Building a Boat
In this lesson, children will design, build and test their own boats.
Learning Goals:
This lesson will help children meet the following educational standards:
- Develop beginning skills in the use of science and engineering practices such as observing, asking questions, solving problems, and drawing conclusions.
- Develop and use models to represent their ideas, observations and explanations through approaches such as drawing, building or modeling with clay.
Learning Targets:
After this lesson, children should be more proficient at:
- Expressing wonder and curiosity about their world by asking questions, solving problems and designing things
- Developing and using models to represent their ideas, observations and explanations through approaches such as drawing, building or modeling with clay
Step 1: Gather materials.
- Clay or playdough
- Coffee filters
- Counting bears
- Foam cups
- Foil
- Pipe cleaners
- Recycled containers (small cartons or plastic containers)
- Straws
- Tape
- Water table or large container filled with water to test out boats
Step 2: Introduce activity.
- Gather the children in a large group and invite them to share what they know about boats.
- Ask the children to recall past float-and-sink activities and remind them about the buoyancy and density of objects.
- If the children cannot recall a sink-and-float activity, conduct a quick sink-and-float demonstration.
- Explain that the boats should be buoyant, rather than dense, and encourage the children to discuss how to build a buoyant boat.
- Explain that the children will design, create and test their own boats.
Step 3: Engage children in lesson activities.
- Gather the children in small groups and invite them to design and draw their own boats.
- Encourage the children to look at the materials on the table and use them as inspiration for their drawings.
- After the children finish drawing, invite them to build their boats using the materials on the table.
- When the children finish building their boats, ask them to predict if their boats will float while carrying a small counting bear.
- Test the boats one at a time at the water table or in a large container filled with water.
- After all of the boats have been tested, discuss and analyze why some of them floated while carrying a bear and some didn’t.
- Invite the children to redesign their boats and keep the investigation going during free-choice time.
Step 4: Engineering vocabulary
- Analyze: To examine information to draw conclusions
- Buoyancy: The upward force of an object produced by the fluid or air that the object is placed in
- Conclude: To make statements about what is learned after an observation or an experiment
- Density: How compact the molecules of an object are
- Design: To create a plan for something that will be built
- Predict: To guess what might happen next
- Test: To try out an idea to see if it works or not
Suggested Books
- Alphabet Boats by Samantha R. Vamos
- Charlie’s Boat by Kit Chase
- The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
Music and Movement
Outdoor Connections
- Go on a walk and collect natural materials that you can use to build a boat (such as sticks, leaves and bark).
Web Resources
- Check out these floating-boat crafts for kids and learn how to make mini boats out of plastic water bottles.
- Looking for more boating fun? Check out these 25 crafts and activities for boat-loving kids—from sponge boats for the bathtub to Easter egg boats and nature boats.
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