Build A Pirate Ship Craft (Printable Paper Templates)

Set Sail with this awesome build a pirate ship craft!

This fun pirate activity is great for developing your child’s cutting and sticking skills, and an awesome chance to practice some pencil control and fine motor skills as well!

There’s a color and a plain template – so your little ones can choose the colors and decorate their pirate ship as they wish.

There’s two pages for each template as there’s a fair bit to them. If you’re using this with younger learners, you may want to not bother with the railings (or cut them out for them as they’re fiddliest part) the ship will still look great without them. 

If you’re a teacher, this simple craft could also make a lovely activity if you have a pirate theme!

If your little ones are pirate fans they pay also fancy making a fearless pirate.

Or you can check out all the other printable cut and paste crafts here.

What Skills Can Your Children Learn And Practice?

When making this pirate ship, your children will have the chance to practice and develop some skills such as:

• Cutting Skills – if you feel they’re ready, you can let them have a go at cutting out the pieces all by themselves – they’ll need to be careful and have good scissor control if they want to cut out the pieces neatly
• Fine Motor Skills – when they’re sticking and picking up and moving the parts and placing them where they need to go
• Pencil Control – if you print off the black and white version they can practice their pencil control and develop hand strength through coloring.

This simple craft will also give them a chance to practice their concentration and perseverance skills as they may find it tricky to place the pieces exactly where they want them to go.

How To Prepare This Build a Pirate Ship

First you’re going to want to download the pirate ship templates by clicking on the download button at the bottom of the page – I’ve made a color and a black and white version.

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Other materials you’ll need:

• Safety scissors
• Card stock or Craft paper
• Some good glue
• Some coloring pencils or pens or other artsy materials

Once you’ve downloaded the templates, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card.

Then, you can cut them out. Or if you’d like your children to get some cutting practice, you can let them have a go.

Then you can stick all the pieces together to make the ship.

It can be really nice to let you’re kids have a bit of free rein here and see if they can work it out – kind of like a puzzle.

If they’re struggling, the order I’d do it in is (disclosure I had to look up some ship related words):

1. Stick the mast to the ship
2. Stick the yardarms to the mast (the posts that hold the sail)
3. Stick the sail to the yard arms
4. Stick the flag to the mast
5. Stick the bowsprit to the ship (the pole at the front of the ship)
6. Stick the net to the bowsprit
7. Stick the railings to the ship
8. Stick the portholes to the ship

Hooray!

The finished one should look something like this:

Avast me hearties!

If you want to, you could always laminate the pieces before putting them together and use them as a puzzle. That way, the different parts would be kept nice and they can use them again and again

Let your kids practice their cutting and sticking skills in a simple and fun way!

But Wait… There’s Also A Black And White Build A Pirate Craft Template!

I’ve also made a black and white version which would be an awesome way for your little ones to practice their coloring skills and personalize their ship in their own way!

So why not crack out the pens, crayons, paints or collage (or all of them if you’re feeling adventurous) and let your kids get creative!

I’d love to see what they create!