5 Fun Pirate Themed Activities, Crafts and Recipes

Get ready for a swashbuckling adventure! The new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales movie will be opening next week. So how about some pirate themed activities with your kids? Below are a few of our favorites. Aye aye, captain!

1. Treasure Bins

Kids, especially the younger set, love nothing more than digging for hidden treasures. It's a sensory and exploratory extravaganza that most kids enjoy. Pirate treasure themed boxes are easy to make and use tons of imagination. Most craft and party stores have small pirate themed trinkets, like plastic coins and costume jewelry. Choose a bunch, then take a shoe box or another bin and fill it with your choice of bulk material to hide the items. Rice is popular and easy, but you could use sand, or even marbles. Just be sure the children participating are not at risk for putting items in their mouths. Make sure the trinkets are hidden, then have the kids use spoons or their hands to find the treasures.

Photo Credit: leigh49137/Flickr

2. Paint a Hand Print Pirate

An upside-down hand print with pirate colored paints is a super cool and cute art project keepsake! Make sure you have black, white, red, and a flesh-colored paint, with four different brushes. Paint your thumb and the bottom of your palm red, as this will be the pirate's bandanna. Paint the middle of your palm with your flesh color. Then paint all four fingers black, and dab a bit of black on the top of your palm just above the fingers. Work quickly so the paint doesn't dry; if it appears to be dry, go over the areas again.

Firmly press your hand onto the middle of a sheet of paper. Wait a few seconds, then lift your hand up. Now paint your thumb white, and press down to make the pirate's eye. Then paint your pinkie finger with black and press down on top of the white eye for the pupil. Paint white for the mouth and let the entire piece dry. When completely dry, paint on black stripes, an eye patch and lines for teeth.

Photo Credit: Laura Richards

3. Pirate-Faced Bananas

This is a super easy, fun snacks to jazz up your kid's snack or lunch. Take a plain banana and use a Sharpie to draw a pirate face with one eye, an eye patch, nose, mouth and dots of stubble on the top of the banana where the stem is. Kids can help too if they are careful with the permanent marker. Then, buy a few red bandannas (available in most stores or even party places). Cut bandannas into three or four straight strips then tie them carefully around the bananas.

4. Pirate Map Your Yard

Want more pirate themed activities? All you need is some white construction paper (not office or printer paper, which is not able to absorb liquid), tea bags, and a container to soak it all in! Brew some tea. Once cooled, have your child sit at a table with a container in front of them where they've placed their paper. Have them experiment with dripping the tea on the paper. The end result will be a super cool, old looking plain paper perfect for a pirate map! Once the paper has completely dried, have the kids bring out markers and crayons to map your yard, including any structures. Or, they can dream up a place or choose their favorite park.

Photo credit: Pixabay.com

5. Make a Pirate Treasure Map Pizza

Betty Crocker came up with a way to make dinner and keep the kids entertained at the same time. What's not to love? To keep it easy and simple, buy a pre-made pizza dough or crust, a jar of your favorite sauce and a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese. Decorate your pizza by cutting black olives into slices for the map trail. Make cool trees by cutting green peppers for the palms and small, thin pretzel sticks as the base and even make a pirate ship out of a red pepper cut into a boat shape. The possibilities are endless so get the kids involved for their vision! Follow the directions on the pizza dough package for baking times.