Pirates, Origami, and Treasure

Ahoy, matey! We’ve been reading about pirates! Our books this month were rather fun and they were some we just happened to stumble across. Or rather, sail upon.

We started our pirate study by visiting YouTube for this video of the book The Night Pirates by Peter Harris, illustrated by Deborah Allwright. I would tell you the girls’ favorite line in the whole thing but it might spoil it, so you’ll just have to watch. http://youtu.be/2iKLzTs5UqQ

Our picture books this month were Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer and The Pirate Girl’s Treasure: An Origami Adventure by Petyon Leung, illustrated by Hilary Leung. Both were lots of fun and had unexpected twists and bits.

Pirate Girl is the story of a young pirate girl who heads off to visit her grandmother and is captured by pirates. She is eventually rescued but you’ll never guess who her rescuer is!

The Pirate Girl’s Treasure takes you along as the pirate girl heads off to locate the treasure her grandfather left for her. If you follow along and make the origami folds to a page that are indicated, you end up with the same treasure that the pirate girl finds. (Some are a tad bit obscure if you are just reading the text but if you will go through the folds instructions in the back of the book before reading it with the kids, it ought to be much easier.)

This was a fun activity and the girls enjoyed it so much that they made several different origami shirts, including some for their Barbie-sized dolls and their 18″ dolls. I have even caught them making boats and hats for their Polly-sized dolls.

One of my goals is to find a chapter book to read on the theme for each month of Poppins Book Nook. This month we found Marooned on the Pirate Coast by Melinda Rice, illustrated by Alan McCuller.

The girls absolutely enjoyed this story about a 10 year old girl who is shipwrecked alone and has to learn to survive. She is captured by Indians and then rescued by pirates (Jean Lafitte!). This turned out to be a wonderful book that captivated the girls so that they begged for more each time we marked the book for the day. Another wonderful bit about this book is that many of the people, occasions, and activities in the story are based on true life. We learned about a real “privateer” (pirate) in Jean Lafitte, hurricanes hitting the Texas coast, Galveston Island (which they have visited), ways that the Karankawa Indians lived and survived in Texas, Jim Bowie (one of the Texas fathers who was a slave trader prior to that, according to this book), and James Long. Texas history in an unexpected find – a win for sure when they beg for more.

A pirate theme is not complete without a treasure hunt. So, we had two!

The first was an exploding ice treasure hunt. Mix colored water with baking soda (1 to 1 ratio), add a few beads or treasures for each ice block, and freeze. We froze them in recycled single-serve applesauce containers. After they are frozen, we put them in a large pan and gave each girl pirate a squirt bottle with vinegar. Squirting the vinegar onto the baking soda ice blocks makes them fizzy and popping. After being squirted for a bit, the treasures started appearing. The girls were excited to see what would show up.

The other treasure hunt was thought up by the giggly girls. They decided to pick treasures (colored polished rocks and pretend gold coins) to hide. Each giggly girl hid some treasure and then created a pirate’s treasure map for her sisters to follow. We had a quick map review about how to keep the map oriented while you are drawing it and while you are following it and how clues on the map will help the pirates find the treasure. Of course, every map was marked with a big X. They had fun trying to follow each other’s maps and find the treasure. This was so much fun they created multiple maps each and searched for pirate treasure several times.

 (clip art used in this design by: http://www.etsy.com/shop/melonheadzdoodles)

For more pirate activities, visit the other hosts for the Poppins Book Nook.
Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God’s Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy’s Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy’s Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Raventhreads ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A “Peace” of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Don’t forget to make use of the FREE lapbook available for every monthly theme, provided by Enchanted Homeschooling Mom. Visit her Pirate Theme post to download the lapbook and catch up on any you might have missed.

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Tagged: books, craft, history, homeschool, play, Poppins Book Nook