I’ve got to thank Curious George for this one. The Little Explorer’s recent obsession with the book “The Boat Show,” and The Big Explorer’s love of all things science were the perfect combination. When we spotted instructions for making your own paper boat at the back of the book, we all knew we had to try it.
The Big Explorer has tinkered with simple origami before and was able to successfully create his own paper boat after just one failed attempt.
What you’ll need to make & float paper boats:
- Sheets of paper (perhaps even different materials such as newspaper, aluminum foil & waxed paper)
- Instructions for making a paper boat, like these
- A bucket of water to test out your boats (a natural water source would be even better!)
After folding his first boat, The Big Explorer got all fancy and decided to make boats out of different types of paper – regular, cardstock, newspaper and aluminum foil (which failed miserably).
Although I thought some paint or coloring on said boats might make for a nice touch, The Explorers would have none of it. They were too eager to take their boats out to the backyard and put them to the test.
They had a seriously crazy amount of questions they wanted answered.
Will these things really float? Won’t they just sink once they get wet? If they do float, how long will they stay up? Which material will float the longest? What happens if we add a weight, like a rock?
Science enthusiast that he is, The Big Explorer decided to time how long each of the boats stayed afloat (or didn’t). This was serious business, after all.
I’m not going to spoil the fun – you’ll have to try this one yourself to see what happens.
Other types of boats we’d like to try making:
There are tons of ideas for making and floating boats out there, many incorporating natural elements. A few of my favorites:
Well, hello fellow Curious George fan! 🙂
Hmm … ours sound like they were slightly more successful than yours. Try a different type of paper & see what happens. Have fun!
Anyone who is inspired by Curious George has to be a friend…and inspiration to my family! What a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
I haven't made paper boats for a while now, usually made from magazine pages and newspapers will do but just takes several seconds before it gets all wet and fall sideways or sink. The questions you had in mind are great! Thoughts of covering it with some crayon will make it waterproof so we can just concentrate on how long it would stay afloat.
Yes, that makes perfect sense. I know some people make boats from natural materials like those you mention & take them out to a natural body of water. I've even seen some with strings attached so as not to lose the boat!
I must clarify that we make the boats from bark we find on the ground at the arboretum. We don't bring anything made from home.<br />My boys love to "float" leaves, sticks, bark boats, rocks down the stream there and see what happens. It is great fun.
Love your idea of making boats & taking them somewhere like an arboretum to test in a more natural setting. We'll have to try that.
yes, we make bark boats at our local arboretum and watch them float down stream. My boys love it. They also love Curious George and use our small plastic swimming pool in our backyard as a makeshift "let's see what floats" experiment.<br />I love hearing them work together, talk about their observations and enjoy science. It is awesome.