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Age
⚙ 2.5 years and up
Time and Place
⚙ Any time of day
⚙ Any time of year
⚙ Outdoors (weather permitting)
Materials
Building materials for hull, mast, and sail
⚙ Natural materials (e.g., sticks, leaves)
⚙ Recycled materials (e.g., fabric, paper, Styrofoam)
⚙ Other materials (e.g., aluminum foil, clay, popsicle stick)
Optional Materials
⚙ Glue
⚙ Scissors
⚙ Paint
Safety
⚙ Supervise children at all times
⚙ Take extra precautions when playing with water
⚙ Be aware of choking hazards
⚙ When outdoors, protect children from elements (e.g., sun, rain)
Instructions
When children are playing in puddles or with a water table, take the opportunity to talk with them about boats and encourage them to build a sailboat. Offer natural, recycled, and/or other materials for constructing the hull, mast, and sail. Go outside and place the sailboats in a body of water (e.g., puddle or water table). Talk about how the sailboats float and how the force of the wind moves the boats.
Optional: If you are unable to go outside, think about non electrical sources of moving air (e.g., blowing, letting a balloon deflate).
Questions You May Ask
⚙ How can you use these materials to make the three parts of a sailboat?
⚙ What material will make a good [sail, mast, hull]?
⚙ What happens when you place your sailboat in the water?
⚙ How does wind make your sailboat move?
⚙ Which direction is your sailboat moving?
⚙ How can you make your sailboat move faster?
⚙ How else can you make your sailboat move?
Play-based Context
After a rainy day, children were splashing in the puddles. To support the children's explorations, the educator encouraged the children to build their own sailboats. The children had a lot of fun building their sailboats and seeing how they moved in the wind.
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Related Children's Books
⚙ Maisy's Sailboat by Lucy Cousins
⚙ The Little Sailboat by Lois Lenski
⚙ The Boy who Built a Boat by Ross Mueller
