Pirate activities for preschoolers
Ahoy Mateys! Let’s have some fun learning about pirates with our preschoolers this year. These easy pirate activities for preschoolers are a super fun way to explore early math and literacy skills with your kids all year round.
I can’t wait to share my favorite pirate crafts for preschoolers and printable pirate activities for your early learners. Plus, I’ve gathered some of our favorite pirate day activities, songs, and games to play too. Don’t miss the exciting virtual field trip option with Pirate Life in Toronto too, it’s a lot of fun!
Ready to learn about pirates and explore history, math, science, and more with your preschoolers? Keep reading to get all my favorite pirate activities for your preschool learners. I just know you’re going to love all this pirate day fun!
My Easy Printable Pirate Activities
I’ve got lots of new printable pirate activities to share with you! These pirate activities and crafts are perfect for exploring numbers, counting, shapes, and all things pirates with your preschoolers. Check these out:
Build a Pirate Beard
Pirate beards are pretty cool! With this fun activity, your preschoolers can build their own pirate beard and build strong fine motor skills too. They’ll use these printable pirate activity pages, colorful pom poms, and tweezers to get the job done.
This pirate activity is easy to prep and all kinds of fun! Get ready for giggles as your little pirates build beards for their printable pirate friends and practice their counting skills too.
Count the Gold Coins
Want more counting practice with your preschoolers? Every pirate needs to count his treasure! Teach your preschool pirates how to count their gold coins with this printable pirate activity.
Matching Treasure Shapes
Matching shapes with your preschoolers is a great way to practice identifying shapes, sorting skills, and recognizing same/different. In this easy pirate activity, your preschoolers get to go on a treasure hunt! They’ll match shapes and have all kinds of pirate fun along the way.
Pirate Color by Code
I love color by code activities because they encompass lots of different early learning skills. You’ll get the opportunity to explore colors, fine motor skills, problem solving and more with these pirate printables.
Pirate activities with Playdoh
Playdoh makes everything more fun, especially on pirate day! Grab these free pirate printables and watch your kids fine motor skills improve right before your eyes as they have the time of their lives!
Ar Pirate Phonics Hunt
This pirate phonics hunt is perfect to practice identifying the “ar” sound in words! Simply toss the pirate cards into a sensory bin or hide them around the room. As your students find them, they will read the “ar” word, and color in the matching image on the worksheet.
Learning About Pirates with Picture Books
Picture books are a beautiful way to explore and learn with your preschoolers in the classroom or right in your living room! Get ready to go on a pirate adventure with your preschoolers using some of my favorite picture books. You don’t want to miss these:
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle
Pirates Don’t Change Diapers by Melinda Long
Pirates Love Underpants by Claire Freedman
The Pirate-Cruncher by Jonny Duddle
Your little pirates will laugh out loud and fall in love with all these great pirate books! Do you have a favorite pirate picture book to read aloud that I forgot to mention? Share your favorites in the comments so we can read them too.
Pirate Crafts for Preschoolers
Crafts are an excellent way to help your preschoolers develop fine motor skills they’ll need for handwriting later. Plus, they’re way more fun than traditional handwriting practice. Incorporating crafts into your lesson plans is also a great way to bring the lesson to life and help your preschoolers retain all the fun pirate facts they’re learning too.
Check out some of my favorite pirate crafts for preschoolers below. These hands-on pirate activities are perfect for creative learning fun!
Printable Pirate Buddy
Get ready for all kinds of pirate role-play fun with these printable pirate buddies! Your preschoolers can practice their cutting and pasting skills while inventing their own pirate friends. These are perfect pirate crafts for kids to pair with a funny pirate saying or pirate picture book at story time.
Recycled Egg Carton Boat
Want a hands-on craft activity that incorporates recycling too? With egg cartons, straws, and colorful paper, your early learners can build their own pirate ships. These recycled egg carton boats are perfect for tiny pirates to sail the seven seas!
