Arrr ye looking for a way to get your little Pirate to practice his or her math skills, perhaps without even realizing it? Send the lad or lass on a treasure hunt with math integrated into each clue!
Pirate Booty Treasure Hunt
Here’s a game to help your littlest Pirate with his or her counting skills! Hold a treasure hunt with written clues directing your child to various parts of the house, where booty can be counted and the next clue can be found.
A fun first clue could send the player to “the place where art is made,” with the instruction to gather six crayons. Inside the crayon box would be the next clue, pointing to someplace else in the house and telling them how many of the next object (beans from the pantry, pennies from the penny jar, even pebbles from the garden) to collect.
Give your little Pirate a pillowcase in which to collect the goodies and clues so you can make sure he or she has counted everything correctly. Be sure to end the game with a cache of hidden treasure in the form of some sort of booty your little lad or lass will be delighted to keep! Counting will soon become his or her new favorite activity!
Numbered Treasure Hunt
Every Pirate knows that the best treasure hunts begin with a treasure map. This game is perfect for a young Pirate with more advanced math skills. Make a treasure map of the house with each room or area assigned a number. The map should also include the first clue, a math problem that your Pirate has to solve in order to get the number of the first room they need to visit.
Hide the next clue, which contains another math problem, in the area assigned to the numbered answer of the first clue. Your Pirate has to solve the problem, find the next clue, solve the next problem and so on. Set up 10 or 12 clues with math problems throughout the house, with the final clue leading to the booty (which should be well-hidden so it isn’t found by accident!).
Doubloon-Counting Treasure Hunt
An activity perfect for lads and lasses just learning to count money, this variation of the numbered treasure map treasure hunt will require your little Pirate to count coins rather than solve a math equation in order to find the next clue.
Photo by Jeffrey
Take this into the backyard and draw a treasure map, with each area of the yard labeled with a monetary amount. The first clue will be a handful of coins that your child has to count out. Once he or she has come up with the total, the next step will be to check the map and find out what area of the backyard corresponds to that amount. In each area, hide a cache of coins that your child has to count in order to find out where to go next, until he or she finds the prize at the end of the hunt! This game will not only expand your child’s math skills, but will also help to reinforce the monetary amount of each type of coin in a fun and unique way!
Yo-ho-ho! Practicing math skills doesn’t have to be boring for your lads or lassies. Every Pirate loves a treasure hunt, and with the promise of booty at the end of their search, most scallywags will tackle these math problems with gusto!
