Monday, July 15, 2013

How to make a toy boat

Some of my earliest childhood memories are related to playing with paper boats in the muddy pools - I remember how happy and careless I was at the time  ....

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this popular origami technique, and if by chance you are not, see here how it works.

However, the one thing I was really annoyed with these boats, even as a child, is the fact they get wet fast and therefore become unusable.

That's why me and the girls tried to make boats out of more durable materials.

1. Cork boats


This is actually one of the easiest things we've ever done. Couple of corks, rubber bands, toothpick and a little sponge and we got a mini fleet in a moment or two:





Just a short notice: definitely 3+ toy!


Egg boxes boats

Here we used polystyrene egg boxes, chopsticks and a spongy cloth. 



Daddy-engineer added a cork on the end of a sticks (actually to the end of a sail), so the water does not end up in a boat:





While I was delighted with the idea at the first glance, sponge (especially when it becomes wet) is heavier than polystyrene, so we quickly got a shipwrecked boat.

Cheerful team then had to sail without sails: 






After this experience, using the leaf as a sail sounds as much better idea, and we certainly intend to try it.

We also tried to make boats out of ice cubes as shown in this picture, but it was also not very successful - toothpicks and straws bent during freezing so it is impossible to maintain such a boat on the surface, and besides - the summer heat causes ice cubes to melt too fast ....


Enjoy the summer and let the play begin!




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8 comments:

  1. These are fun! I think it would be kind of cool to use this in a science lesson about objects that float...you could give the kids a bunch of objects and have them make a boat themselves, in whichever way they want. Might have to do this - thanks for the idea :)

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  2. I love your ideas, especially the egg box boat - and all the pretend people have a "seat" too!

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  3. This is so adorable! I pinned it in my crafty board:) New follow. I posted anchor dress to the party:) Hope you can stop over!

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  4. Cute an easy ideas! My twin preschoolers will absolutely love this.
    New friend visiting from SITS :)

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  5. Great idea, I love the egg carton boats, found you on pin me link part and pinned it :-)
    Domesticated Breakdown

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  6. Fun activity for little ones! Thanks for sharing at my Pin Me Linky Party!

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  7. I'm so happy you made these -- love the egg carton boat too! :-)

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