Recycled Boat

Got cardboard, a couple empty plastic bottles, an egg carton and a stick? Then you’re ready to make a boat! When I saw this idea on GreenKidCrafts.com, I knew we HAD to try it. After a trip to the yard and garage for some supplies, all we had to do was fire up our hot glue gun and we were ready to embark on our boating adventure.

Because this project is all about turning something unusual into a boat, we started the activity with a book about a boy who fills the bathtub a little too full. My son read Janie Spaht Gill’s “The Tub That Became a Boat,” a predictable word book, with ease.

Then I read to him Richard Scarry’s “Busytown Boat Race,” another book about silly boats made from all sorts of unpredictable things. (My favorite is the mice’s swiss cheese sailboat!)

Now it was time to start on a project I knew would really float my son’s boat. (Yes, I do love a cheesy, well-placed pun.) I cut a box of diapers (courtesy of our youngest son) into two cardboard shapes – one in a square, the other in a triangle (for our sail). I poked holes in the “sail” so he could thread the stick through.

My son painted the cardboard sail with acrylic craft paint.

Then I drew two parallel lines on the bottom of the cardboard square and supervised my son in the use of a hot glue gun. (Note: NEVER let your child use this tool without your guidance. The burns can be wicked!) We placed our Gatorade bottles (with caps on) on top of the glue. Next we glued on part of an egg carton, threaded the stick through the sail, and poked the stick through the egg carton and down through the cardboard base.

The only thing left to do was set sail (in our bathtub). When we tested it out, my son rather matter-of-factly explained to me that the bottles were filled with air, which is why it floated. Holy cow, he remembered that little nugget of info from our Will it Float or Sink activity!

My son had fun adding a few bathtub squirty toys to the boats’ egg carton seats. (Can you see Sandman taking a ride in the picture up above?)

To wrap up our boating activity (or should I say “expedition?”), I read Tony Mitton and Ant Parker’s book “Busy Boats,” which introduced us to all different types of boats.


Happy sailing!

Friend vs. Foe Beetle Tic-Tac-Toe

“There’s a bug in the house!” yelled my son as he pointed at the window. Ugh! It was big, too. But luckily, it wasn’t in the house. Unfortunately, though, the insect clinging to our window screen was a Japanese Beetle. (They’ve invaded our neighborhood but, thankfully, our trees, plants, and bushes seem to be holding their own against their insatiable appetite.) The only thing these pests are good for is inspiring a science lesson and craft, so that’s just what I created.

My son and I looked online to find out what we were up against.  We also talked about beetles and learned that while the Japanese Beetle seemed to have no redeeming qualities, the ladybug (also in the beetle family) does.

I read him Denise Fleming’s “Beetle Bop,” a whimsical fiction book whose rhyming text talked about all the different colors and types of beetles.

Then it was time to get our craft on. The day before, I had mixed 1 cup of Plaster of Paris powder and water. Then my son and I filled plastic spoons. We tapped the bottom of the spoons on the counter to release any air bubbles and level out the plaster (so we could glue magnets on the back later).

After an hour, the plaster had dried enough to be released from its spoon molds. A full day later, they were completely dry and ready to paint. (Check out Disney’s Family Fun site to see where this idea originated from.) Using acrylic craft paint, we painted five of the plaster shapes like Japanese Beetles and five like ladybugs. Truthfully, we painted a total of 12; my son wanted to keep painting, so we made a few extras too! I used a black Sharpie marker to add some details (e.g. a line down the bugs’ backs between the “wings,” antennae, etc.) and dipped the opposite end of the paint brush in white paint to make dots for eyes. To make the ladybug’s big black dots, we dipped a pencil eraser in black paint.

When dry, we attached magnets to the back. I used a black Sharpie permanent marker and ruler to draw a Tic-Tac-Toe board onto a paint can lid.

Now, it was time to play Beetle Tic-Tac-Toe … or shamelessly get beat. (If only the real Japanese Beetles in our yard were as easy to beat as I am!)

Making Nautical Fraction Flags

When my son came home from his math summer camp with a table of fractions in his backpack, I thought, “Really?” Could a soon-to-be first-grader really comprehend fractions? Why not? To supplement whatever my son had picked up in this classroom of multi-aged kiddos, I decided to whip up some fractions of our own.

I was inspired by nautical flags. They’re geometry was perfect for a lesson in fractions! To prep for the activity I bought five colors of fabric, some muslin, Pellon Wonder-Under, and a package of four square cork bulletin boards. I attached the Wonder-Under to my colored fabrics and cut each into shapes to match the patterns on four nautical flags that demonstrated the fractions 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, and 1/8. I cut the muslin into squares bigger than my cork boards.

