Pirate Early Years Activities: Treasure Digs, Maps and an Interactive Captain’s Code Memory Game
Adventures on the seven seas for little sailors
Few topics set EYFS imaginations alight quite like pirates. A treasure map on the rug, a paper telescope held to a brave little eye, and a gold foil coin found under a cushion: these are the building blocks of early storytelling, early maths, and early problem-solving. Pirate play is a rich, open-ended theme that supports language, physical development and social collaboration in one joyful sweep.
These five practitioner-designed activities cover every EYFS area. A sensory treasure dig for Understanding the World and Physical Development, a Jolly Roger flag art station for Expressive Arts, a treasure map adventure hunt for Literacy and movement, a pirate ship role-play corner for Communication and PSED, and a doubloon counting station for Mathematics. Paired with the brand-new Captain’s Treasure Code memory game, this is everything you need to hoist the topic sails for a full week of play.
Our Top 5 Pirate Activities
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🦜 Captain’s Treasure Code
Polly the parrot knows the secret code to the captain’s treasure chest. Listen as she sings a pattern of treasures, then repeat it back. Crack five codes to open the chest and claim the gold!
Keyboard play: tab to a treasure button and press Enter or Space to tap it.
Buried Treasure Sensory Dig
Best for: Understanding the World · Physical Development · Mathematics · Communication & Language
What you need
- A large tuff tray or builder’s tray filled with play sand, kinetic sand or oats
- Plastic gold coins, chunky plastic gems, small plastic keys and mini padlocks
- One or two small wooden or plastic treasure chests with working lids
- Child-size shovels, sieves, soft paintbrushes and spoons
- Small buckets, bowls or paper bags for collected loot
- A laminated treasure list: how many coins to find, how many jewels and so on
- Child-size magnifying glasses and a small jewellery display tray
How to set it up
- Hide treasures at different depths in the sand, with some just peeking out.
- Place one chest buried and one on top, so children have a target to fill.
- Gather the group: “The Captain needs us to find her lost treasure. Are you ready?”
- Model careful digging with a brush and a spoon, “like a real archaeologist pirate”.
- Count finds into the chest together. Tick off the treasure list as you go.
💬 Adult prompts
- “What have you found? A coin or a jewel? How can you tell?”
- “How many gold coins have we collected so far? Let’s count them together.”
- “Which one is the heaviest? Can you pass me the smallest?”
- “Why do you think pirates buried their treasure?”
- “Where else do you think we could hide treasure in the room?”
📚 EYFS links
- Understanding the World: exploring materials, sand, stones, metals.
- Mathematics: counting, comparing, sorting by size and shape.
- Physical Development: fine motor digging, pincer grip with brushes.
- Communication & Language: new vocabulary (gleaming, buried, weighty).
- PSED: taking turns at a popular tray, sharing a haul of loot.
✨ Extensions & differentiation
- Ages 1 to 2: larger loose-part coins and gems only, focus on scooping and filling.
- Ages 3 to 4: sort finds into labelled bowls (gold, silver, jewels).
- Ages 4 to 5: a tally chart on a clipboard, recording the haul with marks.
- Challenge: make a simple map of where each treasure was found in the sand.
Safety tip: supervise under threes closely, as small coins and gems are a choking risk. Check that plastic chests have no sharp hinges and that keys are smooth. Refresh the sand regularly and offer a hand-washing station nearby.
Design Your Own Jolly Roger Flag
Best for: Expressive Arts & Design · Physical Development · PSED · Communication & Language
What you need
- Rectangles of black card or black calico cloth, roughly A4 size
- White paint in small pots, thick and thin brushes, sponge stampers
- White chalk pencils and soft pastels, plus cotton buds for dot patterns
- Card stencils of skulls, crossbones, swords, parrots, anchors and stars
- Bamboo garden canes or rolled-up newspaper tubes for the flagpole
- Strong tape or a stapler (adult use only) to fix the flag to the pole
- A mirror or book of real pirate flags for inspiration
How to set it up
- Gather on the carpet and share a few real pirate flag designs. Spot the symbols.
- Explain that every pirate crew had a unique flag so others knew who they were.
- Set the table with pots of paint, stencils and chalks. One flag per child.
- Children design their own symbol: a skull, a star, an initial, anything they want.
- Once dry, tape to a bamboo cane. Line up for a flag parade around the garden.
