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BOAT MURAL
Invite your children to finger-paint blue ocean waves on a
large piece of paper. Allow the paint to dry. Give the children
boat shapes cut from different colors of construction paper
to decorate with crayons or markers. Then hang the wave mural
on a wall and help the children glue or tape on their decorated
boats.
BOAT BUILDING
FUN
Set out a variety of materials for "boat building,"
such as paper and plastic plates, small plastic tubs,
paper, cardboard, plastic-foam food trays, cardboard tubes,
paper cups, and pieces of wood. Include plastic straws
and paper squares for making masts and sails, and provide
tape, glue, string, and yarn. Let your children experiment
with using the materials to make boats. When they have
finished, encourage them to float their creations in water.
Which materials made the best boats? Why? |
COLOR BOAT GAMES
Cut simple boat shapes and sail shapes out of different colors
of felt. Use the shapes to play the following flannel board
games with your children.
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Place the boats on the board and add a matching colored
sail to each one. |
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Give directions such as these: "Put the blue sail
on the red boat. Put the green sail on the yellow boat." |
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Ask such questions as, "Can you line up a red boat,
a blue boat, and a yellow boat? An orange boat, a purple
boat, and a green boat?" |
| FLOATING
EXPERIMENTS |
| Set out an assortment
of objects, such as a sponge, a leaf, a cork, a metal
spoon, a rock, and a bar of soap. Have your children predict
if the objects will float or sink before placing the objects
in water. |
| Float a plastic-foam
food tray "boat" in water and let your children
add such items as bottle caps or small rocks for cargo.
How much cargo can the boat hold before it capsizes? |
| Let the children experiment
with fashioning aluminum foil into various shapes. Have
them place their shapes in water to see which are best
for floating. |
OUR
OWN BOAT
Find a large cardboard carton, such as an appliance carton.
Secure both ends closed. Then turn the carton into a "boat"
by placing it on one side and cutting out a large hole in
the top side. Let your children decorate the boat as desired
and use it for dramatic play. What might they use for a pretend
sail? For oars? For a motor?
BOAT MOVEMENTS
Talk with your children about various kinds of boats,
such as sailboats, motorboats, tugboats, tankers, barges,
rowboats, and canoes. Then call out the boat names, one
at a time, and have the children act out their movements. |
MOTORBOAT
Tune: "Jingle Bells"
Motorboat, motorboat,
Going round the bay.
Motorboat, oh, motorboat,
This is what you say,
Putt-putt-putt, putt-putt-putt,
Putt-putt all the way.
Motorboat, oh, motorboat,
You putt-putt-putt all day!
Let your children "putt-putt" around the room as you
sing.
BOAT SNACKS
For each of your children, make a small paper sail and
thread it onto a toothpick "mast."
Stick the mast into one of the foods below to create a
"sailboat."
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Deviled egg half |
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Banana section |
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Peach half |
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Apple wedge |
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