Pirate Adventures

We know all about pirates because one day we were digging through some gravel for buried treasure...

...when a ship sailed into view. We knew it was a pirate ship because it was adorned with a flag that had a skull and crossbones on it- the Jolly Roger.

We kept an eye on the ship and soon the pirates began rowing to shore. As they rowed, they sang:

"Row, row row your boat,

Safely cross the sea.

Yo ho, yo ho,

A pirate's life for me."

When they came ashore, the captain of the ship (who was massive) yelled, "Ahoy thar mateys!" He introduced himself as Boris Von der der Borch. Hey- we knew him from the pirate book, Tough Boris by Mem Fox! (He's not near as tough as he would like us to think!)

He and his crew were scruffy but of course, "all pirates are scruffy". Pirates have green teeth, if they have any teeth at all (that's because they don't brush them). We learned this when we read, How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long.

He was so impressed with our digging skills, he asked us to join them on their treasure hunt. We agreed to join him and his crew with a few conditions. 

We adorned ourselves with pirate attire before heading out to sea.

 We sang as we sailed,

"Sail, sail, sail your ship,

Safely 'cross the sea,

Yo ho, yo ho,
A pirate's life for me!
We sailed for hours, perhaps even days. We had plenty to do. We swabbed the deck, ate hard tack and drank plenty of ale.

If we made bad choices, we had to walk the plank. Believe it or not, walking the plank was our favorite way to pass the time!

We listened to the pirate crew tell stories of their adventures. We loved the tale of Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail.

We decorated a flag to hang on the ship. If we were going to help Boris and his crew, he'd have to let our flag adorn his ship.

We made treasure maps so that we could find the treasure once we got to land...

We decorated scopes so that we would be able to spot land... 

Land Ho!

We took part in some pirate science fun as we tried to find treasure in some little frozen treasure chests. There were lots of different tools for exploration (not to mention great fine-motor experiences)- 

pipettes, paint brushes, squirt bottles, squeeze bottles and q-tips. 

We continued to pass the time by making little boats out of corks and rubber bands. Colored duct tape provided sturdy, waterproof sails. It was fun to test their sea-worthiness by placing them in the water. 

One bright, sunny morning, we heard a fellow swashbuckler up in the crow's nest holler, "Land ho!"

Now it was time for the real adventure- the treasure hunt.

We followed the clues on the map- we passed "Ye Ol' Pirate's Pub", Mermaid Lagoon, Hummingbird Haven, Gnome Pond and Rocky Point.

This led us to X marks the spot! 

What a lucky find! 

There was treasure enough for all of us!

Boris and his crew left us with our treasure 

(he's not so greedy after all). 

Our new pirate friends are off on another 

adventure because we all know-

some pirate treasure has never been found...