💬 Adult prompts
- “What symbol will you choose for your crew? Why that one?”
- “How many bones will cross behind your skull? Two? Three?”
- “What is your pirate name going to be? Captain who?”
- “Can you paint a big shape and then a small shape next to it?”
- “When we parade, shall we whisper or shall we shout our pirate name?”
📚 EYFS links
- Expressive Arts & Design: personal symbolic art, colour on black.
- Physical Development: brush control, stencil pressure, grip.
- PSED: pride in personal identity, a “my crew, my flag” moment.
- Communication & Language: inventing a pirate name and story.
- Literacy: adding the first letter of their name to the flag.
✨ Extensions & differentiation
- Ages 1 to 2: large sponge prints and hand-prints on black paper, no stencils.
- Ages 3 to 4: use simple stencils, child presses and paints inside shape.
- Ages 4 to 5: add their pirate name in chalk or sticker letters.
- Challenge: design a crew flag together in a small group with a shared symbol.
Inclusive tip: reframe the skull as a friendly face or a big star for settings that prefer to avoid skeleton imagery. Many EYFS settings use a smiley face with crossed spoons or crossed paintbrushes as a gentler Jolly Roger, and children love inventing their own.
Treasure Map Adventure Hunt
Best for: Literacy · Mathematics · Physical Development · Understanding the World
What you need
- A large sheet of brown paper, or regular paper “aged” with cold tea and air-dried
- A clear photo-map of your garden or setting with five or six key landmarks
- Five or six picture clue cards (a tree, a bench, a door, a puddle, a shed)
- Small items to leave as clues: wooden coins, wooden X marks, mini scrolls
- A final treasure box with a modest prize or a class photo “certificate”
- A cardboard telescope per child, decorated ahead of time if possible
- A pirate bandana or hat per child for role entry
How to set it up
- Hide clue cards along the route. Each clue points to the next landmark.
- Draw the route on the brown-paper map with a dashed line and a big red X.
- Gather children, explain we are following the Captain’s map. Put hats on.
- Walk the route together, stopping at each clue. Count steps between stops.
- Find the chest, share the treasure, sit together for a story to finish.
💬 Adult prompts
- “What can you see on the map? Is it the tree or the bench next?”
- “How many steps do you think it is from here to the next clue?”
- “What does the red X mean? Where on our map is it?”
- “Can you use your telescope? What do you spy with your little eye?”
- “Which path should we take: the curvy one or the straight one?”
📚 EYFS links
- Literacy: reading pictorial clues, following a sequence, early map symbols.
- Mathematics: counting steps, comparing distances, prepositions.
- Physical Development: walking, navigating, balancing along paths.
- Understanding the World: their local environment from a bird’s-eye view.
- PSED: working as a crew, taking turns to spot the next clue.
✨ Extensions & differentiation
- Ages 1 to 2: just three close stops, keep it short and hand-held.
- Ages 3 to 4: follow picture clues, say what each landmark is.
- Ages 4 to 5: invite children to hide the treasure for another group.
- Challenge: each child draws a mini map of the route from memory afterwards.
Indoor adaptation: if it is raining, run the same hunt inside. Use the book corner, the home corner, the painting table and the window as landmarks. A “treasure” of stickers or a group story is a lovely finale that keeps the magic indoors.
Pirate Ship Role-Play Corner
Best for: Communication & Language · PSED · Expressive Arts & Design · Understanding the World
What you need
- A large cardboard box or a PE bench with fabric draped as a ship hull
- A ship’s wheel made from a round pizza board with handles attached
- Cardboard telescopes, pirate hats, eye patches, sailor-stripe shirts
- Ropes of soft rolled fabric, small wooden barrels or boxes labelled “supplies”
- A parrot soft toy or a parrot-on-a-stick for Captain’s companion
- A mini treasure chest with “items to trade” (buttons, ribbons, foil coins)
- A laminated ship’s log for role-play “writing” with chunky pencils
How to set it up
- Frame the space as the deck of a ship: wheel at the front, barrels amidships.
- Invite children in: “All aboard! Choose a role: Captain, First Mate, Cook or Lookout.”
- Model the language: “Land ahoy!”, “Batten down the hatches!”, “Aye aye, Captain!”.
- Set up a storm with blue fabric waves. Let children rock the ship side to side.
