CORK BOATS:

Materials: Corks (three per boat), sharp toothpick, colour craft foam or coloured paper, white paper, markers, rubber bands, push pin (parent use only), tape.

Step 1: Help your child wrap elastic bands around three corks to keep them together in a raft shape. Step 2: Have your child decorate their own small paper flag using markers on drawing paper. My sons wanted pirate ships so they drew the Jolly Roger.

Step 3: Have your child pick the colour of craft paper or coloured paper to use as the sail and cut out a sail shape.

Step 3: (Parent Step) Carefully stick a push pin into the sail in two places and then thread a sharp toothpick through the holes to hold the sail. Then carefully press the toothpick into a cork.

Step 4: Let your child attach the flag using tape.

Step 5: This boat is now ready to sail or use in the Sinking Ships Experiment below (under Learning Activities).

MILK CARTON SHIPS:

Materials: Empty milk cartons (500mL or larger...the smaller ones from schools didn’t work well), paint and brushes (art smock or old clothes to wear and newspaper to cover work area), clay, white glue, craft sticks or popsicle sticks or chop sticks, coloured, child safe scissors, sharp scissors (parent use), tape.

Step 1: (Parent step) Cut an opening on the side of the cleaned milk carton.

Step 2: Have your child paint the milk carton to decorate it.

Step 3: Glue a ball of clay inside the milk carton.

Step 4: When the paint has dried and the glue is dried insert a craft stick as the mast of the boat.

Step 5: Have your child pick the paper for the sail and then cut out a sail.

Step 6: Have your child tape the sail to the craft stick.

Step 7: This boat is now ready to float or to use in the Sinking Ships Experiment below (Under Learning Activities).

SHIP IN A BOTTLE/JAR:

Materials: An empty and cleaned jar (stickers removed) preferably with a large mouth, tissue paper or blue confetti or blue pieces of torn paper, white paper, tape, shells (Optional), makers or coloured paper (Optional for decoration), empty soap box, coloured paper or paint to cover the soap box.

Step 1: Use these instructions to help your child make a small paper boat: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/18982/how-to-make-a-paper-boat

Step 2: Your child can decorate the completed boat in anyway. My Youngest just wanted a tiny flag.

Step 3: Cover the soap box in coloured paper or paint it and then cut out scoops in two sides to fit the jar. This will be the stand to hold the jar in place. Alternately you cold use a clump of clay.

Step 4: Have your child fill the jar with blue tissue paper or confetti or paper to create waves. We added shells from a vacation as well.

Step 5: Help your child carefully put the paper boat into the jar.

RECYCLED CRAFT BOATS:

Materials: Whatever floatable materials you and your children can find can be used for this craft and whatever other craft materials you want to use to put it together and/or decorate it.

Steps: Get creative and have your child design his/her own boat to sail.

NOTE: My sons used pieces of Styrofoam and painted those for their boats. We also made a juice box boat and a tissue box boat. My Youngest wanted to use some air-dry modeling clay to create a canoe.

Fort Carré

MORE WATER FUN:

For more Science fun try this book: Water and Boats, by Joan Richards, Powerkids Press, 2008 – Part of the Science Factory Series this book offers 12 different water science experiments.

Boats and Bouyancy

Boats inspire many types of craft and art projects. Which ones will your family try?

CRAFTS

TISSUE PAPER BOAT COLLAGE PICTURE:

Materials: Blue paper, blue and white tissue paper, child safe scissors, coloured paper or wrapping paper or scrapbook paper, glue stick, damp facecloth for sticky fingers.

Step 1: Help your child to rip or cut the tissue paper into rough strips of blue and white. These will be the waves.

Step 2: Let your child glue the strips of tissue paper onto the blue paper in layers to create waves.

Step 3: Have your child choose the colour or patterned paper to use for the boat and help him/her cut out simple shapes to create the boat picture. Cut a half circle for the boat and two triangles for the sails and a small triangle for the flag. Or have your child come up with his/her own style of boat as my Eldest did in the second picture.

Step 4: Have your child glue the cut paper onto the waves to create a sailing boat picture.

NOTE: This would make a great Earth Day Craft!

CRAFT STICK RAFT:

Materials: Craft sticks or recycled popsicle sticks, white glue, wax paper, clay, coloured paper.

Step 1: Have your chid count out 30 popsicle sticks (an excellent time to review numbers and math with kids).

Step 2: Have your child lay 10 craft sticks side by side on the wax paper and then cover with white glue.

Step 3: Now have your child lay 10 more popsicle sticks across the bottom 10 but not in the same direction (crossed).

Step 4: Apply more white glue to this layer of sticks and then add 10 more craft sticks in the same direction as the bottom layer.

Step 5: Glue a ball of clay to the top of the popsicle stick raft.

Step 6: Let this craft dry….it may take a while.

Step 7: Once the glue has dried your child can stick a further popsicle stick into the clay and then tape on a coloured paper sail.

Step 8: This boat is now ready for water and can be used in the Sinking Ships Experiment below (Under Learning Activities).