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.

If you want to make your Summer themed lessons a breeze, then check out the Summer Activity Pack. It’s filled with math and literacy centers, fine motor activities and arts and crafts templates. All of which are aligned with preschool learning standards. Check it out today.

Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times. Some of the links provided in this blog are affiliate links. I will be paid a commission if you use this link to make a purchase.

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.

For more ideas, take a look at these 20+ Pirate Activities for Kids.

Materials Needed

Toy Gold Coins (or chocolate coins)
Treasure Chest Money Box

How to Set Up and Play with the Pirate Treasure Posting Activity

Place your golden coins next to your pirate 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.

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.

Are you going to try this Pirate Treasure Posting Activity with your kids?
Don’t forget to Pin the idea for later.