Natural Ice Boats

When I first saw ice boats made with drinking straws and paper sails, I knew my kids would love them.  But since we wanted to float them on a lake, I had to come up with a way to make them that wouldn't leave litter behind.


I started with a muffin tin and used pipe cleaners and tape to hold a stick in each cup.


Then we filled them with water.  The water expands a little as it freezes so we made sure to put the pipe cleaners high enough.


The hardest part was finding room in the freezer waiting for them to freeze.


We took them to the lake and found some leaves to use as sails.  Everything started great:


Then after about 15 seconds, this is what happened:


Oops.  So we made some new ones using bigger containers:


The second round was MUCH better!!


The kids loved it and want to do it again.


The book we read before we took our boats to the lake was The Little Boat.  A boy on a beach makes a little boat from a piece of polystyrene and a stick and plays with it all day.  The little boat is blown away from him and floats for a long time over the sea, braving storms and hungry fish.  Eventually the little boat lands on a beach where it is found by a little girl who plays with it all day, just as the little boy did.  The story is simple, but is written in such a beautiful way that it reads like a long poem. 

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16 comments:

  1. Hello, I have enjoyed following your postings and all the resources they provides. I have nominated you for an award - The Versatile Blogger! Please head on over to my blog ~ Country Fun to get your award. I look forward to sharing ideas with you in the future! Have a great summer!

    Debbie

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  2. These are so neat! Thank you for linking up to Learning Laboratory at Mama Smiles =)

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  3. They look like great fun and I love that there was a book to link it to

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  4. This is absolutely fantastic- I pinned them. We are going to do this soon, I know my boys with love it!

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  5. What a fun kids' craft! Thanks for linking up this week!

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  6. What a cute idea! My girls will love doing that during our Letter B week! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. I love this idea. Might just have to give it a go. It would be fun to do with a drop of food colour too so make different coloured boats! Would love you to join my Country Kids linky with this too. Such a great idea to share. Loving the learning experience from the small boats too!

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  8. These are gorgeous - I want to make them with J and T. Thank you so much for linking up to Tuesday Tots and I wanted to let you know that I'm featuring this this week over on Rainy Day Mum.

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  9. My, those are FABULOUS! I love them. Such fun for the summer and great to know that you are not polluting the environment!

    Thanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  10. Just dropping by to let you know I am featuring this on Tuesday Tots today! Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

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  11. these are awesome - the photo at the top is beautiful they look so serene

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  12. I love this idea! Just brilliant, especially as you found a way to make them work after the first go!

    Thanks for linking to Science sparks x

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  13. Thank you! We did ice boat races in a sensory bin on our light panel this morning, and it was nice morning activity!

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  14. Featuring YOU today. :)

    Ginger @ gingersnapcrafts.com

    http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2012/07/12-fun-summer-activities-for-kids.html

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  15. Очень здорово. Обязательно попробуем сделать такие кораблики. У нас сейчас такая жара +32 градуса, все плавится. От корабликов веет такой прохладой и весенней капелью.

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