Pirate Party Games and Crafts

So the initial plan was to make a pirate party series. But, with the way the world is in this moment, I don't feel like writing about that. I do, however, want to finish the previous pirate party post and share the wonderful ideas I picked up from several corners of the net and finish our Dear Emmalee and birthday interview post. 

Here are the crafts, games, and activities we did for the Pirate Party.

I had many different pirate attire items for each of the kids, but they had to earn them.

PIRATE TRAINING

I started by telling the kids they were pirates in training and carried that theme throughout the party. They loved it. 

With each activity conquered, they got closer to becoming a pirate. 

PARROT PET (reward: pirate hook)

First up, make a pirate parrot friend.

I gave each kid a toilet roll, some paper, googly eyes, and feather. The beak, belly, and stripes of paper for body and head were precut. The kids chose their favorite color for the head and body, and glued together the beak, belly, eyes, and feathers. Then I used pipe cleaners to secure the parrot to their hand or shoulders. The shoulder placing was actually their idea.

When the parrot was completed, they received their first attire piece: the hook.

The hook is just a red cup with alluminum foil. Emma's is bent here, but that is preferred to giving kids a hook made from cloth hangers like many internet tutorials suggested.

Arrrgh!

TREASURE MAP (reward: pirate hat)

Next we had a creative pirate map making activity. The kids had to draw a pirate map and tell me how to find the treasure following the map. The most creative map got a special prize, and everyone got a pirate hat when completed.

Here they are doning their pirate hats. The hats had different colored edges so the kids could pick their favorite. 

 

Xavi is showing us the complete pirate attire so far.

SWEEP THE DECK (reward: pirate sword)

Next in our training was to sweep the floor. The kids made teams of two to play a broom "hockey" game. I would drop several balls in the floor and the teams had to sweep it in their "goal" (chair). The team with more balls went to the next round. The winning team got a special prize, and everyone else got their long-awaited sword. 

Here I'm explaining the rules

Those boys are making those broom look good!

Good teamwork collecting the balls scored.

They were quite excited to receive the carbdoard swords. 

And, of course,  a sword fight ensued.

Xavi really knows how to work his pirate items!!! 

WALK THE PLANK (reward: eye patch and spy glass)

Well, turns out those pirates made a terrible job sweeping the deck so they were made to walk the plank! The fastest kid walking the plank without falling got a special prize, and everyone got a spy glass and eye patch.

Pirates with complete attire at the pirate photobooth.

The pirates were given a rest from their training to refuel with some treats, food, and beverages.

They were quick to go for the chocolate-filled treasure chests!

TREASURE HUNT

Turns out that these naughty pirates stole a pirate treasure map before being made to walk the plank!

Each kid was instructed to find a parent or guardian for the treasure hunt. This was because the pirate code was a little hard to decode, and also to make the hunt a shared experience between parent and child. It's good to create memories wherever we go. Each team of child and adult was given a pirate decoder and then they got to decoding code number one given by me. 

Handing out the pirate code decoder.

Showing the first clue.

Clues where in English and Spanish. The code printable can be found in my previous pirate party post here. 

The treasure hunt ended at the piñata treasure chest right where it had started. The two teams that got there first got a special surprise, and everyone got to hear the story of the best treasure we have: JESUS. We also went over Proverbs 4:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Break that treasure chest open!!!

PIRATE CANNON BALL FIGHT (reward: water balloon fight! duh!)

The pirates that were training our rogue pirates were not happy they got their pirate treasure map stolen. And so, a pirate cannon ball fight began. 

Wish I could have found black-colored balloons, but I went for Emmalee's and Kaylee's favorite colors instead. It was good because they were easier to find to clean up.

I simply placed two boxes in front of each other and gave each team a bucket of water balloons.

The kids had been waiting for this all along.

And this was the end of our pirate story. I was very happy the kids had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed all the activities. It was a blast to be their captain.

Sorry I didn't share the DIY section this time. Maybe for post-covid times. 

Here are the birthday interview and Dear Emmalee section (that I had done months ago) .

Emmalee Birthday Interview Age 7. 

Here we go.

1. What is something mommy always says to you? I love you.

2. What makes you happy? Being with my family outside together.

3. What makes you sad? That you are in cancer.

4. What makes you laugh? Kaylee doing funny faces.

5. How old are you? 7.

6. How old is Mommy? 34

7. How old is Daddy? 31 (He is 32 actualle)

8. What is your favorite thing to do? Go outside and play.

9. Who is your best friend? Kaylee and Vicky

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a ninja.