Then I ran freezer paper that I’d cut to 8 ½ by 11 inches through my printer and printed some labels. (You can download the labels here.) If you’ve ever worked with freezer paper, you know that its waxy side will temporarily adhere to fabric when pressed with an iron set to medium-high heat. I cut the shaped labels out and ironed them onto my fabric shapes.

When it came time to start our lesson in fractions, we read Loreen Leedy’s “Fraction Action.” This book has great illustrations and told the story of a teacher whose pupils have to come up with real-life examples of fractions (e.g. a sandwich cut in half, a flag with three stripes, etc.).

Then I handed my son all those fabric shapes and asked him to sort them into four piles by their labels. Once this was done, I asked him which of the piles had the biggest shapes and asked him to put the two triangles together to make a whole square. I showed him that the bottom number in the fraction 1/2 was two and that’s why there are two shapes that make up a whole.

He peeled the paper backing from the Wonder-Under off of the triangles and positioned them on the muslin. I ironed to bond them together.

Then we moved on to the 1/3 flag with three stripes, the 1/4 flag with four cubes, and lastly, the 1/8 flag with eight triangles; this last one required several looks at the sheet of nautical flags I’d printed to get the configuration right.

After each was ironed, we reviewed the fractions again before he peeled off the fraction labels.

His fraction flags were beautiful! I used spray adhesive to glue the flags to the cork bulletin boards and 3M Command Picture-Hanging strips to hang them on his bedroom wall. Now he can review his fractions any time he wants from his very own bed.

NOTE: Only adults should apply spray adhesive and when doing so, carefully follow the can’s instructions. That stuff is super sticky but also quite toxic.


For other great math ideas, visit Love2Learn2day's Math Monday blog hop!

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Two days ago when I picked my oldest son up from summer camp, his little brother and I found a small toad in the yard outside the school. We stopped and gawked for quite awhile. As we walked into the building, I turned back to see parents and children coming and going, oblivious to that small magical creature hidden in the grass.

To teach my children one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my adult life – that there is beauty all around us, all you have to do is look – I wanted to put together a nature scavenger hunt.

In order to put the game cards together, we headed out for an early morning walk on a nearby trail. I told my son to find some cool stuff. It was an easy assignment. He found everything from a seed pod shaped like an “S” (a natural letter) to a ladybug and wild berries. I kept my camera clicking. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to catch the orioles we saw – these were the only ones I’ve ever seen in our neighborhood and they were amazing!

When we got home, I supplemented my own photography with beautiful images from FreeNaturePictures.com, an incredible site with lots of pictures for free download. With the addition of just a few clip art photos, we were ready to make our game cards.

I used Picnik online and Microsoft Publisher. Well, I shouldn’t really say “I." I had some help. My oldest son loved dragging and dropping the images into the collage template and hitting “shuffle.” Some of the things in the hunt are big (such as an owl); other things are small (like a spider). I made four cards, two per page. You can download the PDF file for free here. 

TIP: Make them reusable!
Print, cut, laminate, and give your child a dry-erase marker to check off which nature discoveries they find. Once you both start looking, I think you’ll be amazed at all the wonderful things you would have missed otherwise!

Rainbows: Eat and Learn

Unfortunately, we had a wet spring and up until about three weeks ago, our summer weather was on the same trajectory. Nobody was happy about it. While we were stuck inside watching the rain, I cooked up this colorful weather-related activity. 

First, my son read Dana Meachen Rau’s wonderful non-fiction book called, “Rainbows (Wonders of Nature).” Then I gave him a pair of scissors and a worksheet.

Download this curious question puzzle here.

The words inside white boxes made up the question; the words in yellow boxes comprised the answer. My son cut and moved the words around until the rainbow-related fact was unscrambled.

QUESTION: What two things do you need to make a rainbow?

ANSWER: You need sunlight shining through drops of water.

The curious question activity was something I found in "The Everything Kids' Dinosaur Book" by Kathi Wagner and Sheryl Racine and adapted for this subject matter.

While we waited for our own rainbow outside, we whipped up some rainbow cupcakes. These are so easy and super fun. Simply follow the directions on the back of a white or yellow cake mix box. Divide the batter evenly and add food coloring.

This is a great opportunity to talk about primary colors and how to make secondary colors (e.g. red and blue food coloring can be added to make purple). Spoon some of each colored batter into lined muffin tins. Bake according to the box’s instructions.

Cool. Frost. Share. Impress.