Pirate Sight Word Secret Message Treasure Hunt

Ahoy matey! Today we’re searching for pirate treasure just like Jack and Annie did in Pirates Past Noon. We’ll read a sight word secret message to find the pirate treasure. Are you ready for the pirate treasure hunt? I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.

Pirate treasure hunt with sight word secret message

Magic Tree House Pirates Past Noon by Mary Pope Osborn

Pirates Past Noon is book #4 in the Magic Tree House series. Jack and Annie find themselves on an island captured by pirates. The pirates have a map to treasure buried on the island. They need Jack and Annie’s help to read the clue and solve the riddle to find the treasure.

Pirate Sight Word Secret Message Treasure Hunt

Inspired by Jack and Annie’s pirate adventure, we set out on a pirate treasure hunt of our own. Now most pirates didn’t have treasure to bury because they usually stole goods like food and drink. They rarely got gold or other precious treasures. There is a legend of one pirate named Olivier Levasseur who did leave behind a buried treasure full of gold, silver, gems, and precious objects.

The legend states that Leavasseur left a coded message with instructions on where to find his treasure. He used a version of a pigpen cipher (among other things) to code his secret message. His treasure is still being sought after today.

Supplies Needed for a Pirate Treasure Hunt

A treasure (I used a small wooden box with pretend gold coins and a pirate eye patch.)
Post-It Notes (or squares of paper)
Clipboard (or notebook)
Cipher for the secret code
Pencil

How to Set Up a Sight Word Secret Message Treasure Hunt

The goal for our treasure hunt was to work on sight words. I created a secret message with instructions leading to the treasure and tried to include many sight words in the message. I ended up with 10 sight words and 2 other words (door and treasure) that were needed to make the message work.

Come out to the door for your treasure will be by there.

I coded the message using a simple pigpen cipher. The pigpen cipher is pretty common. We read more about it in a book, Can You Crack the Code? A Fascinating History of Ciphers and Cryptography, sent to us for review by Bloomsbury Publishing. The pigpen cipher was thought to be used by the Freemasons so it’s also sometimes called the Freemason’s cipher.

The picture of the pigpen cipher below is taken from the Can You Crack the Code? book. It is called the pigpen cipher because the letters sort of look like they are placed inside a pig’s pen.

I wrote out the symbol for each letter to make it easier for my kindergartner to read. At first, Lily still had trouble discriminating between the symbols. She thought everything looked like an L (no matter the direction it was facing). Soon, she got the hang of it and was decoding the messages easily without my help.

decoding secret messages with the pigpen cipher

Next, I wrote each word in the secret message on a post-it note using the pigpen cipher. I placed the post-it notes on the walls in the hallway. I made sure to number the notes so we knew in what order they should go.

pigpen cipher secret message on post-it note

Go on a Pirate Treasure Hunt

Lily headed down the hallway and chose a secret message to decode.

She placed the post-it note message on her clipboard on top of the pigpen cipher. Then, she got to work decoding the message. After the message was decoded, she attempted to read the word. This was great practice for her to read the sight words she’s been working on.

Once all of the words were decoded, she put the message together and read the words.

pigpen cipher secret messages on post-it notes

She immediately knew the treasure was outside, but didn’t know which door. She tried the front door first but didn’t see a treasure outside it. Next, she tried the back door. The treasure was indeed by the back door.

Our treasure was a small wooden box filled with pretend gold coins and an eye patch. Lily loved finding the treasure.

I was surprised by how much Lily liked this sight word game. My oldest son, Aiden, has always loved secret messages and secret codes. (He even added a couple extra messages for Lily to decode.) Check out more of our secret message activities here. This was the first time I introduced Lily to the idea. I think we’ll be doing more in the future.

More Treasure Hunt Activities for Kids

X Marks the Spot Pirate Treasure Hunt – Work on pre-writing skills and letter recognition.
Backyard Treasure Hunt with Picture Clues – My all time favorite treasure hunt that’s easy for kids to set up themselves.
30+ Scavenger Hunts and Treasure Hunts – Find all of treasure hunts here.

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