Thursday, July 9, 2009

Making a Floating Boat


Last week, our scheduled Friday activity was a bit more fun than our usual book work in preschool. We got to make boats. This actually became a good way to teach science because we got to learn the word float, and talk about things that float (I got things like ducks, boats, paper, and garbage...) I'm hoping they understood when I told them that fish do not float... unless they were thinking of their dead fish...


If you want to try this with your students, you need:
  • Plastic bottle (water bottles or soda bottles work best)
  • lots of clay (not the foam clay, but real heavy clay.. you need to weight it down or it won't float)
  • some construction paper for a sail
  • Straws or sticks for a mast
  • Stickers or construction paper for decoration.
Step 1: Cut top off the bottle. Leave about 6-8 inches on the bottom for the boat. If you make a hole, most kids can cut the plastic...
Step 2: Use the clay to stick the mast to the bottom of the vessel. Use a lot of clay. It needs to be heavy.
Step 3: Make a sail
Step 4: Decorate by putting construction paper or stickers on the inside of the boat.
Step 5: Put it in water and watch it float!

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