These pirate crafts for kids definitely need to be added to your list of pirate activities for preschool! Kindergarten children are likely to get a big kick out of these crafty ideas for a pirate theme, too.
Pirates tend to bring out the adventurous, imaginative side of kids. They love to role play as the swashbuckling scoundrels and ‘walk the plank’ every chance they get.
Along with playing pirates, the children will have a blast making all of these pirate crafts! They’ll get to immerse themselves in creativity as they tap into their inner Captain Hook.

Related: Camping Crafts for Preschoolers
Whatever it is about pirates that is so alluring to kids, they’ll get plenty of opportunity to explore and create their favorite details about pirates with these crafts – plus I’m sure some will end up being used at playtime!
Materials for the Pirate Craft Activities
Most of these pirate crafts for kids don’t go overboard in terms of materials. In fact, you might already have everything you need for several of them. If you find yourself lacking in the pirate craft supply department, here are a few links for basics you can pick up. (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post)
Pirate Crafts for Kids
Onto the pirate crafts! You’ll love how simple some of these pirate crafts are to make, and many of them are adaptable if you have different ages of kids you are catering to. Their imaginations will be jump-started with all of these fun crafts, and don’t be surprised if you are all pretending to be pirates for the rest of the day!
Pirates and Pirate Ship Crafts
Take your pick from a whole bunch of adorable pirate crafts! You can use these to add a crafty element to your pirate theme. Or just set one up for an impromptu pirate adventure!

Celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day with these adorable pirate puppets made from just a few basic craft materials.
The kids will have so much fun creating the faces on these easy pirate crafts made with mostly card stock.
Super simple and super cute, these paper bag pirates will be a hit with the kids, and they’ll no doubt want to make several to play with!
I love the button eye patches on these craft stick pirates, and you will appreciate her method for gluing the craft sticks together.

The pirates in this cute round pirate craft kind of look like cartoon characters, which will surely appeal to the preschoolers in your life!
Give your kids the total pirate immersive experience using these recycled materials for preschool pirate play. They’ll have so much fun with these!
Coffee filters become sails in this paper plate boat craft that can easily be turned into a pirate ship.
Easy cork boats make the perfect little pirate ships for an afternoon of outdoor pirate battles. You definitely need to include this with your other pirate crafts for kids!

So many great details in this paper bowl pirate craft – the faces can of course be tailored to whatever age you are working with, so this would work with groups of multi-aged kids.
Fingers make the perfect pirate beards in this handprint pirate craft. The kids will have so much fun personalizing their pirate faces!
Grab your leftover cardboard tubes to make a cardboard tube pirate and parrot. I love that the pirate has such a cute sidekick!
This DIY pirate ship craft is ideal for imaginary play! Your little ones might need some help, but don’t worry if it doesn’t come out perfect!
Pirate Accessory Crafts
Your little pirates will need all the requisite pirate accessories to make a successful day of pirate play! Here are some more pirate crafts that will help them get into pirate mode.

Pirates are all about the gold, so these pirate salt dough crafts will give them a chance to make a cool pirate necklace or just some gold dubloons.
Paper tube pirate telescopes couldn’t be easier to make, and will come in handy when searching for gold (or approaching enemy ships). Must-try pirate as part of your pirate crafts for kids, in my opinion.
These DIY pirate hooks are simple and quick to make, but the kids will no doubt have a blast using them during pirate play.
Paper cup parrots will be every pirate’s favorite sidekick as they go about their pirate adventures!
If you’ve got some more time to lend a hand, these DIY pirate hooks are a fancier, sturdier version of the plastic cup idea.

Egg cartons make a perfect little treasure chest craft that your kids will have so much fun decorating and filling.
Here’s another totally simple treasure chest craft for kids that also uses recycled materials and will be easy enough for them to make with little help.
This treasure chest craft makes use of painted popsicle sticks that are glued together to make a colorful box for lots of gold!
Don’t forget the pirate maps! These DIY pirate maps are an excellent way to incorporate drawing and writing into an exciting pirate craft.
Finally, when it’s time to defend the ship, these DIY pirate swords will come in handy, and they use materials you probably already have on hand! (Not shown)
More Pirate Activities
If the pirate activities for kids were a hit, I bet your students will love these ideas, too:
- Pirate Messy Play
- Free Printable Pirate Count and Cover
- Pirate Sensory Bottle
- Make Pirate Slime
- “Exploding” Treasure Chests
Be sure to save this post for your next pirate theme! And let me know any other pirate crafts for kids you’d recommend.
Pirate Lesson Plans
Let Preschool Teacher 101 save you a ton of planning time with fully-developed, done-for-you preschool resources. We have hundreds available – from lesson plans to dramatic play packs to math activities, and so much more. This way, you can focus on teaching your students while you’re at work . . . and keep your personal time to yourself outside of work hours!
Click on the image below for our pirate lesson plan set. It comes with weekly plans, detailed daily lesson plans, whole group activities, small group lessons, center ideas, book suggestions, and related printables.
Here are a few more ready-to-go preschool resources for the summer:
We’re also available on Teachers Pay Teachers if that’s your preference. And be sure to join the waiting list for The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101. It’s a membership site for preschool teachers just like you. Our number one goal is to make your life easier so you can be the best teacher possible.

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