Are ye ready for International Talk Like A Pirate Day 2014?

Dating back to 1995 and an eventful racquetball game between founders John Baur and Mark Summers, their “hare-brained” idea gained greater world recognition in 2002 and is now celebrated annually on September 19th across the oceans.

“Talking like a pirate is fun. It’s really that simple,” say the day’s founders.  “It gives your conversation a swagger, an elán, denied to landlocked lubbers… Silliness is the holiday’s best selling point.”

With the opportunity to don an eye patch, brandish their cutlass and transform the family’s pet parrot into a faithful sidekick, your children probably won’t need any encouragement to download some of these printable resources and join in the fun with a few Arrrs and Ahoy theres of their own…

The official website’s Party Kit page hosts and links to posters, banners and invitations and – complete with the instructions to “Print on stiff paper or cardstock; cut out, punch holes and attach string to tie around yer head. Wear with pirattitude!” – eye patches for your little buccaneers to wear, which may also help forestall the need to explain their sudden lapse into scurvy seadog slang to any concerned relatives.

National charity Hft, which is dedicated to supporting people with learning disabilities and their families, is asking budding sea menaces to “gather yer shipmates, and set sail for a day of swashbuckling fun in the name of treasure and pieces of eight!”  Its free fundraising pack promises to “have you Yo-Ho-Ho-ing all day long and has all the information you need to bring in a bounty of donations” and there are lots of resources to download directly from the website’s Pirate Day page such as colouring sheets (including a Harry Feather Tail parrot colouring competition), dictionary, quizzes, wordsearch, bunting, instructions on how to make your own origami pirate hat and another eye patch design.

Communication 4 All, a website containing a wealth of resources developed for the SEN education community, offers pirate bordered paper, word mats, display frieze and story cards.

Funky Dory Party Bags includes an image of its character Swashbuckle Sam in its free colouring sheets range.

Mrs Pancake, the “home of brilliant education doodads for teachers, parents and children”, adds a sword to its hat and eye patch fancy dress offering (“best to print on to card so it doesn’t go floppy”) and also provides flags including the Jolly Roger, underwater group names, images of waves and “a collection of handy parts of a ship for your nautical displays” which also includes Cynthia the seagull.

DLTK’s Crafts for Kids offers bookmarks, doorknob hangers, greeting cards, jigsaw puzzles and a treat or gift bag and Spring Time Treats includes some popsicle pirate puppets.

If your mini marauders are fans of the CBeebies game show then they can Swashbuckle an image of themselves, friends and family members with the help of the show’s octopus tentacles via the BBC website and then print out the resulting photos to create their own rogues’ gallery.

If it is a crew that your petite privateers are eager to recruit then, “if ye dare”, why not use the pirate themed birthday party free printables provided by How to Nest for Less to inspire a gathering of child corsairs?  Erin uses a black, white and red theme for her invitation, food table cards, birthday banner, “Arrr! Now this is a parrrty!” water bottle labels and cupcake/favour bag tags.

Do you love finding printables on the internet? Do you have particular favourites? Or have you featured some on your own blog? Email karen.malpass @ inkfactory.com with your links and we may be able to feature them in a future post.