Pirates & Science!

1. Cut out the bottoms of the cup to fit the tube. Not to big you’ll want a snug fit.
2. Paint your tubes and cup(s). Alternatively you can wrap them in craft paper, vinyl, or just let the kiddos go nuts coloring them.
3. Once your paint is dry you’ll need your tubes first. Slide them smaller into the larger and hot glue it together. I always tend to have various sizes on hand but if that’s not possible for you no worries. Simply cut them and fit them together the tape and/or glue them accordingly.
4. After your tubes are all together get your cup(s) and fit them on securely and glue to avoid slipping off.
5. Once your spy glass is all together and the glue is dry start adding the decorations. Originally we had planned to use mini gold decorative tape unfortunately we weren’t able to get any but I had plenty of other things for kiddo to choose from. We used rhinestone ribbon applied with hot glue and holographic vinyl.
6. This last step is optional, we only did the gold one. I have seen it done with a plastic baggie or clear soda bottle, but we choose to use laminate. Wal-Mart sells packs of single sheet laminate that’s fairly thick for around $5. We were already using some for the hats, patches, and other pirate crafts from earlier in the day, rather than let the access go to waste I used them for the little spy glass. If you’re using the bottle just cut it to fit the cup and hot glue it on. If you use a baggie you can still hot glue it on just use less glue and go slow they can tend to melt. To do it with the laminate just stick 2 pieces together then glue it to the cup. Bam spy glass lens! Read below for the details on how I made the little gold spy glass lens changeable for extra fun!           

This art project was very easy and we had a lot of fun making it and playing pirates!   

On Sunday our pirate fun continued with a pirate science treasure hunt! I made a baking soda mixture, hid some fun things in it, then froze it to be discovered and dug through later! Next I made a map of our yard and hid a few clues while I was doing that kiddo and dad started getting into their pirate charterers using the things we made the day before for our art project! They put on their paper pirate hats, grabbed the paper swards to fight off any pirate they may have encountered on their adventure, and eagerly waited for the first clue!

The adventure started in the jungle (playroom) where the map was found! Kiddo and dad quickly headed for the door ready to find the loot! Once outside they followed the map, walking in circles and trying to avoid possible traps. In no time thy found their first clue that instructed them to climb to higher ground. Once kiddo was up the ladder into the playhouse another clue was found that said to use the spy glass and look east out of the window, X marks the spot! There is was, to the east on top of the shed, the red X! Dad helped retrieve the paper to find it was not their treasure, but instead the finale clue, a puzzle they could only solve by using their awesome math skills! Once the puzzle was solved it told them to check the freezer. Excitedly kiddo rushed over and opened the door to finally have the treasure. The lid was quickly popped off and the little hand reached in and tried to pull a piece of the treasure out but it wouldn’t budge. “Oh no, mom it’s stuck! What do we do?”

I reassured kiddo it was fine, I had a plan, and we headed to the table where I had vinegar, droppers, a small measuring cup, mini tongs (Wal-Mart $2) and a plastic spoon. Kiddo started with the dropper and added a few drops of vinegar to the frozen baking soda block and it started to fizz and bubble. “Wow! That’s awesome. How do I get my stuff?” I said to use the tongs to start grabbing things out. The first thing kiddo grabbed was the butterfly and as soon as it was out kiddo discovered there was something bigger frozen deep. We spent the next 10-15 minutes or so using the spoon to dig and clear away the baking soda mixture and the tongs to pull the loot out as it loosened pouring in vinegar as needed.

When the treasure was all picked out we got the ingredients to make more so little one could see how it was done. We are one of those families that has Halloween decor and items we use all year round, we have a skull ice-try I got at the Dollar Tree to make crayon molds. We used that to make more of the pasty mix, this time kiddo got to hide some little pieces of treasure!

If you want to make your own baking soda mix it’s also very simple. Baking soda, water, and Jell-O mixed together to a thick paste consistency. Quick few second video below to show you what your going for. It’s typically 3 parts baking soda 1 part water and however much Jell-O you’d like.

To make the small gold spy glass a little more fun I used a small play-dough container and several lids from others. When the play-dough gets hard we dump them and keep them for painting and other crafts. I cut the middle out of the lids and painted them black. While they dried I used the laminate method described above measured and cut the laminate to size. Then I drew small pirate related pictures on each with sharpie (not well but good enough for my kid) then glued them to the cut and painted lids. I did one just rainbow colored because that’s kiddos favorite color. Now they can be popped off and switched out according to kiddos pirate adventure! Those pictures aren’t great but they should get the point across.

Let’s get started!

ARRR! Time to find the loot matey!

Time to dig!