Pirates Memory Game for Preschoolers

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Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19, and this Pirates Memory Game is a fun and educational way to change the routine a little and complement your lesson planning to celebrate this day with your preschoolers.

Story Behind the Talk Like a Pirate Day

Talk Like a Pirate Day is not an actual holiday. It started in 1995 when two friends from Oregon began to joke about this while playing racquetball. After that, every year they got together with friends to have a fun time.

Things changed in 2003 when wrote to Dave Barry who ran a humor column and asked to be their spokesperson to celebrate this day. The idea appealed to Mr. Barry, who agreed to write in his column about this “holiday”, and inspired many people to start events and celebrations across the country.

Pirates Memory Game

Memory games are one of the activities that preschoolers like. This particular one is super easy to prepare, and it’s very educational because it helps children pay attention to details to recognize the pairs of cards, which will help them improve their visual discrimination strengthen their concentration, focus, and memory, and work on one-to-one correspondence and creating set skills.

This FREE Pirates Memory Game will bring a lot of fun to your classroom, and friendly competition among your preschoolers, as they work on important skills that will be very useful for their integral development.

It includes two pages nine cards each. You don’t have to use all of them. Just remember to always use one pair of each card, and you can find it at the end of this post, so be sure to grab it.

If your preschoolers have been exposed to other memory games, they are probably going to be able to work independently. However, new students or children who are not familiar with these types of games will need your guidance.

How to Prepare and Play the Pirate Memory Game

It is important that this game’s cards are durable and strong, because the children will manipulate them in any kind of ways, and you want them to last a long time. Once you get them ready, you might want to place them in a small basket, a little box, or in a Ziploc bag, so they can stay together and you don’t lose some of the cards.

To get this Pirates Memory Game ready you will need these materials:

FREE Pirate Memory Game cards are found at the end of this post.
Printer
White cardstock
Scissors
Laminator
Laminator sheets

Begin by printing two sets of each page using white cardstock. Then cut out and laminate each of the tiles to protect them and make them last longer. That way you can store the game in a pencil case or a Ziploc bag to protect it and use it year after year.

To play, lay out the cards face down in rows and columns so your preschoolers can only see the backside, and invite them to join you for a matching game!

Keep it super simple and start by playing like any traditional memory game, where children take turns selecting two cards to turn over trying to make a match. If a match is made then the preschooler gets to keep the set of cards. If not, then the cards have to be turned back over and the next preschooler takes the turn.

Books About Pirates for Preschoolers

If you have read some of my articles, you probably know by now that I am a huge fan and user of storybooks for everything, and I wanted to include some of my favorite books about pirates. You can find these books in the library, in a used books store, and on Amazon. If you want to purchase some, I included my Amazon links in the pictures.

Pin It For Later

If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it for later, pin this to one of your Pinterest boards.

Don’t forget to grab your free Pirates Memory Game printable by clicking on the link below!

Then check out other FREE memory games and other printables, and get them too, to expand your activities collection, and help your preschoolers have fun while learning.