Indoor Sailboats - A Rainy Day Activity For Young Explorers

by Amanda Steele · January 4, 2014

“Hey Mom, can we make a boat like they did on Curious George?”

This question came as a kind of a shock to me, because A. being the super-busy Christmas Season, it’d been a LONG time since we’d watched Curious George and because B. I had NO CLUE what boat my 4 year old was referring to (and believe me, he went into GREAT detail describing it…) I am all about spending constructive time with my kiddos, especially when they get to build and create, so I thought, sure why not!

After a few minutes of scouring through Netflix trying to find that EXACT boat episode, I gave up. Although, in the short time I looked, I realized how cool Curious George really is. That little monkey has instilled a “curiosity” in my boys for all sorts of sciency things; like looking for dinosaur bones (write-up soon to come) and being a scout (aka “nature tracker”), to learning about the weather systems, and now boats. So mad props to you George and PBS for inspiring kiddos to create and explore!

So back to our boats. I gathered up a few things around our house that I thought would easily make a boat. Here is what we used…

1, Styrofoam plate
2, 6-inch wooden dowels
Hot glue gun and glue
Colored Flannel
Scissors
Markers

Making the boats was super easy and fun for my 4 and 2 year olds. I did all of the gluing (since hot glue guns aren’t safe for little guys) while Goose and Skooter did all of the designing and coloring.

Goose even cut the flannel by himself into a triangle-shaped sail!

After we were done crafting, it was time to see if they actually could float! Fill up the tub!

Being the middle of winter, as well as super cold outside this week, and too late in the evening to go out anyways, this made for a great “Rainy-Day/Indoor-Activity”! It was super easy and allowed my boys to create and build. And the best part was that my boys played with them for easily over an hour. They even played with them while they took their bath that night! (Not pictured… you’re welcome).

Here are some other boats that I found that would be super easy to make! (Thank-you Pinterest)

Five Homemade Boats by Craftulate

This super-crafty mom made an assortment of home-crafted boats and tested them with her kids. I particularly like the boat made out of corks and elastic bands. I also like that all of her boats are made out of up-cycled materials like milk jugs and such. We are definitely going to try these out this summer!

Homemade Boats by East Coast Mommy Blog

Here is another blog, where a super-mom allowed her kids to make boats out of materials that were a bit more kid-friendly than my hot-glue gun. I love how they used play dough instead of glue. Brilliant I tell ya!

Little Boats by Moment To Moment

This one is my personal favorite! This super crafty (and outdoorsy) mom helped her child construct a boat out of materials found in nature like sticks and leaves. Although they did end up using hot glue and some hemp string to make it sturdier, I still think the concept is fantastic!

So what kinds of indoor “Rainy-Day Activities” do you do with your kids to past the time during the winter-chill? Let us know at NFK and we will test them out!

-Amanada

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Amanda Steele

Amanda is an energetic mother of three rowdy boys, owner of a dog named Chaco, and is the wife of a wannabe fisherman named Jake. She spends her mornings running the foothills by her home (for fun) and the rest of the day chasing around her kids (also, for fun). She's had a plethora of job titles with some of her favorites being: Truck Loader, Ski Lift Supervisor, Fire Fighter, and Physical Education Teacher. But her all-time favorite occupation has been being a mom.