Sparkle Craft: Fairy Boat Show
It was so much fun hearing about Martin and Sylvia’s fun adventures with their own "Spring Fairy Boat Show" in the Martin & Sylvia: Saturdays! story this week that you’re probably eager to get started making some of your own boats, right? Right!
Well, there are so very many choices when it comes to boats. You can make a boat for carrying fairies (like Sylvia), fast boats (like Martin), boats that can carry a lot of cargo (like Momma) or a pretty boat with a tall sail (like Daddy).
Today, we’re going to show you how to make a simple raft, but my hope is that you’ll take these basic instructions, use what you have or what you can find, add in a dash of your own creativity and come up with your very own, unique, boat!
You Will Need
Sticks, roughly the same diameter and straight
Yarn
Scissors
Hot glue (optional)
Material for sail (optional)
What To Do
To make your stick raft you’ll need to start by breaking your sticks. You’ll need them all to be about the same length. Make them as long or short as you’d like!
Cut two lengths of yarn, roughly 18 inches long.
Take one stick and one length of yarn. Wrap the yarn around the stick like this:
Grab your next stick and twist the yarn around like this:
Continue until you’ve added four or five sticks. Pull the yarn taught and tie a simple knot to hold it all in place.
Take your second length of yarn and repeat the process on the other end.
Repeat the process, adding sticks in groups of four or five until your raft is as wide as you’d like. Tie a box knot at the end to keep the yarn fastened and cut the extra yarn off.
There you go! You have a raft!
If you’d like to add a sail to your raft you can do that as well. First, choose a small piece of paper or fabric. Decorate it if you’d like.
Cut the sail into a triangular shape, punch two holes, thread a spare stick through and attach the sail to your raft. We attached ours with a bit of hot glue (a good job for grown-ups or older kids).
So, now you have your first boat! Hooray! But you’ll need more than that for a boat show. Will you make more rafts? Or will you make another kind?
Look around your home and yard to see if you can find interesting materials to use.
Once you’ve got your boats all together, you can take them down to the creek (like Martin and Sylvia) or find another place to let them sail – a bathtub, tub of water, lake or small pool would do the trick! Launch your boats and watch them go. Enjoy your own spring fairy boat show!
Explore More
Perhaps, like Martin, you’d like to race your boats. Where will you do that? How will you determine the winner?
Perhaps, like Mama, you’d like to see which boat can hold the most cargo. How can you test that out? What other supplies will you need?
Make Connections
Remember a time when you’ve seen boats. Where were you? What kind of boats did you see? What jobs did those boats have?
If you could ride on any kind of boat, what kind would you choose? Why? Do you know anyone that has ridden on that kind of boat? Ask them to tell you what it was like.
About the Authors
Danielle Reiner
Danielle Reiner describes herself as a creative, a maker, and a mama. At the heart of her story is creativity, though that hasn’t always been the case. She rediscovered her deeply hidden creativity early in adulthood – with a ball of yarn and a couple of knitting needles – and hasn't stopped since. Danielle also runs Crafting Connections - a website providing inspiration, practical advice, and projects for creative families - with her close friend Andrea Folsom.
Andrea Folsom
Andrea Folsom describes herself as a writer, editor, creative maker, and eternal optimist. She is passionate about learning and sharing new creative techniques, making beautiful spaces, and talking about the social-emotional benefits of creativity and art. She runs Crafting Connections - a website providing inspiration, practical advice, and projects for creative families - with her close friend Danielle Reiner.
