It’s summer time in the Spiral! What’s a Wizard to do when it’s too hot for much questing? Create amazing fan art of course! Each month we like to feature Wizard101 fan art submissions through or official social media like Facebook and Pinterest.
We had many talented artists submit amazing drawings, paintings and more in the past month. Here are some of our favorites so far from the month of August!
Want to submit something creative of your very own? If you are under 13 years of age, ask your parent or guardian for permission to send us your screenshot. If you would like to submit something, send the picture and your character name in an email to community@wizard.com! Please attach no more than three images per email, and please limit total submissions to no more than nine screenshots in a month. Try to only submit your very best images!
The best way for kids to beat the summer heat is to go for a dunk in the water, preferably with friends. If you’re planning a pool activity for your little Pirate this summer, make your child’s little black heart happy with an exciting Pirate-themed party. Here are a few easy ideas to tie in your child’s love of the Pirate101 game with the perfect Pirate pool party.
Pirate identities
As party favors, give an eye patch and/or an inexpensive costume Pirate hat to each child. To make it more interesting, though, assign each hat and eye patch combo a different identity from the Pirate101 game, and have the kids choose their identity for the duration of the party. Prevent fights by making grab bags so they don’t know who they’re getting. Boochbeard, Captain Horace Avery and Morgan LaFitte are examples of Pirate101 characters you could use, but if you need help, be sure to ask your own little Pirate — he or she is sure to have suggestions!
Dive for lost treasure
Instead of handing out all the favors in goody bags, make your little Pirates work for them. Put treasure such as colorful Mardi Gras necklaces and plastic jewels at the bottom of the pool, and let everyone take turns diving for booty to fill their goody bags. This is a great Pirate’s game that the kids will love. Weight the treasure with diving rings or rocks to keep it on the bottom, and put the better treasure in the deeper areas of the pool. You can also sink bags of plastic coins (call them Crowns to tie them in with the game) by putting a rock in with the coins.
Photo by James BeuerleinE
Capture the Flag
Looking for more Pirate party games? Divide the kids into two teams and set up a game of Capture the Flag, with a flag tied to a flotation device at each end of the pool. Prohibit dunking and encourage kids to test their swimming skills against one another in their race to capture the other side’s flag first. Have the losing team “walk the plank” by walking off the diving board one at a time.
Floating boats contest
Another fun activity that will keep your little Pirates busy involves putting them to work making boats, and holding a contest to see whose creation floats the longest or holds the most weight. Provide a variety of materials such as paper, cardboard, craft sticks and egg cartons, and let the kids use their imaginations. When it’s time for the contest, use “Crowns” to weight each boat equally and see which one stays afloat the longest.
Photo by Zen Kid Parties
Pirate snacks
With all the swimming, contests and walking the plank, your little Pirates are bound to get hungry and thirsty. You can keep them well-hydrated by serving cups of blue-colored water or juice with Swedish fish in it, or various colored drinks with the names of potions or elixirs from the game, such as the Energy Potion or the Health Elixir. Treats can be as simple as bite-size pieces of fruit skewered on little plastic cocktail swords or wooden kabob skewers, or real-life replicas of the snacks found in Pirate101.
Yo-ho-ho! Planning a swashbuckling pool party for your wild band of Pirates is a lot of fun, not to mention it gives you a chance to demonstrate that even landlubber moms and dads can put together a pretty cool party! These ideas will get you started, plus your Pirate101 player may have some suggestions for other games or snacks.
What tips do you or your kids have to make a Pirate-themed pool party a rip-roaring success?
It’s the end of June, the weather is warm and kids all over the country have waited all year for summer break. Sitting through classes, taking exams and facing evenings filled with homework is over for the next three months. Woohoo! But what can this time away from school really mean for our children?
In the late 1800s, when public schools began to become prevalent, summer vacation was a necessity for families. Much of America still relied on local farmers for the lion’s share of produce and commerce. So, during peak farming season, children were released from school to help out. Though times have changed since then, summer vacation still exists. This period away from school leaves children to their own devices for almost three months out of the year, which often results in summer learning loss.
What is summer learning loss?
