Ahoy, Maties! Did you know that September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day? It is! It’s not a real holiday, but it’s still completely worth celebrating. And if you can celebrate the day and make it educational too, that’s all the more reason to celebrate!

That’s why we’re sharing these Roll a Pirate Story printables with you today. It’s a great way to have some fun and get your kids to do some creative writing without realizing they’re doing something educational!

How to Play

It’s easy to play. Just grab our printable pages, some dice, and a pencil. (Please feel free to print copies of these Pirate pages for each child in your household who’s participating. If you have friends or relatives who might enjoy this activity, please share the link to this article and let them download their own copies. This helps us so much, and we truly do appreciate it!)

First, look at the first page. Then have your child roll a die to choose a character. For example, your child may roll a 3, so the macaw will be the main character.
Next, still using the first page, have him/her roll again to choose the setting. Let’s say the child rolls a 6 this time. In that case, the setting will be the beach.
Finally, have your child roll again to choose the conflict/problem. If your child rolls a 3, the problem is that his/her ship is sinking (or maybe it already sank since the main character is now on the beach).
If your child is old enough to come up with and write down the story independently and would enjoy doing that, that’s great! If your child is younger or isn’t yet able to write the story independently, that’s ok too! Simply have him/her dictate the story to you. Then you can write it down using printable pages 3-6.

If You’re Using These Printable Pages with More Than One Child

If you’re using these pages with more than one child, simply alternate letting them roll the dice to choose characters, settings, and conflicts/problems. Or allow each one to create his or her own story, and then share them with each other when you’re all done!

Want to get even more creative?

If you want to get more creative and have more fun, use the second page of this printable pack! This page leaves the setting and conflict/problem spaces blank so you or your children can come up with your own settings and problems to solve.

Try to come up with all kinds of fun and unexpected settings for your stories! Maybe your pirate is in outer space or at the dentist or at the park.

Or you can try to come up with your own conflicts/problems for your main character to overcome. Maybe your sea monster wants to learn to drive a car. Or perhaps your macaw has had a disagreement with a friend and doesn’t know how to handle it.

How did this holiday begin?

If you’d like to look up some information about how this holiday began, you can do that by going to International Talk Like a Pirate Day on Wikipedia. Then come up with your own fun new holiday! Choose a day to celebrate it. Then decide if it will repeat year after year or if it’s a one-time thing. How will you celebrate? How can you convince others to celebrate your new holiday with you?