Build Your Own
Toy Boat
Ready
- Large tub of water (or use the sink/bathtub!)
- Gather items from around the house to build your toy boat. Some of these may include:
– Empty yogurt containers, plastic egg cartons, & other water-resistant containers
– Pencils, popsicle sticks, chopsticks, straws
– Corks, sponges
– Rubber bands, tape
– Bits of cloth and/or paper
– Very small balls of dough (to be used as ballast or to support your mast)
Set
- Check out these images of different types of boats for inspiration.
- Prepare a work surface where you will be able to see and work with all of your gathered materials.
Play!
- Choose a base or hull for your boat from one of your water-resistant containers.
- Design and build your boat with your available materials. Here are just a few guided play prompts to help extend your thinking:
– How does your boat move? Do you need a sail? A motor? Some oars?
– Will you need to add any special features for your boat to help it do its specific job? (e.g. a fishing rod, extra seats, a searchlight, a tow rope, etc.)
- Head over to your tub of water and set sail!
- Place your boat inside of the water and watch it move.
- You can add in a fan, or blow through a straw, to recreate a little “storm.”
- Be prepared to make adjustments to your boat in case it doesn’t float, or it tips over. In this activity the making of your boat is most of the playing and learning, so embrace the process!
Play your way! What else can you do with these open-ended materials?
Why Play This Way?
This activity is ALWAYS a winner. Children love the creative work of building their own boats so they are self-motivated through both successes and failures. Because of this, they become more flexible and resilient engineers. Not to mention, they will remember this play long after it ends.
Discover the book that
inspired this play
Read While You Play & Play While You Read
“Toy Boat” by Randall de Seve
Book Summary
Toy Boat is one of those books your child will want to read again and again. In this heart-warming story, a little boy ties his beloved toy boat to a piece of string and takes it out for a sail on a lake. The little boat’s curiosity about what it would be like to be free is suddenly realized when the string breaks and it sets out on a thrilling, but sometimes terrifying, journey alone on the water. In the end, and with some help from a humble tugboat, the toy boat returns home to the welcoming arms of the little boy.
Why We Love It
We have never met a child who didn’t fall in love with Toy Boat. Written with huge heart, this story unfolds with equal speed and depth. The struggles feel real and the triumphs evoke audible sighs of relief and occasional cheers. We can genuinely say that this wonder of a book is no less than a perfect embodiment of every child’s conflicting desire for independence and a need to be held close. You will read it again and again and again.
Learn & Play with
“Toy Boat” by Randall de Seve
Extension Activities
Choose your own adventure! Select any of the extension activities or resources below and see where your play takes you next. They are all inspired by the featured book to invite deeper connections to stories through play.
Don’t have the book? No worries! All of our activities can be enjoyed with or without a book in hand.
