Personalised goodbye book for child moving away from friends: your child's Goodbye Treasure Map

What happens in your child's Goodbye Treasure Map

1. Your child decides to make a treasure map before moving day.
2. The front gate, park bench and favourite pavement crack go on the map.
3. Your child adds familiar faces and notes beside each special stop.
4. One last walk helps your child finish the route with a final memory.
5. At the new house, your child unfolds the map and finds every old place still there.

How the first page could read

On the morning the removal van came, your child found a clean sheet of paper and a green crayon. “Before we go,” said your child, “I’m making a treasure map.” First came the front gate, then the pavement crack where the tiny snail liked to rest.

Your child’s name, look and little details replace these words, and the whole story is written for their age.

Why this story works

For children aged four to seven, a move can mean leaving the ordinary landmarks that make a neighbourhood feel familiar: the corner shop window, a friend’s gate or the route to the park. Your child’s map makes room for those details without treating them as things to forget. Each stop gives an adult and child something concrete to talk about while packing or before a farewell visit. The finished story can be reread after the move, when your child wants to point out what belonged to their old routine and what can travel in a memory.

Reading it together

• Read it before a final walk around your current neighbourhood, pausing to name places your child would add to their own map.
• Invite your child to draw a real map alongside the story, using stickers or crayons for familiar stops.
• After moving, reread the final spread and let your child choose one new place they would like to put on a future map.

Suggested art style: Coloured pencil

Coloured pencil gives the neighbourhood map and its handwritten details a warm, hand-drawn look. A sidekick idea: a patient pigeon who knows every street corner. You can pick any of the four styles and change the details in the form.