What's The Point

Ahoy, mateys! This activity – and delicious recipe – helps children practice counting, dividing and sharing while they make their very own afternoon snack. Children will count by ones while dividing piles of fresh fruit into treasure chests, just like those found on Pirate Island.

This Activity Will Help Your Child

• Practice dividing, sorting, and fair sharing
• Count by ones
• Follow instructions

Book Suggestions

• QUACK AND COUNT
  by Keith Baker
• BIG DOG, LITTLE DOG
  by P.D. Eastman
• FEAST FOR 10
  by Cathryn Falwell

Supplies

• Bananas, strawberries, grapes, peaches, and blueberries
• Empty yogurt cups or small plastic containers
• Markers or crayons
• White paper
• Scissors
• Tape

How Do I Do It?

Treasure Chest:

• Measure the height of each yogurt cup or plastic container on the long edge of the white paper.
• Cut strips of paper that are as wide as the containers are tall.
• Follow these step-by-step instructions to color the strips of paper so they look just like wood.
• Wrap a strip of “wood” around each plastic container to transform it into a “wooden” treasure chest, complete with a big lock to keep Big Mouth from swiping your banana slices!

Fruit Salad:

• Wash all the fruit going into the salad.
• Cut each banana into 16 pieces – that’s 10 pieces, plus another 6!
• Cut each strawberry into 4 pieces – that’s 3 pieces, plus another 1!
• Cut the peaches into bite-size pieces. (Pirates love peaches!)
• If the grapes are large, cut them in half – that’s right down the middle!
• Put each fruit into its own bowl.

Now fill your chests with fruity treasure! Count out 5 banana slices, 6 strawberries, 7 grapes, 8 peaches, and 9 blueberries and put them into each chest. Then, dig in – the treasure is yours for the taking! Arrrr!

Take It Further

Use the extra pieces of fruit (or uneaten bits of treasure) to make fruity patterns. Decide on a pattern – one banana, one strawberry, one banana, one strawberry – and then turn it into a fruit kabob by threading the fruit pieces onto a wooden skewer, plastic straw, or pretzel stick. Start a pattern for your child to finish, and then ask your child to come up with a pattern for you to finish.