This week’s Flan­nel Fri­day host is Anna at Val­ley Sto­ry­time. I grew up across the Bay from Anna so I know that there are rumours of pirate trea­sure in the Annapo­lis Val­ley and other parts of Nova Sco­tia (most famously, Oak Island). And what child doesn’t love pirate sto­ry­time! In hon­our of the Mar­itimes and rowdy boys every­where, I’ve made a pirate ship tem­plate. Just one felt ship though — despite my efforts this tem­plate does not work well with milk fil­ters. They are not stiff enough for all the sails and the flag. Too floppy. This tem­plate is also avail­able on Slideshare.

Via PUBYAC many years ago, a cou­ple of pirate flan­nel­boards you could use this ship with include:

So Many Pirate Ships
There are so many pirate ships in the sea
What color pirate ship do you see?
Red, red, this one’s red.

(Repeat, adding more ships, until you reach five)

There are so many pirate ships in the sea
Can you count the ships with me? 1–2-3–4-5

How Many Pirate Ships?
How many pirate ships can we all see?
One with a flag, Jolly Roger it be.

A sec­ond one sails into view over here.
Mates in the crow’s nest; he sees us I fear.

Now here comes a third and it’s not very big
But surely it’s look­ing for trea­sure to dig.

The fourth sails up quickly; its can­nons are set.
It churns up the ocean and gets us all wet.

The fifth comes up close; let’s get out of the way.
We don’t want to get caught up in the fray.

Not a flan­nel, but this is my favourite action rhyme for pirate storytime:

Gal­lant Ship
Three times around went the gal­lant ship
Three times around went she (spin in cir­cle)
Three times around went the gal­lant ship
Till she sank to the bot­tom of the sea (sink down)

“Pull her up,” said the sailor crew
“Pull her up,” said we (pulling motion)
“Pull her up,” said the sailor crew
“Or she’ll sink to the bot­tom of the sea.” (sink down)