First, you’ll need a 6 cup section of the egg carton (cut to size). Then, add masts created from recycled straws attached to colorful paper sails. Preschoolers can have lots of fun decorating their own special pirate sails too.
Finally, put your pirate boats in the water and see how well they sail. You can set up a special water sensory play table just for this activity or use a pool or bathtub for this activity. It’s the perfect pirate STEM activity for your preschool classroom or homeschool this year.
Parrot Craft Printable
Every great pirate needs a pet parrot to travel with him. I’ve put together a printable pirate craft your preschoolers can use to make their very own parrots this year. It makes a cute cut and paste craft for all kinds of skill building fun.
Plus, this parrot craft works well with a writing prompt activity. For even more fun, add music to this parrot craft printable. Check out Pirate or Parrot? By Flannery Brothers Children’s Music. It’s a cute song that will keep your preschoolers engaged and build movement into your pirate themed lesson too.
Newspaper Pirate Hat Craft
Another fun recycled pirate craft idea is to create your own DIY pirate hats. This is a craft I remember having fun with from my own childhood. Plus, it’s an easy pirate activity because you probably already have all the materials you’ll need.
All you’ll need for newspaper pirate hats is a rectangular newspaper and some scotch tape. First, fold the newspaper in half along the existing crease. Then, fold again by bringing the top down to meet the bottom.
Next, fold the right and left sides towards the middle to create a point. Your “hat” should look triangular at this point. Then, open the bottom and fold it up on the back and front. Finally, add tape to the sides if needed to hold the hat in place during play.
Games to Play for Pirate Day
Now that your preschool learners have read all about pirates, made their own parrots, and pirate hats too, check out my favorite games to play for pirate day. Adding games to your lessons isn’t just a great way to get out the wiggles, it encourages healthy physical activity too. Plus, games help kids learn through play and increase retention.
Walk the Plank
Build gross motor skills with your preschoolers as they walk the plank in this creative pirate day game. You’ll need a “plank” and a blue blanket or tarp. Place the blue blanket on the floor and place the plank over it.
A 2×4 works well for a pirate plank, but you can use strips of poster board taped together if needed. Then, have preschoolers take turns walking the plank in a straight line, on one foot, on tip toe, or any other variation.
Pirate Roll Game
Barnacle Toys’ Pirate Roll Game is perfect for your pirate activities this year. This cute board game is geared towards preschoolers and focuses on teaching counting skills through gameplay. It’s a great way to practice taking turns with your preschool learners too.
Treasure Hunt
Finally, gather your preschoolers and go on a treasure hunt! Set up a simple scavenger hunt for your preschoolers to help them build problem solving skills and practice following directions. It’s a great way to practice critical thinking with early learners too.
Learn About Pirates Virtually
Are you looking for pirate activities and pirate themed games you can do at home or while virtual learning? In addition to my printable pirate activities and crafts, you’ll love these virtual learning options for preschoolers.
The Wellerman for Kids
This classic sea shanty has been adapted for kids into a fun tune you can sing with your preschoolers for pirate day. Have all kinds of fun listening to The Wiggles sing The Wellerman Sea Shanty in the classroom or at home with your preschoolers.
Snoring Pirates Game
ABCYa has a super fun online game your preschoolers can play for free from their devices or at a computer. This Snoring Pirates Game is filled with STEM learning opportunities and perfect for building problem solving skill. Plus, it’s sure to bring about lots of giggles!
Pirate Life Virtual Field Trip
Virtual field trips are an excellent way to explore the world and learn all kinds of cool things right at home. The Art & Water Cultural Group in Ontario has created a really cool Pirate Life Virtual Field Trip for kids to explore and learn all about pirate culture and history. A one-hour pre-recorded adventure for your preschoolers awaits!
In Conclusion
I hope I’ve given you lots of fun ideas to explore with your preschoolers this year as you learn all about pirates together. Do you have any pirate activities for preschoolers to share? I’d love to read about your pirate day fun and try some of your favorite activities and pirate picture books with my preschool learners too, so don’t forget to share in the comments.
