Eyes on Early Years Volume 17 | Page 9

Boats By Kathryn Beaney Making and floating boats is always a fun activity. Introduce the topic of boats during circle time, talk about different types of boats, sizes of boats and what we use boats for - remember to have plenty of pictures available to show the children. Sing songs such as: Row, Row, Row your boat I love to sail in my big blue boat Both of these can be found on the internet if you are not sure of the words or tune, they also have lots of actions to them. Boats can be made out of many materials, you can bring in a box of materials and allow the children time to make their own boats and experiment, talking about which ones work best and why. Resources can include: Sponges Corks Twigs Lollipop sticks Egg boxes Plastic bottles Paper (different types) Make sure you have a large bowl of water available to test out the boats. You can develop these boats into a pirate theme, where large boxes can be used to make a big pirate ship. Make sure that you include a sail, an anchor, some binoculars, life rings and a parrot.