Ahoy, mateys! Your child will get in touch with his inner pirate when he makes his own pirate eye patch with this fun activity.
What You Need:
- Black craft foam, felt, or construction paper
- Black yarn or elastic
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Stapler
What You Do:
- Have him cut out the black craft foam, felt, or construction paper into an eye patch shape
- With a hole punch, have him make a small hole near the upper right corner and one near the upper left corner of the eye patch.
- Help him thread his black yarn or elastic through the top of one hole, then run behind the patch and through to the front of the patch at the other hole. Then help him measure the elastic or yarn to be long enough to fit around his head. Cut the yarn or elastic at a point where it can then be tied behind your child’s head when he wants to wear the patch.
- If he wants to give his patch the more concave shape that eye patches sometimes have, he can cut a slit in the bottom of the patch, going up about one inch.
- Have him layer one side of the patch atop the other, then staple the patch back together where the slit was cut. You may want to help him staple so that the staple points face away from the eye side of the patch (for eye safety and protection). Layering will cause the patch to puff out into a concave shape.
To complement his pirate outfit, your child may wish to put a bandanna around his head and use black face crayons to draw a mustache or beard on his face. A skull and crossbones “tattoo” could be added to his arm with body crayons. Shiver me timbers, he’s now a pirate!
By Beth Levin
Beth Levin has an M.A. in Curriculum and Education from Columbia University Teachers College. She has written educational activities for Macmillan/McGraw-Hill and Renaissance Learning publishers. She has a substitute teaching credential for grades K-12 in Oregon, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
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