Storytime: Pirates

Books

Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime by Myra Wolfe

Bubble Bath Pirates! by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

This Little Pirate by Philemon Sturges

Pirate Nap: A Book of Colors by Danna Smith

The Pirate Jamboree by mark Teague

Swap! by Steve Light

I'm finally getting my backlog of storytime posts up. I'm doing them in no particular order, just whichever one is easiest to format first. This storytime was back in September for Talk Like A Pirate Day. It was a lot of fun and the kids were pretty into it! One issue with pirate themed storytimes is a huge percentage of the books are about white boys. I tried to make sure I had at least some diversity in the titles, but it was difficult. I solved this issue somewhat with my flannelboard where I made sure to include female pirates and pirates of color!

Click read more for fun pirate themed activities!

Flannelboard: Pirates

If I come up with more rhymes and songs to go with this set, the post will be updated to reflect that. If you have ideas for other ways to use the set, please share!

Flannelboard

I used this for my pirate storytime on Talk Like a Pirate Day! I spent far too much time making these pieces, but hopefully I will find use for them in the future. If nothing else, I can continue to do pirate themed storytimes for Talk Like a Pirate Day every year! Part of the reason I decided to do a flannelboard with five pirates instead of something like a mouse in the house variation with treasure in chests was that I wanted to make 100% sure I would have both female pirates and pirates of color in my storytime. Most books for children about pirates feature white boys as the protagonists so I thought a great way to make sure I added more diversity was to do a flannelboard with different pirates too! I've made three out of the five pirates female and each pirate has a different skin tone. The two lightest skin tones look pretty similar in photographs but they are different and I think the difference is slightly more obvious in person.

Songs, Rhymes, Games, and Fingerplays

Flannelboard: “One Brave Pirate”
(Tune: One Elephant Went Out to Play)

One brave pirate sailed out to sea
Across the blue waters, wild and free
He had such enormous fun
That he called for another brave pirate to come.

Two brave pirates sailed out to sea
Across the blue waters, wild and free
They had such enormous fun
That they called for another brave pirate to come.

Verses: Count up to five

Five brave pirates sailed out to sea
Across the blue waters, wild and free
They had such enormous fun
As they sailed together 'neath the golden sun!

Source: modified from Storytime ABCs

Flannelboard: “Five Scurvy Pirate”

Five scurvy pirates standing on the shore,
One went on a search and that left four.

Four scurvy pirates sailing out to sea,
One went for a swim and that left three.

Three scurvy pirates out on the ocean blue,
One walked the plank and that left two.

Two scurvy pirates having tons of fun,
One went below the deck and that left one.

One scurvy pirate, tired and alone,
He turned the ship around and sailed for home.

Source: Storytime ABCs