Pirate Adventures Challenge Kit Activities

Craft Overview

• Pirate Clothing
  • Paper Pirate Hat
  • Eye Patch
  • Beaded Sash
  • Build a Bandana
• Pirate Accessories
  • Beaded Necklace
  • Old Coin Medallion
  • Parrot Partner
• Ship Crafts
  • Tin Candle Lights
  • Design A Jolly Rodger
  • Create A Compass Rose
  • Make A Compass
  • Make A Treasure Chest
  • Treasure Map

Craft: Paper Pirate Hat

Materials

• A standard sheet of paper

Instructions

1. Start with a piece of paper (a sheet of newspaper makes a nice, big hat). Fold the sheet of paper in half and open it. Now fold the top down to the bottom edge and crease well.
2. Fold the top corners down to the centre line. Fold the bottom edge (uppermost layer only) up to the base of the triangles. Fold this part up once again, and
   crease well. Turn that over and repeat on the other side. Open out the hat to shape it. Your pirate hat is complete!

Craft: Eye Patch

Materials

• String
• Cardboard/poster board
• Decorating materials (optional)
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Draw a circle on the cardboard big enough to cover your eye. Carefully cut it out and punch two holes in it, one on the right and one on the left side of the patch.
2. Next, take a piece of string and wrap it about your head to measure how long of a string you’ll need. Cut it to size. Insert the end of your string through one of the holes in the eye patch and tie it off.
3. Take the other end of the string, put it through the other hole and tie it. Place the string over your head, and you’ve built yourself an eye patch. Good job, matey! Now you can decorate it any way you want.

Craft: Beaded Sash

Materials

• Long, rectangular piece of material
• Scissors
• Glue
• Glitter
• Beads

Instructions

1. Find a long, rectangular piece of material that wraps about your waist and still has some material dangling down. Take a moment to tie it around your waist to see what your sash will look like, then remove it.
2. Cut little strips on one end of your sash, the part that dangles down, to give your sash a frayed look. You can leave it as is, or you can slide beads onto the strips and knot off the bottom to keep them from slipping off.
3. Next, determine which part of the sash goes against your body. Take the side that doesn’t and start decorating it with glitter, beads, or even a skull and crossbones. Anything you want will work; just make it as piratey as you can.

Craft: Build A Bandana

Materials

• A meter of material
• Scissors
• Decorating tools

Instructions

1. Cut a meter of cloth into a square. Fold the square in half, corner to corner, so you have a diamond shape. If you have a rectangular shape, you have folded the wrong half.
2. Take the centrefold, wrap it around your forehead and tie the two corners at the back of your head.
3. Tuck the point of the triangle underneath the tied ends. Arr, you’re a pirate! Feel free to decorate the bandana with anything you want, glitter, markers, or anything you can think of.

Craft: Beaded Necklace

Materials

• Length of string
• Scissors
• Beads

Instructions

1. Take a piece of string and measure it to the length you want. Remember that any knots you make take up that much more string.
2. Add beads or letters to your string. You can place knots in between each bead, or every two, or wherever you want a knot. This separates the beads and can make your necklace look more balanced.

Craft: Old Coin Medallion

Materials

• Coin-shaped rock
• Gold or silver tinfoil
• Long piece of string

Instructions

1. Give each girl a rock roughly shaped like a coin. Have them wrap the rock in gold or silver tinfoil. This will be your old coin.
2. Using a long piece of string, tie the coin to the center of the string. You now have a medallion.
3. If you want to decorate your medallion further, you can add beads to the string or paint a design onto your coin.

Craft: Parrot Partner

Materials

• Parrot template
• Paper
• Card stock
• Glue
• Scissors
• Markers
• Tacky glue
• Coloured feathers
• Googly eyes
• Tape or safety pins

Instructions

1. Cut out the parrot template, glue the template onto card stock and cut it out.
2. Decorate the parrot with markers and use the glue to adorn it with coloured feathers and googly eyes.
3. Fold the paper tab along the creases and tap or pin it to your pirate’s shoulder.

Craft: Tin Candle Lights

Materials

• Tin can 
• Paper or cardboard
• Scissors
• Tape
• A nail
• Hammer
• Wood insert
• Tea candle

Instructions

Before you start, make sure you have a tin can and a chunk of wood that you can place inside the can. It has to be roughly the same size as the can. The wood insert is used so the can doesn’t bend when you make the nail holes.

1. Take a tin can and make sure it’s cleaned out and the label is removed. Set the can aside.
2. On a piece of paper or cardboard, draw the design you want on your tin can. This is your stencil. Wrap your stencil around the can to make sure it’ll fit how you want it. Make changes as needed. Next, cut out your template and tape it onto the can.
3. Place your wood insert into the can and then punch out your design using a nail and a hammer. Once your design has been completed, remove the stencil and the wood insert. Light a candle, place it inside your tin can, turn off the lights and watch as your design shines.

