Come to the library for adventures on the high seas! We will make pirate crafts, play pirate games, tell pirate jokes, and have an all-around ARRRR-mazing time.
July 6th, 2010 from 2-3 p.m.
In keeping with this summer’s theme, Make a Splash, I made another attempt at a pirate party – minus the princesses this time.
Grades: Going into 1-6
Prizes: Pirate pencils, chocolate coins
Raffle prizes: Magic Tree House: Pirates Past Noon and Magic Tree House Research Guide: Pirates
Music: Pegleg Tango
Budget: $15 ($7.50 for pirate pencils, $5.50 for coins, $2 for roll of black elastic)
Crafts
Skull nametag with pirate name: Give each kid a cardstock rectangle and a skull and crossbones to glue on top. Give some examples of pirate names, then encourage everyone to write their own on their nametag. Attach with tape.
Pirate hat: Using this fabulous template, have each kid decorate a pirate hat. Punch holes in each side of the hat and attach with elastic.
Eye patch: Cut eye patches out of black felt. Fold the top over a piece of a elastic and glue in place. Tie elastic in back.
Activities
Pin the parrot on the pirate: Using the template in the Summer Reading packet, copy a parrot for each kid and have them decorate it and write their name on the back. As they finish, take them up to a very large pirate poster (we taped together and laminated four 11″x17″ sheets of paper), spin them around, and have them attempt to put the parrot on the pirate’s shoulder.) The closest wins a pirate pencil.
Pirate freeze dance: To Pegleg Tango. Winner gets a pirate pencil.
Treasure hunt: Before the program starts, hide chocolate coins around the room. Mark two of the coins with an X. Let the kids search for the coins, then round them up. Kids with the special coins get the raffle prizes. Everyone should get at least one piece of chocolate – it is a good idea to have some extras handy for those who do not find any.
On the way out, everybody gets a pirate pencil. Hooray!
How’d it go?
Unlike at the Pirates and Princesses party – which rapidly devolved into a “just princesses” party – I saw a lot of pirate enthusiasm at this program. We had 25 kids – mostly 1st-3rd graders – and two adults in attendance. For a few reasons, we capped this program at 30 rather than our usual 15 or 20. With the large crowd (and a younger group than I expected), I was glad that the craft projects were limited to cutting, gluing, and coloring. Freeze dance wasn’t the success it usually was – some of the younger attendees were feeling a little shy, I think. “Pin the Parrot” and the treasure hunt were very popular, though, and everyone loved their hats and eye patches.