National Bookstart Day 2008

Arrg arrh me harties! It's National Bookstart Day on Friday 10 October and the theme is Pirates Ahoy!
 
There will be hundreds of special events taking place in libraries and children's centres around the country and we hope that you will join in the celebrations.

• See what National Bookstart events are happening near you

There are a host of resources available here to download, along with suggested activities and fun ideas to make this year's National Bookstart Day a wonderful celebration.

Games, songs and activities

Rhymesheets

Activities 

There are lots of fun activities, including activity and colouring-in sheets to download and other great ideas to mark the day. Scroll down and take a look...
 
Colouring-in sheets

Sheet 1		Sheet 2		Sheet 3
Click to download...		Click to download...		Click to download...

		Pirate's hats   Make you own pirate's hats with these simple-to-follow instructions. Some black paper, a round plate and a pair of scissors and you're away! Click to download...
		Ship's rats Every pirate ship had its share of friendly rats on board. So keep the coloured paper out and create your own colony. Click to download...

Further suggestions

• Face-painting
  Children can be transformed into a blue bear or a colourful ship's parrot with these easy-to-follow steps.
  Download: Face-painting techniques
   
• Further pirate rhymes
  More suggested rhymes to go with the National Bookstart Day rhymesheets
  Download: Pirate rhymes
    
   

Suggested books

There are lots of wonderful books for the under 5s with Pirates as the theme. We've selected a handful that we think you might enjoy. Click here for our book list...

We hope you enjoy a fantastic National Bookstart Day! Thank you for taking part.