Saturday, August 31, 2013

// // 5 comments

Soap Boats Science & History

Soap Boats are fun to make just as a fun project, but they can also be used in science and history lessons to discuss oceans, sailing, boats, floating, and American history. They also appeal to a wide range of ages and require very little set up or clean up!





Here's the simple how-to for  Soap Boats:


Simple Supplies:

  • Ivory soap
  • grapefruit spoons (or normal spoons, or other sculpting tool!)
  • bowl of water
  • optional: liquid watercolors


Easy How-to:

1- Let your children carve out the boat!  Ivory soap works well because it is easy to dig into, but older children may enjoy comparing different brands.  I also like to use grapefruit spoons because they have a gentle serrated edge.  Normal spoons and other sculpting tools will also work.


2- Ask your children if they think their boats will float, and let them experiment with it.  They may also enjoy experimenting with other brands of soaps, objects or people being placed in their boats, objects or people on their own, and a plethora of other set-ups that they design themselves!  We added a little blue liquid watercolor to the "ocean" for the experimenting!  You can click here to see how we make liquid watercolors or use the convenient affiliate link at the bottom of this page to see them on Amazon.




Have you ever made soap boats?  What lessons would you make them with?

Here are some quick Amazon affiliate links for the supplies: you never pay more for clicking through these links, but if you do make a purchase I receive a small amount for referring you.






I may share at any of these parties!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This looks like so much fun!! I think I may try to tie this in with our Christopher Columbus unit next month :-)

Thank you for linking up this week to the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! I do hope that you will visit my neck of the magical woods every week and take a quick rest by the tree on the tree stump while you read everyone’s blog posts that they have so thoughtfully shared with all of us.

Anonymous said...

I love this idea! I've never made a soap boat before but I just printed out an early reader book for my son about soap boats and this would be such a fun accompanying activity! Thanks for posting. Found you via TGIF.

Lauren said...

Love this! I actually just bought a lot of soap bars from the dollar store for crafting & playing with. Adding this to the list. Thank you for sharing at our Pinning for Play link party!

Unknown said...

So cute - what a fun activity!

Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a great week =)
Beth

Carrie said...

Oh, how fun!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!