It’s almost time to head back to school! The start of the school year can be a little overwhelming for little ones, and books are a great way to help them ease into the transition. Today’s book is a fun way to celebrate the start of kindergarten with a fun pirate twist, and our back to school games will kick the year off right!

Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Kindergarrrten Bus was written by Mike Ornstein and illustrated by Kevin M. Barry. When the school bus pulls up on the first day of school, the children are surprised to find a pirate and his parrot behind the wheel. All of the new kindergartners are worried about their first day, but the pirate driver tells them that there isn’t any crying allowed on his bus. His brave talk is challenged when his beloved parrot Polly flies away.

The young passengers help to console him, sharing their own wisdom about facing fears. The story has a sweet and important message for kids about bravery, and the pirate-tinged language just begs to be read aloud in a swashbuckling pirate voice. The bold and colorful illustrations do a wonderful job of showing the range of emotions that the young passengers feel on their first day.

For more back to school reads, check out this post with 60+ titles!

Searching for Treasure

Scavenger Hunt – Preparing for school means shopping for supplies, preparing backpacks and labeling everything. Why not add some fun to the process by turning it into a scavenger hunt. Hide a few school supplies around the house and create a pirate map to direct them to their treasure.

If you aren’t skilled at map drawing, you could also place clues at each stop, leading them to the next. Next, give kids their new backpack to collect their treasures. Explain that they will be searching for the items they need for school. (Or you can hide the backpack as the last big piece of treasure to find). They will have a lot of fun deciphering clues and finding their new supplies, which may just make the dreaded school supply shopping trip more bearable. My daughter had so much fun with this treasure hunt that she asked me to hide the items over and over again!

Digging for Gold – The fun pirate theme of the story gave us the excuse to dig for buried treasure! I hid gold coins in our sandbox and encouraged her to use her tools to find them. She had a lot of fun sifting through the sand and spotting the sparkly coins when she unearthed them. We also tried hiding them on each other and making little X’s in the sand to mark the spot.

Preparing for the First Day

Walk the Plank – Use masking tape or chalk to create a straight line. (You could also use a simple board to create a real plank). Have kids try balancing on the line and “walking the plank”. Once they have that down, try having them do it with their backpack on to change up their balance. You could also place school supplies along the plank for them to navigate around. Make the game more complicated by creating twisted lines with chalk or tape and having kids stay on the line while they make their way to the end.

Gold Coin Memento – Going to school for the first time can be scary. Offering kids a small memento to carry with them can help to remind them how brave and loved they are. A simple gold coin like the ones we dug for in our sandbox is a great item that they can hold onto when they are scared. Plus it’s connection to the book will remind them that they are brave and strong like a pirate too.

Check out our other back to school traditions inspired by The Kissing Hand!

Follow the Pirate Map

Printable Pirate Puzzle – Use the pirate theme to get kids back into school mode. This printable puzzle can be adapted to your child’s current skill set. I used the blank template to create one with vowels and consonants for my daughter. To complete the puzzle, kids have to start at the pirate ship and color the correct squares to make their way to the treasure at the end.

For our vowel/consonant puzzle, I created a path of vowels, while the rest of the spaces are filled with consonants. I explained that the vowels should be colored red while the consonants should be colored yellow. You could also use even or odd numbers, rhyming words, addition or subtraction equations, or any other skill that kids need to work on,

Do you have any fun back to school rituals that you use with your kids? Share in the comments below!

More Posts You May Enjoy