Make It Topic: Boats

Imaginative:

• Place out a table upside down, attach a flag, place out pirate hats and treasures, allow the children to sail away 
• Place out a large swimming pool as a boat place it on a blue cloth with fish, have the children sail and fish
•  Place out life jackets and boat safety items

Language:

• Read “Busy Boats” 
• Read “Do Pirates take baths” 
• Read “Little Tug” 
• Read “Boats for bedtime” 
• Read “If We Had A Sailboat” 
• Make boat puppets for the children to move around 
• Make a flannel board game to the song “5 little boats” 
• Five sailboats went out one day
  Over the waves and far away
  One sailboat returns to the dock
  Four sailboats…

Art:

• Make boats out of milk cartons 
• Place out shapes and paper, allow the children to make boats 
• Place the child’s hand into paint making a print, have square pieces of paper to glue on for the sails 
• Place pictures of boats and allow the children to do rubbings 
• Dip rings into paint to make life rings 
• Paint boats 
• Use brown paper bags and origami to make canoes

Water/Sand

• Have a boat washing station, with sponges and boats 
• Make a dock in the water table 
• Place out people in the sand with boats 
• Place out boats and a wood plank in the sand for a dock 
• Put treasure in the sand table 
• Place out fishing nets in the water table

Gross Motor

• Find the boat 
• Talk with your children about various kinds of boats, such as sailboats, motorboats, tugboats, tankers, barges, rowboats, and canoes. Then call out the boat names, one at a time, and have the children act out their movements. 
• Sail boats in ponds or large pools

 Science/Curiosity

• Sink or float: place out items with a bucket to see what items float or sink 
• Place different anchors out for the children to see 
• Place out life rings for the children to examine 
• Make balloon boats measure how far they go

Blocks

• Place out pirate boats, treasure and castles in the block center 
• Place out a blue sheet and wood for the children to make wood boats with waffle blocks 
• Place out boats and people

Conceptual/Table top/Fine motor

• Boat matching game 
• Memory game using boats 
• Place out sail boat shapes have the children lace the sail 
• Sorting boat parts 
• Make boat puzzles 
• Place out play dough for the children to make boats 
• Make a boat race for the children to roll a dice and move around the water 
• Lace the life jackets 
• Bead the ropes on the life rings

Music:

• Sing ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ 
• Make water sticks using rice and paper tubes

Quiet

• Place out squishy bags: Ziploc bags filled with blue hair gel, hide boats and fish inside, tape securely closed and to a tray. 
• Make paper boats for the children to move around with little people

Cooking

• Make apple boats 
• Place a wedge of apple out with a pretzel (mast) cheese for the flag and enjoy

Field trip

• Go the lake and see if there are boats 
• Go to the boat store or sporting goods store

Extensions from the activities

• Pirate treasure hunt 
• Go on a boat ride