Pirate Castaways

Johnston Library had their Pirate Castaways for children age 6-11 and all four children were able to go.  They had a wonderful time.  One of my sons found some pirate costumes at Nobbies, regularly $20 for $5 each.  Add an eye patch and earring, hat for grandson, age 6, and we were on our way.  The girls had scarves so did not need a hat.  The children were divided into groups of  5 with a leader for each group.  Most of the children were dressed in various versions of pirates.  The games they played were easy to create and could be used for a neighborhood party or birthday party.  A warm sunny day is a must as the games are more fun outside then inside.  Although they could be recreated in a garage where water and a mess would be easy to clean up. 

Walking the plank started the activities for my grandchildren.  As granddaughter, age 10, began walking between two chalk lines while blindfolded, the other children helped keep her in line.  "How?" you ask.  By squirting her with water pistols.  If she strayed to the left, the person on the left shot her with a water pistol until she got back in line.  If she strayed to the right, the person on the right shot her with a water pistol until she got back in line.  This one should be well surpervised to make sure the shooting stopped as the participant gets back in line. 

Another game included rescuing a mermaid or merman.  A small kiddie pool had a couple of inches of water in it with Barbie dolls, Ken dolls, and plastic boats thrown in.  While my grandson, age 6,  was trying to grab a mermaid or merman, the adult threw a hula hoop over him.  He got pretty sneaky and grabbed one while she wasn't looking which added to the fun for everyone.  

Granddaughter, age 8, enjoyed (sort off) searching for eyeballs.  This meant digging through a bowl of jello to dig out an eyeball.  She pulled out the eyeball pretty quickly which made it extra fun for her.  There were also marbles in the jello so the eyeball wasn't chosen immediately.

Granddaughter, age 6, enjoyed digging up buried treasure.  A couple of bins of sand with buried jewels was another successful activity.  Each child knew the number of jewels they were looking for which added to the fun.  When one child finished,  he or she would help the others until all the jewels were found.  Helping each other made grandma proud.

There were a few more activities, although these seemed to be the most fun and easiest to duplicate.  Every time an activity was completed the children received a puzzle piece.  Putting together the puzzle pieces at the end of the morning, the map for buried treasure emerged and a search using the map sent them to a small bag filled with candy.  

While the children ate snacks provided by the library, we looked through the pirate books they had set out.

What was your favorite party as a child?