Craft: Design A Jolly Roger

Materials

• 1 sheet of drawing paper
• 1 sheet of red, white or black construction paper
• 3 pieces of felt
• A stick

Instructions

1. Pirates sailed under flags called “Jolly Rogers.” Many pirates created their own designs.
2. Design a pirate flag that tells something about you. Pick something you are interested in or good at to include on your pirate flag. For example, if you like camping, include a tent on your pirate flag. Also, make sure you include some pirate symbols on your flag, such as skulls, skeletons, crossbones, cutlasses, and hourglasses.
3. First, draw your design on the drawing paper. Then, cut your design out of felt and glue it onto construction paper after your pirate flag is dry, and tape it to a stick.

Craft: Create A Compass Rose

Material

• Pencil
• Ruler
• Crayons or markers

Instructions

1. Give each girl a piece of paper and some markers. Have them draw two 12 cm lines, one vertical and one horizontal, so they intersect to form a cross. This will be your N, E, S, and W directions. Next, draw two more 6 cm lines intersecting the middle to form an X. These lines will be in NE, SE, SW, and NW directions.
2. Now make little dots 6 mm up the 12 cm legs. Draw the sides of the 4 N/S/E/W legs to the marked points, forming a large star.
3. Next, draw the sides of the short points from the tip to the new marks to form the short star behind the large star.
4. Now, it’s time to bring your drawing to life. Take a light colour and shade the left half of each of the star points. Shade the right half of each point a dark colour to make your star really stand out. Once you are satisfied with the inside of your compass rose, it’s time to work on the outside.
5. Draw a big circle around your star and a circle around your new circle to form the compass border. Inside the border, write your N, E, S, W, NE, SE, SW, and NW directions in their appropriate spot. Colour the compass border, and you’re finished!

Craft: Make A Compass

Materials

• 1 clear plastic cup
• Pencil
• Bar magnet
• Thread
• Needle or small nail

Instructions

1. Stroke one end of the magnet along the needle, about 30 times in the same direction. Test to see if the needle (or nail) has become magnetized by picking up a pin.
2. Next, tie one end of a piece of thread to the center of your magnetized needle. Tie the other end of the thread to a pencil. Place the pencil on the rim of the cup with the needle hanging down into the cup.
3. Place the completed compass on a table. Once the needle comes to rest, the thickest end of the needle will point north. Move the cup compass to other areas on the table and watch the needle come to rest and point north.

Craft: Make A Treasure Chest

Materials

• A shoe box
• Coloured paper
• Glue
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Have the shoe box, glue, and paper ready. Paste a dark colour paper on the box until it is covered, but make sure to do the box and lid separately
2. Cut two long strips (3 inches) of yellow paper and two shorter ones (also 3 inches) and glue them on the edges or as stripes on the box.
3. Cut out or draw on designs for your treasure chest and put them on your box. You can also glue brown or black construction paper on the inside of the box to cover the inside as well. Make a keyhole, and then you are done.

Craft: Treasure Map

Materials

• White construction paper
• Crayons
• Used a damp tea bag

Instructions

1. Have the kids draw an island in the middle of their construction paper. Give the island a name, then write the name of the water that surrounds the island (ocean, bay, cove, lake) on the map.
2. Draw a compass rose in the lower right-hand corner of the treasure map. You can include things like hills, mountains, ponds, lakes, forests, palm trees, shark fins in the water, or a big X to mark where the treasure is.
3. Tear jagged edges all around the treasure map to make it look rugged. When the treasure maps are finished, age the maps by pressing a damp tea bag all over them. Allow to dry and colour your map.

Recipe Overview

• Oreo Cannon Balls
• Shiver Me Timbers
• Sand Dollars
• Pirate Punch
• Melon Pirate Ship
• Skewered Octopus

Recipe: Oreo Cannon Balls

Ingredients

• 1 package of Oreo cookies
• 1 package cream cheese, softened
• 1 package almond bark

Instructions

1. In a plastic bag, crush Oreo cookies, then take a bowl and blend the crushed Oreo cookies and cream cheese.
2. Roll into bite-size balls. Dip each ball into melted almond bark and place it on waxed paper.
3. Drizzle melted chocolate on each ball and decorate with skulls and crossbones or black sprinkles. Set in the refrigerator and let chill.

Recipe: Shiver Me Timbers

Ingredients

• 2 oz orange juice
• 2 oz apple juice
• Lemonade
• Grenadine
• Optional: an orange slice
• Optional: a cherry

Instructions

1. Put orange and apple juices into a glass half-filled with ice.
2. Fill the glass with lemonade and a splash of Grenadine. For garnish, you can use a half orange slice and a cherry.

