Free Pirate Preschool Lesson Plans
Arrr, matey! A preschool pirate theme is a kid (and adult) favorite! From gold and treasure to pirate ships and maps, these free pirate preschool lesson plans truly have it all. Plus, these FREE pirate preschool lesson plans help make planning for your pirate theme fun and easy and won’t leave you feeling like walking the plank. Keep reading to see all the pirate preschool ideas and grab your free download at the bottom of this post.
Free Pirate Activities for Preschoolers
Ahoy there! A pirate theme can be so filled with fun that your preschoolers won’t even notice they are learning! Preschoolers absolutely love to pretend and incorporate dramatic play into their world. A pirate theme provides preschoolers the chance to pretend to be on the open sea, searching for gold, and finding a lost treasure map.
Plus, this pirate theme is a great tie-in to ocean life and learning about beaches and seashells, too! The beautiful thing about a pirate preschool theme is that you can gear it any way you like for your preschoolers. Keep reading on to find our preschool pirate activities and download the free bundle of ideas at the bottom of the post!
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Product on sale* Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans BundleOriginal price was: $60.00.$22.00Current price is: $22.00.
FAQ About a Pirates Preschool Theme
You may have a few questions about teaching about pirates with your preschoolers! Check out these frequently asked questions for teaching a pirate preschool theme.
While pirates may be known as the rogues of the sea, there are also “pirates” that do good. For instance, the Sea Shepherds ensure that fishermen at sea are following safe and sustainable fishing habits and keeping our oceans safe from litter and pollution.
Teaching with a pirate theme also encourages creativity and pretend play. Plus, you can incorporate talk like a pirate day for some new vocabulary learning too!
There are lots of other themes that tie into pirates! Learning about ocean animals and the importance of not overfishing so that our oceans stay full of life. Encouraging kindness and friendship with others (as many pirates did not do). Also, a transportation theme (specifically ships) and how transportation helps us carry people or goods to faraway places is a good add-on to your pirate theme.
Important Info about these Pirates Lesson Plans
These lesson plans for preschoolers are just one theme in a set of over 40 that will become a part of my free Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans.
The Learn at Home Preschool Lesson Plans are a set of free lesson plans you can use to teach your preschooler at home.
Each set of lesson plans is centered around a weekly theme and includes a minimum of 16 activities that can be done throughout the week. They are designed to be done at home with parents, but many preschool teachers are using these lesson plans, too!
Just glance over the lessons each day, gather the very few materials needed, and you’re ready to go!
All the preschool learning activities are quick and easy to set up, requiring very little (if any at all) prep and only require the most basic of household materials. This makes them especially easy for parents to implement…and this makes preschool teachers happy, too!
These activities also work wonderfully in the classroom, and if you’re a preschool teacher who is remotely teaching you can send these lesson plans to your student’s parents.
Engaging Preschool Activities for a Pirates Theme
We have put together over 15 pirate preschool activities and ideas for your preschool theme! Full of arts and crafts, hands-on learning, and even academic games and activities, your pirate theme is certain to be ‘treasured’!
Literacy Activities for a Pirates Preschool Theme
Pirate Emergent Reader Books – Print out any of the four pirate beginning reader books. Read them together with your preschooler. After reading, re-read together and count the words in each sentence by pointing to each word slowly. How many sentences are on the page? A sentence is on complete thought and you might see punctuation at the end like a period, exclamation mark, or question mark. Let’s look for them together!
Pirate Letter Find Activity – Grab your gold coins and go on a letter search/treasure hunt. Print this alphabet letter find mat and invite your preschooler to pull a letter card and then cover up the matching letter on the mat with a gold coin. Or invite your child to cover up all the letters in their own name or a sibling or friend’s name. For even more fun, write letters on the golden coins and hide them around the room to be matched after discovery.
Oh, and this is made even more fun by using our shimmering gold playdough recipe that looks like real gold nuggets!
Don’t Forget Picture Books!
One of the best ways to teach preschoolers about any theme is by hand-selecting the highest-quality picture books! We hope these pirate book suggestions add great literary value to your pirate theme.
- An hilarious look at the finer points of pirate life. Shiver me timbers!
- Braid Beard’s pirate crew invites Jeremy Jacob to join their voyage.
