold your treasure hunt, you need to create a map of the area. Don't worry about making it look too authentic, as you want something easy for your children to use. Try and incorporate some landmarks that kids will easily recognise – a greenhouse in your garden maybe or a distinctive tree in the local park. Make sure you add plenty of colour too, so the map looks appealing.

Chances are you're going to need more than one map, especially if you're making them for a party. The good news is that using a Canon printer such as the Canon PIXMA TS8340 enables you to easily copy and print your map, making as many versions as you need. Simply place your map on the scanner, load the paper, hit 'Copy' on the touchscreen and follow the onscreen prompts. Just be sure to set the correct Media Type in the Print settings, we've used Matte Photo Paper here.

With the maps printed out, it's now time to get your treasure chests ready, and there's no better place to get these than Canon's Creative Park. You can either use a desktop version or, to keep things really simple, the dedicated Creative Park app¹ that's available through the App Store and Google Play. Once downloaded, you'll need to create an account if you haven't already, but it's free and you'll have access to hundreds of creative templates and ideas that you can print with your Canon printer. To find some suitable treasure chests, simply perform a quick search for 'box' and take your pick! To match our theme of the day, we used a selection of boxes, including a leaf-themed cube and a treasure chest-style design.

Thanks to the wireless connectivity of Canon printers such as the PIXMA TS8340, it's easy to print your chosen templates straight from the app. You'll see a printer icon in the bottom left of the screen, tap on it, and the Canon PRINT app will guide you through the print process, from picking your paper size to the type of media you're using. Once you've completed the steps, the Creative Park app will send the information to the printer wirelessly and the printer will start printing.

With your treasure chest designs printed out, it's now time to have some fun and start putting them together. You'll need to cut them out first – something a parent should do, but if you have some child-friendly scissors, feel free to let your little ones have a go. Some designs will simply fold together, while others may need a little bit of craft glue to build, with most only needing a couple of folds to form the chest. Remember the Creative Park app has easy, step-by-step instructions you can follow.

With the treasure chests made – and your children most likely jumping up and down with excitement – it's time to fill them and hide them in the garden or local park, and the treasure hunt can begin. Try to do this without any small sets of eyes following you around the garden as you position them. Once all your boxes are in place, mark on the maps where the treasure might be hidden.

Grab your maps and help guide your children around the course as they try and track down the treasure chests and boxes. Make sure you've got your Canon camera to capture some memorable snaps to share later!

Written by Phil Hall