- Return to port to trade treasures at the end, writing finds in the ship’s log.
💬 Adult prompts
- “Captain, where should we sail today? Which island is on the map?”
- “Lookout, what can you spy through the telescope?”
- “First Mate, can you count the crew? Are we all here?”
- “Uh oh, a storm! How do we keep the crew safe together?”
- “What did we find on the island? Shall we trade it or keep it safe?”
📚 EYFS links
- Communication & Language: specialist vocabulary, role-play scripts.
- PSED: taking different roles, collaborative pretend play, leadership turns.
- Expressive Arts & Design: imaginative role-play, narrative co-creation.
- Understanding the World: the wider world, occupations, weather at sea.
- Literacy: mark making in the ship’s log, “writing” finds as marks.
✨ Extensions & differentiation
- Ages 1 to 2: simple sensory play, rocking the ship, shaking the wheel.
- Ages 3 to 4: role cards with pictures, small-group play with a helper.
- Ages 4 to 5: devise and perform a short pirate story for the class.
- Challenge: write a short pirate code or rhyme to recite each voyage.
Language tip: keep pirate talk playful and non-scary. Swap shouts of “arrgh!” for “yo ho ho!” if a child is a little nervous. Use hand signals to help children who are learning English join in: thumbs up for “aye aye”, flat hand for “steady now”, big wave for “land ahoy”.
Count the Doubloons Pirate Maths
Best for: Mathematics · Fine Motor · Communication & Language · Understanding the World
What you need
- A large bowl of gold plastic coins, or painted yoghurt-pot lids
- Five small wooden bowls or clay dishes for sorting hauls
- Numeral cards 0 to 10 and ten-frame boards for early number sense
- A balance scale, a weighing pan and a few small items to weigh against
- Wooden tweezers, tongs and teaspoons for pincer-grip transfer
- A laminated “Pirate Shop” mat with items to buy for a certain number of coins
- A small treasure chest, a small purse and a few pirate flashcard prompts
How to set it up
- Tip the coins into the middle of the table. Cue line: “What a haul!”
- Roll a dice and invite a child to count that many coins into their purse.
- Compare piles on the scales. Whose is heavier? Who has more?
- Play “Pirate Shop”: a banana is 3 coins, a cutlass biscuit is 5 coins.
- Tidy up into the chest while singing a counting-down shanty.
💬 Adult prompts
- “How many coins have you counted so far? Let’s check together.”
- “Who has more coins? Who has fewer? How do you know?”
- “If I take away two coins, how many will you have left?”
- “The banana costs three coins. Can you pay the shopkeeper?”
- “Can you make a repeating pattern with these coins and these jewels?”
📚 EYFS links
- Mathematics (Number): subitising, one-to-one counting, numerals.
- Mathematics (Numerical Patterns): adding, taking away, comparing.
- Mathematics (Shape, Space & Measure): weight and balance.
- Physical Development: tweezers and tongs, pincer grip, careful transfer.
- Communication & Language: number vocabulary, shop role-play scripts.
✨ Extensions & differentiation
- Ages 1 to 2: post coins into a box with a slot, focus on posting and pouring.
- Ages 3 to 4: match each numeral card to the correct pile of coins.
- Ages 4 to 5: simple shop problems, “If I have 5 coins and buy 2 bananas…”.
- Challenge: a “Pirate Bank” where children swap 10 coins for one larger one.
Homemade coin tip: milk-bottle lids sprayed gold, or flat jar lids painted with acrylic, make perfect sturdy “doubloons” that survive heavy nursery use. Add a simple stamp on one side with a skull, star or child’s first initial for personalised maths resources on a budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers for running pirate activities in early years
What age range are these pirate activities suitable for?
How do pirate activities link to the EYFS framework?
How do I keep pirate play gentle, without swords and fighting?
Are the treasure props safe for the youngest children?
How can I involve families in our pirate topic?
We have no budget for pirate costumes. Any low-cost dressing up ideas?
What are the best story books to pair with these pirate activities?
Favourites in our settings include the titles below. Each offers lovely language, counting, or inclusion angles you can tie directly into one of the five activities above.
- The Night Pirates by Peter Harris
- The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle
- Ten Little Pirates by Mike Brownlow
- Pirate Pete by Nick Sharratt
- Port Side Pirates by Oscar Seaworthy