Welcome to Week #5 – Pirates & Treasure!
Download and print the activity calendar for Week #5 from the pink button below. Hanging the calendar outline on the refrigerator or in a plastic page protector makes it easy to know what’s on the schedule each day!
Day 1
Find the Treasure: Create treasure pieces (think gold coins!). Cut paper into circles, or use yellow paper cake plates. Write one letter of the alphabet on each circle. Hide the treasure letters around the room or around the yard. Draw a rectangle huge treasure chest on the driveway with chalk. Write letters of the alphabet inside the treasure chest and all over the driveway and sidewalk. Put on a pirate hat and go on a treasure hunt! Each time your preschooler finds a circle treasure piece, identify the letter, and then find the match on the driveway. Place the treasure on the matching letter and go find another one to play again! Adapt to play inside by taping letters on the floor around the house.
Treasure Roll & Color: Print the treasure page. Write one number on each treasure chest. Find dice to use with this activity. Write the numbers 1-6 on each treasure chest. Roll the die, identify the number, and color in the treasure chest with the matching number on it. Or if your preschooler is working on number formation, leave the treasure chests blank. Roll the die, identify the number, and then write that number inside on one treasure chest. You can also use 2 dice, add the numbers together, and color in the matching treasure chest.
Pirate Spy Glass: Find an empty paper towel tube. Gather decorating supplies including construction paper, stickers, sticky gems, glue, paint, etc. Cover and decorate the paper towel tube to be a personalized pirate spy glass! If you don’t have any paper towel tubes available, take a couple pieces of cardstock or construction paper and roll them into a tube. You may need 2 pieces to make it sturdier and longer. Use the spy glass on your pretend pirate ship!
Day 2
I Spy Letters: Use the spy glass made on Day 1 to play this game! While reading a book or while walking around the house, look for letters and words that your preschooler can see through the spy glass. Make it extra fun by adding in a fun chant each time a letter is found. “I’m a pirate and what do I see? Through my spy glass I spy a ____!” To keep the game going, walk around the house naming objects, people, and anything that is found!
Move the Pirate Ship: Print the pirate ship and number page or find something to use as a ship. Pick a number and identify it. Move the pirate ship that many jumps or sails or swims forward. So if your preschooler picks a number 2, move 2 jumps forward. Get the pirate ship all the way to the island where the treasure is! The island could be the couch, kitchen table, bed, etc. Keep picking numbers and moving!
Tin Foil Treasure: This activity needs to be prepped a little bit ahead of time. Find a bunch of small objects (small toys work great!) and individually wrap them in aluminum foil. The wrapped objects are now pirate treasure! Add of the treasure pieces to a treasure chest (or bucket) and invite your preschooler to try to guess what is inside each wrapped aluminum foil package before opening it up. For added learning fun, write each object down on a list using letter sounds OR by telling your preschooler how to spell the word one letter at a time. If aluminum foil is not available, wrap the objects in newspaper or even wrapping paper!
Day 3
Clip the Wheel: Cut a circle out of cardboard, cardstock, or even paper to act as the steering wheel on a pirate ship. Write a pirate themed word in the middle. Write letters in the word pirate, as well as letters that are not included in the word, around the edge of the circle. Use clothespins or paperclips to clip each matching letter in the word on the steering wheel. Do not clip the letters that are not in the word. Use words like pirate, ship, treasure, map, island, matey, etc. Tip – use the back and front with 2 different words and letters to be able to save supplies and create more versions of this game!
Play Dough Ship Shapes: Print the play dough mat. Add the play mat to a ziploc reusable gallon sized bag or a plastic page protector if possible. Use play dough to build the shapes on each pirate ship. Roll the play dough out into a “snake” and use the play dough pieces to form each shape. If play dough is not available, use beads, button, or even dried beans to form the shapes.
Walk the Plank: Find a wooden board if you have one to use as a plank. If you don’t, simply add a long piece of tape to the floor as your plank. Choose a movement or action and perform it while moving down the plank. Move like an animal or in any way using gross motor muscles. Some examples may include: crab walk, bear walk, big steps, tip toes, gallop, marching, walking backwards, and more!
Day 4
Follow the Treasure Map: Print the treasure map and map symbols or create your own. Cut the symbols out. Write uppercase, lowercase, names, or words on the symbols depending on your preschooler’s learning level. Hang the symbols around the house or room, hiding them if it would add fun to the activity. Using the map, follow the the symbols in order to get to the treasure naming the letters as you go!
That’s My Number: Find and sort out only the number cards from a deck of cards. Deal the 6 number cards out to each person. Lay the cards face up in front of each person in 2 rows of 3 cards. Make a pile with the remaining number cards. Flip the top card and identify the number. Each player will check the 6 cards on the table. If the player has the matching number, flip the card over. If you do not have the number, do nothing with your cards. The game ends when all of a player’s cards are flipped. The object is to flip all of your cards over first!
Paper Plate Pirate Ship: Cut a paper plate in half. Glue brown ripped up or cut up paper to cover it. This is the part of the ship that would be in the water. With the straight side facing up, glue a popsicle stick to the plate to use as the pole for the sail. Cut out a triangle (or a curvy rectangle) for the sail and glue it to the popsicle stick near the top. Add fun details to the pirate ship, like a drawn and cut out pirate and skull and crossbones for the sail.
Day 5
Name Maps: On a piece of paper, draw a quick map that includes a ship and an island with an X. Write the letters in your preschooler’s name around the map. Your preschooler’s job is to start at the pirate ship and draw the path to follow all the way to the X. The path should begin with the first letter in your preschooler’s name and go through each letter before stopping at the X. Play again with different words and names to practice letter identification. To make this a little bit more successful for younger preschooler’s, write the name or word on a paper to follow along with!
Pirate Number Hunt: Print the pirate theme scavenger hunt or create one yourself. Add the scavenger hunt paper to a clipboard. Look around the house or outside for the items, but don’t cross off the item until the correct amount is found! This scavenger hunt has a counting focus.
Pirate Ship Investigating: Gather some materials and supplies from around the house to build small pirate ships with. Put a pirate ship together the supplies making sure to include a bottom for the ship. Build a few different versions or try your pirate ship out and then make changes as needed. Fill a shallow bin or even the sink with water. Sail the pirate ship that was built to see if it will float. Suggestions for ship building supplies include: LEGO bricks and small bases, aluminum foil, paper, bathroom paper cup, tape, ziploc reusable bags, plastic Easter egg, and more!
Young mateys everywhere are discovering how fun the activities in Week #5 are!
Hopefully you are loving the Preschool on the Go activities and that you are feeling more confident about setting up learning fun for your preschooler. Don’t forget, if you are ever looking for more in-depth printable options, you can check out these products:
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Grab the printable outline for Week #5 from the pink button!
Hang it on your refrigerator so you can glance up at it to see what is planned each day. Keep the digital copy available to quickly click to access this page at any point for details about the activities.
You can access all of the Preschool on the Go activities from the main page!
Email me at nicole@modernpreschool.com if you need to!