Equipment:

  • Pinnies to divide the kids into 2 even teams.
  • A whole bunch of tennis balls (or whatever kind of balls that you have a lot of).
  • 7-10 hula hoops.
  • A container for the balls.

Description:

  • Split the kids into two even teams.
  • Place all of the hula hoops sporadically around the gym.
  • Dump the balls out around the gym so that they are everywhere.
  • Place the container in the middle of the center circle in the middle of the gym.
  • One team goes into the center circle, they are the pirates.
  • The other team can space out anywhere throughout the gym (they are the sailors), but cannot go in the center circle (the pirate ship), or in any of the hula hoops.
  • The pirates’ goal is to get as much gold (balls), back into their pirate ship as they can.
  • A pirate is safe as long as he is inside the pirate ship (the big center circle).
  • A pirate can only steal 1 piece of gold at a time (i.e. when a pirate leaves the center circle, he can only return with one ball, no matter how close or far he has to go to get it).
  • If a pirate is tagged by a sailor once he has left the pirate ship, then the sailor has the right to take him to ANY PRISON he wants to (i.e. any hula hoop).
  • A pirate who has been tagged must stay inside the hula hoop he is placed in until another pirate comes and tags him and walks him back to the pirate ship.
  • If a pirate is trying to save another pirate from prison, said pirate must make it all the way from the pirate ship to the prisoner without getting tagged. The two pirates then must walk back together to the pirate ship, thus letting everyone know that they are being saved from prison.
  • A pirate can either save a prisoner on a turn or get a piece of gold, but cannot do both.
  • Pirates are not allowed to throw or kick the balls, and are only allowed to carry them back to the ship.
  • Play until a specific number of balls have been collected, or for a specified amount of time.
  • Have the kids switch roles frequently to keep it rolling, and don’t be afraid to call “Jailbreak,” if you see too many kids languishing in prison for too long!
Pirate Booty

Pirate Booty