Before you begin, the children should be taught the commands which the activity involves (see below).
Children start by forming a line (one behind the other) directly in front of the teacher. The teacher then shouts a command and the children have to perform the activity associated with that command.
Command | Action | Suggested by… |
| Quarterdeck | Run to a wall / line on the left side of the area. | |
Main Deck | Run back and form the original line in front of the teacher (children do not have to be in the same order). | |
Man the Lifeboats | Run to a wall / line on the right side of the area. | |
| OR call out a number (e.g. 6) and the children have to get into groups of six and “row” their lifeboat. | Kelly | |
| OR find a partner, sit on the floor facing each other, holding hands and rocking backwards and forwards (as in “row, row, row your boat”). | ||
Scrub the Decks | Children crouch down and pretend to clean the floor with their hands. | |
Climb the Rigging | Children pretend to climb a rope ladder. | |
Captain’s Coming | Children salute and shout out “Aye Aye Captain” | |
Admiral’s Coming | Children stop and salute (like captain’s coming) but must continue to stand to attention until the instruction ‘Admiral’s gone’ – giving opportunities for catching children out! | |
Man over board | Three children pair up, 2 joining hands to make a ship and the 3rd in the middle with his hand above his eyes looking overboard for the fallen sailor. Anyone alone is out. | Robin Bearden |
| OR Children jump as if going over the side and then sink down holding nose with one hand and raising other hand in air as if going under water. | Janine | |
| OR Children pretend to jump into the water, grab a partner and then swim back to the ship | ||
| OR children join into groups of three sitting on the floor one behind another making rowing actions. If done as a game the children not in a group are out of the game. | Linda Hope | |
| OR children jump in the air and land as if jumping over the side of the ship. | Katharine Fawcett | |
| OR piggy back a partner. | ||
| OR children have to find a partner and lift them up. Any children on their own are out. | Claire Holloway | |
| OR children have to find a partner and hold on to them. If any child does not have a partner, they are out. | George Finnie | |
| OR children pretend to fall over the side of the ship and swim for their lives! | Catherine Hyland | |
| OR children shout “Splash!” and put their hands above their eyes to peer into the “sea”. | Sonja Coulter | |
| OR children on their backs waving legs and arms in air as they drown. | Lorraine Bastone | |
Walk the Plank | Children have to walk in a perfect straight line one foot exactly in front of the other with arms outstretched to the sides (children could also walk along benches). | Julie Ward |
Boom Coming Over | Teacher makes action of boom moving across deck. Children must duck down to avoid. | Linda Hope |
| The children curl into a ball on the floor | ||
Captain’s Wife | Everyone curtseys (boys think this is hilarious!). | Peter Horne |
Captain’s daughter | Children pose like a model (one hand on hip. the other outstretched and slightly bent) and say “Oooooooooooh!” or make a wolf whistle (if your ears can stand it!) | Mark Stevens |
| OR Children wiggle hips and blow a kiss. | Claire Holloway | |
Submarines | Children lie on floor with one leg raised like a periscope | |
Shark Attack | Crouch with bent arm forming fin of shark | |
| OR Lie on back with arm in the air. | Kelly | |
Fire the Cannon | Children run in to pairs and pretend to light the cannon, shout “boom!” and jump in the air. | Amanda Patterson |
Hit the Deck | Children lie down on their stomachs as quickly as possible. | Kelly |
Crow’s Nest | Children stand on one leg which becomes the mast, the other foot rests on that knee to become the crows nest and their torso is the pirate looking out to sea, hand above eyes!!! | |
| OR Have students run to the Jump Ball or Face Off circle in the middle of the gym.. the last student into the circle is out. | Grant Wardle | |
| OR Children peer into the distance and shout “land ahoy!” | ||
Rats on board | Children sit on the floor, hugging their knees, whilst feet are raised off floor. | Linda Hope |
Bombs overhead | The children crouch and cover their head for ‘protection’. They are not able to get up until ‘All clear’ is called. Anyone who gets up or moves before the ‘all clear’ is out. | George Finnie |
| Crouch on floor with hands over head | Phil Thomas | |
Rowboats | Pair up facing each other, soles of feet touching and join hands then rock backwards and forwards in rowing motion | |
Port | Run to left-hand side of hall | |
Starboard | Run to right-hand side of hall | |
Bow | Run to front of hall | |
Stern | Run to back of hall | |
Sharks | Sit with feet off floor, hugging knees | |
| OR get back on to the ship (reform line) | Mary Ross | |
North / South / East / West | Children all run in appropriate direction | Helen Clare Groom |
Last One in the Dinner Line | Children all line up in a very straight line | |
Compass Point | Children all gather in centre of the room | |
Three Men in a Lifeboat | Children get into groups of three. | |
Pieces of Eight | Run around and pretend to catch a parrot. | Peter Taylor (Mere Oaks School, Wigan) |
| Flap arms and shout “pieces of eight”. | ||
Mutiny | Find a partner and sword fight. | |
| Run around the room sword fighting everyone. | ||
Stormy Weather | Rock from side to side. | |
Up on Deck! | Children have to jump on to benches. The last person left with their feet on the floor is out! | |
“Land AHoi” with a direction | The children walk in the direction called with hand’s cupped just above their eyebrow’s (looking for the land ahead). | Anne Grant |
“Land AHoi” with no direction | Here the children decide, which direction they want to take! | |
Bombs Overhead | Teacher calls out ‘bombs overhead’ and throws 3 soft sponge balls at the children. Children are required to dodge the ‘bombs.’ If the children unfortunately get hit by a ball they are out of the game. | Laura Burt |
Peg Leg Jim | The children all have to walk with one leg straight and the other normally. | Coach Lucan |
Robin Bearden has suggested that:
“If playing as a game, those children that get out have to march around the outside of the rest of the group singing ‘Oh we oh, A pirate’s life for me.'”
Mary Ross has also commented that:
“Great fun can also be had playing this in the swimming baths – you can’t scrub the deck without getting your face in the water, and you can get from one end to the other faster if you swim, although ‘Man overboard’ and ‘Sharks’ have to be omitted.”
Thanks to numerous contributions from visitors, many of the commands have more than one possible action. In these cases, you might want to choose one of the actions and teach this to the children. You could also show them all the possible actions related to each command and let them choose which one they prefer.
A comment from Rod Hogg:
“Just to add to the excellent ‘Pirate Ship’ in the PE section.
All can be played just as colleagues have suggested, but also include the rules for ‘Simon Says’, i.e. if Simon Says the action, then it has to be done. If Simon does not say ‘Simon Says’, then the children have to ignore the command and follow the previous one. Very good for improving concentration skills. I also add a little extra to the concentration skills needed by pointing in the ‘wrong’ direction and watching the children who have the courage of their convictions rather than just following the majority of the class!”