DIY Pirate Maths Sorting Game for Preschoolers

My kids were always fascinated by pirates. They loved reading about them, playing with various imaginative play toys we had and they also were great to include in any learning activities. Because of the coins and gems that are associated with pirates, they are perfect for creating some maths games and activities with. This Pirate Math Game for Preschoolers is easy to set up and helps them develop colour awareness, fine motor skills and sorting.

Pirate Math Game

Hands-on maths activities are the best way for children to learn. Using themes and ideas that they love helps them to understand the ideas and for them to embed easier. With this DIY Maths Game for Preschoolers, you can work on:

• Counting out the gems into the treasure chest
• Colour recognition
• Fine Motor Pincer Grip
• Sorting

Materials Needed for Your DIY Pirate Treasure Chest Sorting Game for Preschoolers

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• DIY Pirate Treasure Chest from an Egg Carton
• Tweasers/tongs
• Selection of Gems

Creating your Own Pirate Treasure Chest

I had a quick search on Amazon for a pirate treasure chest but then decided it would be much more fun to create my own. So following this tutorial over on Red Ted Art and using an Egg Carton I put together our Pirate Treasure Chest which also made the sorting of the gems for the maths activity must easier.

Once the treasure chest was dry we set up the activity.

Playing this Simple Pirate Themed Sorting Activity with Preschoolers

1. Set up with the treasure chest surrounded by the gems and provide your child with a choice of tongs.
2. Ask for the different colours to be identified. The selection of gems we have has light and dark of some of the colours so we were able to compare these as well as the standard colours.
3. Now show them how to sort the gems into the egg carton holes.
4. Remember to count the gems in.

Tips for playing this maths game with preschoolers

Depending on the age of your child you may want to start off the activity by only providing 6 different colours of gems to go in the holes. If this is the case we would suggest it is best to use

• red
• blue
• yellow
• green
• orange
• purple

The primary and secondary colours and some of the colour names your child will need to know.

Once your child has grasped these then introduce the different shades and other colours like clear and gold!

As your child gets used to the numbers instead of counting the gems into each hole and then returning to zero. Count on to find out how many in total you have inside the treasure chest.

You can also remove the gems and work on introducing subtraction and take away.

Pirate Books to Read

Want to extend the topic further why not pick up some books and try some of these other pirate books for preschoolers we love to read aloud.

• The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle
• How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
• Shiver Me Letters a Pirates ABC by June Sobel

More Maths Games for Preschoolers

DIY Frog Pond Counting Game inspired by the song 5 Little Speckled Frogs

Farm Counting Game for Preschoolers – add subtract and count the animals on the farm with your preschoolers in this simple DIY game for Maths.

Play this simple Ladybird counting game with your preschooler working on adding two numbers together.