11. What are you really good at? I am good at... I don't know... playing video games?

12. What are you not very good at? I'm not very good at... I don't know... I'm actually good at everything.

13. What did you do today? Today I had fun together.

14. What is your favorite food? Lasagna and mandarinas.

15. What is your favorite song? Girls like you, Maroon 5

16. What do you want for your birthday this year? a skateboard.

17. What is your favorite animal? My favorite animal is the Cheetah.

18. What is love? Love is God.

19. What does daddy do for work? Teaching.
20. What does mommy do for work? Teaching too.

21. Where do you live? I live in PH Genisis (it's Genesis) Plaza, Camino Real de Betania

22. Where is your favorite place to go? Picnic ( The restaurant)

Dear Emmalee, 

Oh my girl! You are so amazing to me. Do you get tired of me telling you how much I admire you? Baby, I'm writing this at the half mark of your 7th year. We are in the middle of a pandemic and you have been housebound and deprived of seeing friends for more than a 100 days. Baby, you've shed a few tears because of this, mainly at the beginning, but you have been a star in all sense. You have used this time to be a better gymnast (ninja in your eyes), a better reader, a better pianist, a better gamer, a better sister, a better daughter, the most loving granddaughter and niece. Baby, we are all so in love with you. You are not always kind because no one can always be good (it's why we need Jesus so badly), but you try so hard and succeed more than I have in my life. You strive for goodness and kindness, you strive for perfection and giving your best, you strive to complete all your work for your Sunday School and Bible camp.
You remind me of this Bible verse:

Philippians 4
"8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

This is how I would describe you. I can never let anyone congratulate me on what a wonderful daughter I have when they try to give me any credit about that. I have no credit on the beautiful heart you have. It is the fruit of the personal love you have for Jesus. I can't wait to see that continue to grow and mature. If the Word is spoken to you, you take it as true with such conviction. If only the world had the faith of a child that you display. You might grow up to be a scientist. Everyday with you I'm greeted with a "Let's make an invention today!" You say science is your favorite subject. You are so proud of yourself for finishing first grade. You told all your teachers (from church) and your friends and family. You are my avid reader. You read on a level far higher than your age! You love reading to your sister. I am no longer needed for story time, but you insist on me being there even if you and your sister have taken over the reading. You love making up songs, and now even give it a try at the piano. If you see mommy sad, you'll immediately start drawing and waiting for mommy to cool off while your making her a note. You hand it in and leave for your room. Your note will always have a drawing of your family with reminder that you love me and I'm a good mom and instructions that "If I want to see you, go to my room." I always go and you're eagerly waiting for me and we hug and play. You change my mood and my downcast spirits to joy with your love and kindness. You struggle a lot with the instruction "Don't tell your sister what to do." You act like a little mom to her and if you get preachy, your sister will have none of that and rebel even further. I have to remind you to be her sister. It's hard for you because you want to pass on what you have learned, but you're still learning how to do that in your sister role. You have learned how to teach Kaylee new things, like how to play Smash or how to do a gym move. I love watching you and your sister playing tag, or hide and seek, or pretend play. We recently made a video of one of your plays. People think it's my idea. I try to make them know it's all yours and your sister's doing. I was watching you yesterday run with your sister at our building's entrance. It's the only amount of fresh air and sun you've had all week. It's the only time you've felt grass on your feet for days. You and your sister had smiles in your faces and twinkle in your eyes. I prayed then and there to always remember you like this, to cherish these beautiful years that are your childhood, and to make them as beautiful and good for you as I can. It hurts me to see you locked in in a small home, yet you seldom complain. You just carry on making us all have "family time" if we've been too into our devices. You cherish all that is good. I love you, my dearest. I love you so intensely. I admire you and learn so much from you far more than I could have imagined I could admire or learn from a little girl or any person for that matter. I love that I can share so much of what I love with you. We make worship videos together and hope we can do more in the future. We paint together, play the piano together, play Smash, play board games, read, yoga, stretching. And there is so much more we'll get to share and do together. Oh, baby, when mommy struggles with her PTSD, she sometimes thinks life is not worth living. The more I talk about you and fill my mind with thoughts of you, this life could not be sweeter to me. And you are a HUGE reason why. I love you, my ninja sweetness second grader. I love you forever. 

Mom