Summer learning loss occurs over summer vacation when parents and children don’t encounter educational opportunities. Summer vacation has been shown to cause an average loss of two months of learning across the population, and this figure can be as high as three months in some areas.
While two to three months of learning loss over a summer does not sound too bad in theory, research spanning more than 100 years shows that students typically score much lower on standardized tests by the end of the summer than they do at the beginning.
Photo by Child Book
How to prevent the summer brain drain
Play educational trivia: Nothing will get your kids motivated to learn this summer quite like a bit of friendly, competitive trivia. FreeKIGames.com has a wide variety of educational trivia challenges across a range of topics like spelling, book quotes, chemical elements, vocabulary and more. Have your kids challenge their siblings (and maybe even you!) to see who knows more.
Visit the library: Making a trip to your local library once a week to allow your child to pick out one of their favorite books is a great educational treat. A bonus is that most libraries offer summertime events and book clubs, helping further your kid’s love for reading.
Daily math challenges: While math may not be their favorite subject, offering a “daily math challenge” that your kids must complete before, say, they are able to go over to a friend’s house, is a surefire way to prevent those math skills from getting rusty.
Journal as a family: Encourage creative writing while building grammar and spelling skills by journaling with your child daily. By letting his or her imagination run wild on paper, you’re improving your child’s written language skills one topic at a time.
Though these are just a few fun ways to keep your kids sharp this summer, it’s important to make time for learning every day. Summer learning loss is a real thing and it’s up to us as parents to prevent it!
Did you know there are a lot of talented “photographers” in the Spiral? Just take a look at these amazing Wizard101 fan photos! This summer batch has tons of player creativity, epic battles and super cool items. Each month on the blog we try to focus a selection of our favorite Wizard101 game screenshots!
Want to see even more fan photos? Check out our Wizard101 Facebook page where we keep albums updated all the time!
If you would like to submit a picture, send the picture and your character name in an email to community@wizard101.com
Please attach no more than three images per email. If you are under 13 years of age, ask your parent or guardian for permission to send us your screenshot. Digitally altered images will not be published.
Some animals enjoy chasing tennis balls and chasing mice, while others like belly rubs and scavenging for treats. And for a rare few, the thing that makes them happiest is joining their fellow buccaneers on the poop deck as they sail the mighty seas.
These 11 animals are singing “yo ho yo ho a pirate’s life for me!” as they pillage the seas and hoisten the mizzen!
1. If raccoons could jump aboard a Pirate ship, this hornswaller would be great at looting chests thanks to his stealthily moves.
2. Sir Stuffington is an old salt who was born on the streets and suffered a pillage from a racoon, resulting in him becoming the world’s cutest Pirate kitten, ready to sail the seas.
3. Jackson, this stoic Australian Sheppard, stares blankly at his landlocked lubbers as he remembers his days eating his dog food out of the bung hole.
4. The only thing Max loves more than cuddling with his landlubber human is scraping the barnacles off of his rudder and firing cannons through the porthole of his ship, SS Purina.
5. Don’t let his cute looks fool you! Fluffy to Pomeranian is one of the meanest sea monsters on the ship! His swashbucklin’ attitude fights of the enemies every time.
6. Tyler the Pug plans to go off leash tonight to catch the evenin’ tide. When the sun rises, he will comely wench his treasure: a bag o’ bacon treats.
7. Ralphie be an extra good boy today as he blew the man down and battened down the hatches on his walk ‘round the block. Shiver me timbers! No one messes with this lad.
8. These three wild Corgis were ready to heave ho and hang their enemies from the yardarm. Dead men tell no tales against these Pirates! Blow the man down!
9. This little lassie may look like a landlubber, but she’s definitely a woman-o-war. She’s ready to hop on the ship, weigh the anchor, and hoist the mizzen! Meow!
10. Darla the seadog kitty was made for the sea. From her crow’s nest she likes to meow, “Blow the man down!” as she counts her doubloons and booty.
11. Milo the squirrel misses the ‘ole Pirate days. Even though he is now a landlubber, he still finds the most unexpected places to bury his hidden bounty.
KingsIsle Blog 