Recipe: Sand Dollars

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

1. Beat butter in a large bowl until light. Beat in 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Add flour and mix until just blended. Stir in nuts. Shape dough into a ball, then flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place on prepared sheets, spacing evenly. Bake for about 20 minutes or until firm and lightly coloured.
3. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Transfer cookies to powdered sugar while still warm and roll gently to coat. Immediately transfer cookies to a plastic bag and seal (this makes the cookies sweat and form an icing). Let it stand 5 minutes in the bag. Transfer to the rack and cool.

Recipe: Pirate Punch

Ingredients

• 12 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 small can (6 oz) frozen lemonade concentrate
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1/2 gallon dry ginger ale (32 oz)

Instructions

Pirate punch serves 24.

1. Mix the fruit juices, then cover and chill in the refrigerator.
2. Add cold ginger ale just before serving.
3. Serve fruit punch over crushed ice, or freeze about half of the ginger ale in ice cube trays and add to the punch with the remaining ginger ale.

Recipe: Melon Boat Pirate Ship

Ingredients

• Watermelon or any melon of your choice
• Teddy Graham bears or gummy bears

Materials

• Popsicle sticks or chopsticks
• Black construction paper
• White crayons

Instructions

1. Cut out a triangular sail out of the black construction paper; this will be your pirate ship sail.
2. Using a white crayon or marker, draw a skull and crossbones or any pirate symbol you want. Cut two holes in your sail and insert your mast, the popsicle or chopstick.
3. Cut a slice of melon to get a rough boat shape and stick your flag into the middle. Then place teddy graham bears along the melons, your pirates.

Recipe: Skewered Octopus

Ingredients

• Hot dogs
• Pirate sword plastic toothpicks OR wooden toothpicks

Instructions

1. Take the hot dog and slice it four times, ¾ the way down, into eight legs.
2. Put your sliced hot dog into a pot of boiling water or on a roasting stick over a campfire and wait until the legs curl up.
3. Take out your octopus and skewer it with a colourful pirate sword toothpick or place it on a festive plate.

Games Overview

• Treasure Hunt
• Cannon Ball Down!
• Capture the Pirate Flag
• Captain Says
• Memory Game

Game: Treasure Hunt

Materials

• Paper or cardboard
• Scissors
• Marker
• Treasure chest
• Any goodies and prizes

Instructions

A pirate treasure hunt can be done with small or large groups, inside or outside. Clues to the treasure can be written, drawn, or photographed. Cardboard puzzle shapes are a good idea because the clue is more durable than paper, and although each clue is a single piece, when the kids put them together, a treasure map emerges on the other side. Clues can be simple or complex depending on the ages of your pirates. Of course, the final clue leads to a treasure chest full of goodies.

Recipe: Cannon Ball Down!

Materials

• Gym balls

Instructions

1. Designate a rectangular play area. Place a kid on each side of the long part of the rectangle; these people are pirates. Give the pirate the inflated gym balls. Everyone else is on normal merchant ships, just going about their business, when they come across two pirate ships battling. The only way to get to safety is to sail through the battle zone.
2. The merchant ships run from one end of the rectangle to the other while the pirates throw/roll cannon balls (gym balls) into the crowd.
3. Any ship that is hit has to come to the side of the rectangular playing area and become a pirate. The last merchant ship standing wins, or once all the ships are sunk, the game ends.

Game: Capture The Pirate Flag

Materials

• Two different pirate flags

Instructions

1. Divide your pirates into two teams and give each team its own flag and its own “island.” Pirates then hide their pirate flag somewhere on their island.
2. The goal is to find the opposing flag and bring it onto your team’s island. If one pirate is tagged by an opposing pirate, he is sent to a designated deserted island where a friendly tag from his own teammates rescues him.
3. The first team to get the opposing team’s flag onto their own island wins.

Game: Captain Says

Materials

• Any props you want (optional)

Instructions

1. Set up a designated playing area and gather your girls into a line facing you. Before you begin, teach them the commands and what action they have to take.
2. The Leader then calls out a command, and the girls have to do the action. If anyone doesn’t do the right action, then they are out and have to stand next to the Leader.
3. The girls who are out can try to mess the other girls up by doing the wrong action in hopes that the girls will follow them instead of the Leader. The commands and activities are listed on the next page.

Commands

Game: Memory Game

Put your mind to the test and see if you can match the cards!

Instructions

Note: Build a card deck using the pictures on the next page. There have to be two cards for each character.

1. Mix up the cards and lay them all face down.
2. Next, flip two cards face up, one at a time. If they match, gather the pair together and put them aside. If they don’t match, flip them face down again.
3. Repeat until all the cards are paired up and set aside.

Extra Activities and Supplementals

Once you have finished this challenge kit, use code ECK011 for 20% off the Pirate Adventures badge!