After four days of glorious sunshine, we woke to cloudy skies this morning. To occupy the children Grandad had a pre-planned idea of a pirate camp with lunchtime picnic. With Miss M, Mister B and cousin Miss L having a morning swim in the pool, Grandad was busy setting up pirate camp on the upper patio. He used the outdoor lounger cushions so build a den, covered the floor in a pirate tablecloth and added accessories, such as golden coins, pirate hats, swords and a fabulous pirate flag flying high above the camp!
The little pirates arrived with hats on, stickers and full of energy eager to get to camp!!
The picnic was a huge success – the children couldn’t wait to tuck in and fill themselves up before exploring the other treasures within the den. Miss M and Mister B love the treasure map and couldn’t wait exploring looking for gold!
Miss M got completely into the swing of things and guided the other two on their journey. She found the pirate map that Grandad had made and set off to discover buried treasure.
Miss M loved the pirate theme and guided the two younger ones on their journey. She suddenly decided that the pirate ship was sinking and they all had to abandon ship and grab everything and take it across to the island on the other side of the patio.
They had much fun rolling in the cushions and setting up their new pirate camp. In fact they had so much fun that the whole activity from start, through lunch to finish lasted a good few hours.
What a great way, with using just a few props to keep little ones occupied on a day over the summer. With their imagination and a few prompts they loved the set up, it gave them great inspiration and they had a fabulous picnic lunch followed by imaginative outdoors play. This could easily translate to indoors play if the weather is bad – definitely one to try over the summer!