Tuesday, July 6, 2010

We play...

...on a Pirate Ship and Pirate Graveyard!!!

My mama lives in a big farmhouse that sits on a couple of acres.   In nearly every corner of the property, she has created a fun little place for the kids to play.

Here is one of the spaces that she has put together for the kids.  We call it the Pirate Fort and Pirate Graveyard. 

She took an old swing set and painted it blue and decorated it in pirate accessories.  It has old pirate flags and skulls and cross-bone plaques in the sides.  It also has a couple of nautical paintings that she found at the thrift store and hung up inside of the fort. 
The kids love to go there and pretend that they are on a pirate ship.  The pretend that the fort is the ship and all around it is the ocean.  All around the "pirate fort" we put some sand and some shells that we have gathered from our various vacations. 

Here is Marcus looking out at the "ocean" for other ships.  Instead he spots land.  "LAND-HO!" he cries.


In the first level of the pirate fort, there is a treasure chest full of fake beads, golden coins, and jewelry.  Sophia loves to play dress up with the necklaces.  There is also lots of other dress up clothes there including pirate hats, eye patches, swords, knight helmets, breast plates, and shields.

There is also a small piano that the kids use to belt out some pirate music. 

Next to the pirate fort, is the "pirate graveyard".    We collected rock's from Papa's garden (poor Papa had A LOT of rocks in his garden) and threw them under the tree making a rock garden.

Then we put in some pirate flags and some creepy crawly creatures in there to make it more spooky.   There are owls, snakes, spiders, and bats hanging from the trees.

The kids LOVE playing in this fort.  It has created hours and hours of fun dramatic play.

For pirate reading, I recommend the book On a Pirate Ship by Sarah Courtauld.
On a Pirate Ship (Picture Books)

For more play inspired ideas, check out the blog Childhood 101.

9 comments:

Marita said...

That is awesome! What a fabulous grandma to set up such a wonderful play space.
I can see so many brilliant adventures happening there :)

amandab said...

What a great Nana to have created wonderful play spaces for her grandchildren! I am sure they have many great adventures when they visit :)

Philippa said...

What a great play space it looks like so much fun!

joyce:waddleeahchaa.com said...

Grandma gets a High-Five! I'm a Grandma too and have four Grandsons. We have plenty of toys but the two most played with things at my home are the trampoline and our dry creek. They can spend hours jumping and exploring in the creek. We Grandma's adore our Grandchildren.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Lucky kids! Grandma definitely tried to make sure they are looking forward to their visits. This fort looks fantastic and offers so many opportunities.

Anonymous said...

I bet they love spenging time there! it looks like such a wonderful play area.

Brimful Curiosities said...

Your mama is super creative. Her grandchildren are lucky indeed. Thanks for the invite to post my letter craft...it is now linked on the letter G page.

Jenny said...

Well, that is just amazing! I love it. I'm a new follower!

Christie - Childhood 101 said...

What a fantastic play space. We enjoy the book, 'I Wish I Had a Pirate Suit' by Pamela Allen.

Thank you for linking up to We Play :)

 

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