- Soon Jeremy Jacob knows all about being a pirate.
- Sobel, June (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 09/07/2009 (Publication Date) – Clarion Books (Publisher)
- Dean, James (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 03/07/2017 (Publication Date) – HarperFestival (Publisher)
- Ann, Kim (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 43 Pages – 11/05/2022 (Publication Date) – Lucky Four Press (Publisher)
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Bunting, Eve (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Math and Science Activities for a Pirates Theme in Preschool
Pirate Treasure Counting Mats – Grab some coins and some sparkly jewels and print these counting mats for a math treasure adventure. Invite your preschooler to do some pirate math and count out the correct number of treasure pieces for each mat. Use a real treasure chest if you have one!
Pirate Counting Activity – Gather some real coins and help the pirate get back to his ship! Count and stack the coins on each number and send your pirate back to sea!
Ocean in a Bottle Activity – Using oil, water, food coloring, and a plastic bottle create waves in a bottle. Watch the oil and water separate. For even more fun, add a plastic ship inside the bottle and watch it take on the waves!
Playful Preschool Learning Activities for a Pirates Theme
Paint a Portrait – Using a mirror and some art supplies, paint a portrait of yourself. Concentrate on drawing your facial features like your nose, eyes, mouth, eyelashes, eyebrows, etc. What shapes can you use to draw the parts of the face?
Make Pasta Necklaces – Using dried pasta and string, thread different types of noodles onto the string to make necklaces or bracelets. If you like, paint the noodles first, let dry, and make a rainbow necklace!
Bubble Foam – Put some dish soap and water in a blender with adult help. Blend until you have lots of foam. Add it to the water table or bathtub for extra fun!
Social-Emotional Activities for a Pirates Preschool Theme
Pirates Understand Emotions – Practice learning big emotions with this pirate-themed playdough pack. Simply print and laminate and start adding facial expressions for each page. Some emotions include frustration, worry, peace, sadness, etc. Discuss with your preschooler what those feelings feel like (happy feelings or sad feelings) and think back to when they have felt that way. Add in a pirate eye patch while you create those playdough expressions for even more silly pirate fun!
The Importance of Listening – Go to YouTube and read the story, Even Pirates Need to Listen by Mike Carnes. This book does an adorable job of reminding the reader that listening is an important skill and that sharing responsibilities happens in any family… even pirate families. After reading together, discuss what listening looks like at home, at school, out in stores or even in the car. What would happen if people didn’t listen? Invite your preschooler to share examples of a world without listening.
Just Plain Fun Pirates Activities for Preschoolers
Easy Pirate Ship Craft – Using a toilet paper tube, construction paper, and some sticks, invite your preschooler to create their very own pirate ship! Encourage them to make it their own with markers too! Don’t forget to talk like a pirate while you design it!
Pirate Handprint – With a little red, tan, and black paint, you can make some awesome handprint art! Paint the palm, stamp it, and add details after it dries.
Make a Parrot with Cupcake Liners – With some red, yellow, white, and blue cupcake liners, plus a little construction paper, you’ve got yourself a flying friend for your pirate. This craft activity requires that you simply glue the pieces together and add the parrot to a branch!
Get Online Activities for a Pirates Theme
Online Story – Go to YouTube and listen to the story, Pete the Cat and the Treasure Map by James Dean. After listening, discuss with your preschooler: “Who gave Pete the Cat the treasure map? Why did the sea monster need to help Pete? What instrument does the sea monster love to play? Who was waiting with the treasure?”
We Are the Pirates Video – Enjoy acting like a pirate with Jack Hartmann and sing along!
Port Side Pirates Song and Story – Join the pirates on a wild adventure… will they make it safely through the stormy weather?
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Product on sale* Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans BundleOriginal price was: $60.00.$22.00Current price is: $22.00.
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Make Your Pirate Theme Even Better!
These pirate toys and add-ons are a great way to spruce up your pirate theme! Certainly not required, but a great option to build up the interest value for your preschoolers. Take a look!
Get Your Free Pirates Lesson Plans Here
Want to include these pirate activities in your lesson plans? Ready to grab your free printable lesson plans with all these pirate theme activities for preschoolers?!
No problem. I’ve made a printable for you. Just fill out the form below and it will be sent to your inbox.
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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
