Pirate Week (Simple Summer Theme #5)

So although summer is officially over, the busy end of our summer meant we never fully got to finish sharing our Simple Summer Theme weeks. We've shared before that we're huge fans of pirates, so of course we needed a Pirate Week!

We enjoyed as much of pirate week outside as we could as it proved to be one of the nicest weather weeks of the summer! 

1. Go on an ABC Treasure Hunt

We had so much fun with this activity we shared it earlier on in a different post. I hid 26 foam letters around the backyard and created a map for the kiddos to find them. At the end they found a special treasure! Read more about it at our ABC Treasure Hunt post. 

2. Pirate Cork Rafts

We've made rafts from corks before at a local science museum. Their method is simple: use rubber bands to wedge several corks together. We added a pirate twist by attaching popsicle sticks and personalized pirate flags. (I made a small slit in the center cork with a kitchen knife wide enough for the stick.) The best part was the rafts actually float!

3. Create a Pirate Island Small World

We collected different toys from around our house to create this small world play. Items included our Melissa & Doug pirates, Toob sharks, some pirate toys from a playdough set, and some craft gems. We also added in materials from the yard: sand, rocks, bark, ferns, and even a few crab apples. The boys enjoyed setting up the pirate island in a shallow plastic tub. 

4. Pirate Pinwheel Sandwiches

A favorite of ours for a while now, pirate pinwheel sandwiches are easy to create with wraps and cold cuts. Read more here. 

5. Paper Tube Spyglasses

These were a little trickier to create than I originally expected but they did hold up for all our pirate play. The boys each painted a paper towel tube black and a toilet paper tube yellow. When the tubes had dried we wrapped tinfoil around one end of the black tubes and then folded over the edges. We slid the gold tube over the end (and for the most part the tinfoil held it on.) We added a little foil tape to decorate the edges. The short tube would rotate over the larger tube so the boys could pretend to be focusing it. (The tinfoil was probably the trickiest part.) 

6. Gold Doubloon Playdough Invitation

We made up a batch of light orange playdough with gold glitter and added crafts gems to create a gold doubloon playdough invitation. Just the type of treasures a pirate would hope to find!

But most of all the boys really enjoyed just playing pirate in the yard. There is something about a pirate theme that really sparks a kiddo's imagination! 

I can't wait to see what other fun pirate ideas we come up with next time! 

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