X marks the spot

lots of loot

My little Dimples loves Pirates.

Just have a glance through this blog and you will find lots of Pirate inspired play ideas:

 From his Pirate room , to his Pirate birthday party invites , Pirate Party games , Pirate Party Grub to his Pirate theme tree House & fun things like Treasure Hunts & small world sand dough pirate play .

This one is a fun simple outdoor activity that we do often.

Buried Treasure in the back yard sand pit.

Burying the loot using a tonka dump truck

We have a collection of treasure that we use all the time.

It is just a bunch of shiny stuff like....  lucky stones, blue jewels from the craft isle, fake coins from Pirate dress ups, some kids plastic dress up necklaces cut into strands of jewels from the party section of the bargain shop, some fake pearl ribbon cut into strands, old junk jewelry and bits and bobs that I had for some reason kept from my teenage trend years but would never wear again.

A large X gets drawn in the sand pit over the buried treasure

Dimples Draws up a treasure Map, and has to put a Large X that marks the spot.

We have done this so many times that he can now draw perfect X's

Sometimes we get dressed up, all out in Pirate gear and some times he is happy just to pretend.

He announces that we are going to sail the seven seas and hunt for buried treasure, Once we find it we need to hide it from Captain Hook and mark it with a X

Here he is pointing out the X and telling me that is where he has hidden the treasure.

This is a regular game at home, I can speak fluent Pirate now. Adventures Dad was laughing at me last week saying how good my Pirate Tongue is, I quite often break out some Pirate jargon is a rusky Pirate voice to get Dimples to eat all his lunch "Pirate Grub" and if he is not co-operating for some reason and it usual works a treat. He gets in to the Pirate mood and the Pirate goes along with what Ive asked. 

We have played this game so many times and it never fails to bring out Dimples imaginative play.

He runs around the yard pretending to sail the seven seas, see islands and enemy pirates, Captain Hook and the dreaded Croc. He spots light houses and sails through rough storms, gets onto skull Island where there are skull caves that he ducks through and rushed to bury his treasure before anyone can find his secret hiding spot. Then he rolls up his map for safe keeping and sails away.

Its quite simple, yet there are so many possibilities and every time when he re-discovers the treasure, its a completely new game and a completely new treasure hunt.