Pirate Treasure Posting – Fine Motor Activity for Kids
This easy Pirate Treasure Posting Activity for kids is a great way to help develop fine motor skills. Toddlers and preschoolers will have so much fun collecting and placing the gold coins in their own treasure chest. This fun learning activity is perfect for a Summer or Pirate preschool theme.
Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times.
The Summer break can be tough on parents who aren’t used to having their kids home every day. If you’re trying to get ready for this Summer, then start with these Summer activities for kids. Or invest in the Summer Activity Pack, which is filled with educational ideas for young kids.
Table of Contents
Materials Needed
- Toy Gold Coins (or chocolate coins)
- Tissue Box
- Brown Paint
- Craft Knife
- Paintbrushes
How to Set Up and Play with the Pirate Treasure Posting Activity
1. Make the Treasure Chest
You can choose to buy a premade treasure chest for this pirate activity, or make one yourself. I like this wooden money box that looks like a treasure chest, because it has both the hole for the coins in the top, and a padlock for the kids to play with.
I made a chest out of an old tissue box. All you need is some brown paint and gold construction paper to make your own.
2. Gather your treasure
I set up this posting activity outside, in our sand table because I wanted to hide the gold coins and fake jewels in the sand, so that my kids had to dig to find them all up. When they found them all I pointed out that they could put their treasure in the treasure chest for safekeeping.
My kids loved finding and posting their treasure. I had little pirates running around with their pirate hat and eye patches all afternoon because of this easy activity.
Math and Literacy Games for Older Children
One thing that I wish I had done differently, was to make this activity more educational. One way to do that is to take a black marker and write numbers or letters on the side of the gold coins. That way, whenever your child finds a coin, they can look on the side and practice number or letter recognition while they play.
What You’re Learning
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills refer to the small muscles in the hand and fingers. Developing these skills are important in being able to write when the kids go to school, as well as being able to complete tasks independently. (For example, dressing and feeding themselves).
Picking up the coins, and posting them into the treasure chest are all going to help young children develop:
- Pincer grip
- Hand-eye coordination
- Dexterity.
Math
There are a number of different ways you can include some early math skills into this fun activity.
Counting – Count each of the coins as you place them into the treasure chest. This is a fun way to help toddlers practice counting to 10 or 20.
One-to-one correspondence – practice counting each coin as you drop it in. Making sure to only count each coin once as you go.
Number Recognition – If you decide to write each of the numbers on the side of your gold coins, this is an easy way to practice number recognition. Encourage your kids to read the numbers before they post them into the box.
Literacy
Letter recognition – write the alphabet on one side of the coin. Or write the uppercase letters on one side, and the lowercase letters on the other. Encourage your children to read both sides of the coin before they post it into their treasure chest.
You can also use this idea and write sight words on the coins instead, as an easy hands-on way to encourage kids to read.
More Pirate Themed Play Ideas
Is talk like a pirate day just around the corner? Or are you just surrounded by little pirates? Either way, here are some more fun activities to try the next time you’re doing a pirate theme.
- Free Pirate Playdough Mats
- Handprint pirate art
- Pirate Treasure Slime
- DIY Pirate Treasure Map
- Pirate Doubloons – Sight Words Treasure Hunt
For more ideas, take a look at these 20+ Pirate Activities for Kids.
Summer Activity Pack
Educational printables for preschoolers and kindergarteners for this Summer.
Are you going to try this Pirate Treasure Posting Activity with your kids?
Don’t forget to Pin the idea for later.
