Pop Leads a Wonderful Pirate Craft Night

My husband and I LOVE babysitting nights – and so does our four year old grandson.  We both just enjoy being with Zach and whether we go to the nearby park playground, play in our yard or do indoor activities we always have a good time. 

 

On babysitting nights Zach usually arrives around 4:30 PM and is picked up by his parents before 9 PM.  So we have a good amount of time together and plan for various activities.  There is playtime before dinner, dinner, playtime, bath, winding down which may be reading, TV or more play before his parents arrive.  We have plenty of indoor and outdoor toys here so I am fine with just playing it by ear.  Zach and I also enjoy playing board games together.  But my husband is willing to put in lots of preparation time coming up with ideas for craft project and preparing materials in advance.  I have never been the crafty or creative type so I don’t do this.  I do, however, get to reap the benefits. 

 

This is the story of the very successful Pirate craft project.

Hugh got the idea for this craft project while watching Peppa Pig with Zach.  You can see the inspirational video for this project here:

On Peppa Pig - Danny’s Pirate Party – It features “Granddad Dog”

Hugh pre-made craft pieces for us to complete together - pirate hats, eye patches, swords and a flag. 

 

We covered the kitchen table with newspaper and had a glue fest decorating the hats and flag.  Zach colored his sword and said that I could do mine.  When I jokingly asked if I could decorate mine with hearts he said “Yes, you can make a girly one."  “Girly one?"  He is 4 and he has a view of what is “girly.”  Apparently that includes hearts.  Well I decided on hearts on one side and stars on the other.  That’s bubble wrap at the top of the sword – to make for a soft and safe hit.  We played with it until it was time for a bath and then he carried it upstairs – but I made him keep it in our bedroom and not take it in the bathroom.   After his bath he wore the pirate stuff and nothing else and continued “pirate play."

This is a great craft project for a grandfather to plan, prepare and lead.  He proudly showed his parents the whole ensemble when they arrived and he wanted to take it all home.  I got a small Bath and Body Works shopping bag and he loaded it with his pirate treasures to take home.

Pop get an a+ for a great idea and the preparation work he put into making this successful.  We were rewarded with big goodnight kisses as Zach left for home and we were ready to turn off our lights too.

Oh and by the way the cost for this evening of fun together was virtually nothing.  We had construction paper, markers, glue sticks, used bubble wrap and some scrap elastic in our rarely used sewing box.