This craft project will really float your boat and get your child thinking about history. In ancient Egypt, the Nile River served as the main highway for many towns. Too big to build a bridge over, the river required several types of boats to transport people and things. Now your child can build an Egyptian paper boat craft to use in a local creek or the tub!
What You Need:
- Banana
- Thin 36" dowel rod
- Brown paper bag
- Cardboard
- Hot glue gun
- Paint in blue, white, yellow
- Small brushes
- Scissors
- Pencil
- String
What You Do:
- Have your child lay the banana horizontally on top of the cardboard and trace around it with a pencil. Then flip the banana over and trace it again, about two inches away from the first shape, so the two curved banana shapes point away from each other.
- Now show your child how to connect the two shapes by drawing lines on either side. The shape will look somewhat like a rectangle with concave sides.
- Cut out the shape and fold it lengthwise to create a boat shape.
- Have your child glue the two pointy sides of the shape together, creating the paper boat.
- Cut out a sliver of scrap cardboard to fit inside the body of the boat, to keep it sturdy. Fit it into the boat with a line of glue to keep it in place.
- Using strong scissors or shears, help your child cut a 9" piece of dowel rod, and two 6" pieces.
- Have your child position one of the shorter dowels on top of the longer dowel so it looks like a "T" and glue it in place.
- Next, take another short dowel and place it 3" below the first dowel and glue it into place.
- Cut out a square of brown paper about 9"x4" and decorate it with an ancient Egyptian pattern or shape.
- Glue the rectangle sail onto the dowel structure.
- Cut a small hole in the top of the boat and push the rod of the sail into it, so the sail stands upright. You might want to add a dab of glue to keep it sturdy.
Now your boat is ready to carry all kinds of objects across wide bodies of water!
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