“Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.”- Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean
September 19th is International Pirate Day, but you can engage your learners all year long with pirate activities. Students can learn science, math, geography, history, culture, citizenship, and more by studying famous pirates. Below is a slide presentation (download the pdf) and a list of resources to get you started.
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Tips and Resources
- Students can create their own treasure hunts and learn about math and reading maps:
- Click here for a cool craft activity for making an authentic looking map! You can use grocery brown bags.
- Teach them science and have them add invisible ink to their maps. Find invisible ink recipes here.
- Students can create Qr code Treasure Hunts with Class Tools QR Treasure Hunt.
- They can draw a map and use Thinglink to add pop up text clues like this example. Find instructions on making on making an interactive map with Thinglink here.
- Students can create their own pirate themed comic strips with these tools:
- Friendstrip is a free iOS/Android app to make comic strips. They have a pirate prompt for students to add their own captions and pictures.
- Toondoo is a free web tool to create comics and books and has pirate characters and backgrounds.
- Makebeliefs Comix has a few pirate themed objects and characters. Create a comic online or use the free iPad app.
- Students can create their own pirate stories with these digital storytelling tools and apps!
- Story Jumper is a free web tool for creating embeddable books. Students can choose from different pirate theme backgrounds and characters.
- LittleBirdTales is a free web tool for creating embeddable books. Students can upload images, draw within the pages, add text and record their voices.
- Zooburst is an online free 3D pop-up book creator. Students choose from a library of characters or upload their own drawings and pictures.
- Students can talk like a pirate with this English to Pirate translator.
- Get students to build their own pirate ships with paper, styrofoam, and other materials and test what makes their ships better. Find a lesson with background information here.
- Host a Google Hangout where students reenact a pirate play using Google Effects and dressing virtually like a pirate.
- Click to discover pirate games and activities for young children from Disney’s show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
Challenge– Try one of these ideas to engage your students.
