Summer Fun with Kids: Pirate day!

Tabitha has been really into pirates lately. She has a Step2 slide that has a steering wheel on it that she calls the pirate ship and when she plays on it she says "Argh!" a lot. So For this weeks activities I knew anything pirate would be right up her ally.

To start off I made little treasure chests for Tabitha and her friends.

I got kids shoeboxes and painted them gold. I used a mini paint roller that I got with a paint sample rather than a regular paint brush because it gave it more texture.

I did two coats of gold paint (I used craft paint I got at Walmart for $1.50) on each box. If you have older kids it would be fun to let them paint them themselves then decorate them. Since Tabitha is the oldest of her little group of friends and she is only 3 they were more than content with just the painted boxes.

On Saturday I held a Treasure hunt for the kids. I pulled out Tabitha's sandbox (Which is just a large tupperware box with a lid from Walmart and a bag of sand, it cost me about $18 for both) and filled it with butterscotch candies (gold doubloons),  Ringpops, and some plastic rings and tiara's I got for $1 a package at Walmart. Total I spent about $5 on stuff for the dig and the kids loved it.

Filling their Treasure boxes

Tabitha was on a roll

Comparing their booty!

Another Idea for this pirate these that would be great for older kids is to make a scavenger hunt to find the buried treasure. You can make a map and then cut it in pieces, on the back of each piece put a clue to the next pieces hiding place. Once they have all the clues they tape the map together and follow the map to the place where the treasure is buried. 

If you really want to get into it why not make or buy pirate costumes as well? 

I hope your little Pirates enjoy their booty as much as mine did!