Pirate Fun for All Ages - Raising Lifelong Learners

In January, just for fun, we had some friends over to enjoy pirate activities and a treasure hunt. One of those friends, a talented author, storyteller, and singer, brought some fun stories, song, and instruments for us all to enjoy.

My kids were really into pirates, and acted scenes out, read books, and watched movies about them, so we were getting ready to learn more. It seemed like a fun way to kick off that learning.

When our little pirates arrived, I had them make bandanas out of red fabric squares.

Then, the adults helped the kiddos make felt eye patches and felt/foil hooks. For the patches, we cut shapes out of black felt, slit the sides, and threaded a piece of black yarn through and around each child’s head.

The hooks were easy, too. I simply rolled a tube out of black felt, gathered it on one side around a a hook made out of aluminum foil, and secured it with duct tape. {I left a few inches of foil inside the tube for the kids to hold onto.}

Trevor’s all decked out. I bought the pirate graphics from mygraphico.com with the intent to create printables or a lapbook to post. I’m actually still working on the lapbook – so you might see it someday! For now, I made custom T-shirts for the kids.

The kids listened to {and participated in} the stories and songs my friend Janie shared, while I hid the treasure hunt clues. I used the Melissa and Doug pirate chest the kids received for Christmas last year and “message in a bottle” clue holders that I bought at Michael’s. Once the singing and story fun was over, I sent them on their hunt.

They raced upstairs and downstairs, the big kids reading aloud the clues to the little ones. Finally, they reached the treasure where foam swords, 2 movie choices {Hook or Jake and the Neverland Pirates} waited with snacks like golden cookies, Pirate’s Booty, and chocolate coins. Happy little pirates snacked, watched, and played while the adults {all members of the children’s writer’s group to which I belong} chatted about books and manuscripts. Fun for everyone.

Do your kids like pirates? Today, September 19, 2012, marks the 10th anniversary of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Maybe you can suspend your plans for the day, assign yourselves some pirate names {I’m Catherine Hagerty Wicked Toe}, stream Hook or Peter Pan, and check out some of these fun links:

Whatever you do today, Arrgghh! I hope X-marks the spot for ye.