My kids love boats, and we’ve made a lot of them together. There are no shortage of ideas for making DIY boats with kids, but here are eleven we think will make the best ships.
Paper Plate Pirate Ship Craft for Kis
This one is a bit more involved, but it’s worth it.
- Materials:
- One paper plate. You can use an empty cereal box if you want to use the box for something else or just don’t have any plates around. The good news with cereal boxes is that they come with pictures on them, which means you have fewer things to draw yourself!
- Some glue and scissors (or a craft knife). This will help you cut out your pirate ship shape and make sure all of your edges are nice and straight.
- A small piece of cardboard or paper that will be used as a mast on your pirate ship (you could also use another paper plate!)
Pirate Ship in a Bottle Craft for Kids
The craft for today is a pirate ship in a bottle. The nice thing about this craft is that you can use a flexible sailboat, which means it will be easier to get in and out of the bottle.
What you need:
- An empty plastic water or soda bottle (we used an empty liter of water)
- A flexible sailboat (or any other small toy boat, but we found the sailboats worked best)
- Some blue paint that matches the color of your bottle; yellow and red work too!
- An eye dropper or some other way to add glue onto your boat
Construction Paper Pirate Ship Craft for Kids
Create a pirate ship from construction paper. Make a pirate ship from construction paper by following these instructions:
- Print out the template for your pirate ship and cut it out. You’ll need it to make the basic shape of your boat in the next step.
- Fold along all of the lines on the template, being sure not to miss any folds. When you’re done folding, open up your paper and lay it flat again so that each fold is visible; this will help you place all of your decorative pieces onto your ship correctly later on!
Pirate Boat from Recycled Materials for Kids
- How to Make a Pirate Ship from Recycled Materials for Kids
If you’re looking for a fun craft project that will keep your kids busy, this one is for you. All you need is some recycled materials like paper and cardboard, along with some scissors and glue. Here’s how to make a pirate ship from recycled materials:
- Cut the side of an empty cereal box down so it can be folded into shape (it should look like an envelope). The front flap of the envelope will be used as your ship’s front sail, while the back flap will be used as its back sail.
- Use foam sheets or poster board to create your boat’s hull by cutting out two long rectangular shapes and gluing them together at right angles (you’ll have something resembling an upside-down V). If you want extra detail on your boat, cut out small triangles at each end of the hull shape—you can use these triangles as decoration or even add rope lines across them by drawing lines with pencil lead first before coloring over them in marker ink!
Paper Plate Sailboat Craft for Kids
Materials:
- Paper plates
- Marker or pen
- Masking tape
Step 1: Take your paper plate and draw the sail outline on it. You can do this freehand, or print out our template below to use as a guide. Cut out the sail shape with scissors. Step 2: Tape the two sides of your ship together with masking tape so that they form a boat-like shape (see photo). Step 3: Use markers or paint to decorate your boat!
Cereal Box Pirate Ship Toy
Once you have a cereal box, you can make this pirate ship toy with your kids. This is an easy craft to put together and will be a great project for the whole family to enjoy!
What You Need:
- Cereal box or any other cardboard shape (about 24″ x 12″)
- Tissue paper (1 sheet per side)
- Glue gun or glue stick
Toddler Boat Craft – play big with this cardboard box boat! This is one of the best kids crafts!
This cardboard box boat is a great fun craft for kids. It’s easy to make, and it will be loved by all little sea captains!
Materials:
- Cardboard box
- Scissors
- Glue stick or white glue (optional)
DIY Cardboard Two-Handed Pinch Boat STEM Challenge – Toys, crafts and games can be quick and easy, homemade and still fun! This is great to do with toddlers.
To make a cardboard pinch boat, you’ll need:
- A cardboard box
- A ruler
- A sharp knife (a box cutter is best)
- Cut out the shape of your boat using the ruler and a sharp knife. Use the ruler to draw straight lines, then use your knife to cut them out. For example, if you want to make an oval-shaped boat, use your ruler to draw an oval on one side of the box and cut along those lines with your knife (you can also trace around bowls or cups for an easy way to get started). Be sure not to waste any cardboard! You don’t have to use perfect circles or ovals—it’s all about experimentation here! Most importantly: Have fun! Let kids do as much cutting as possible so they can feel like real sailors when they play with their new toy later on.
DIY Wooden Sailboat With A Peg Person—My kids LOVE playing with boats. These wooden sailboats are so cute, they’re fun to make too! So pretty! Would also be fun as a classroom craft. They can go into a sensory bin and float around on the water!
This is a great craft to make with your kids! It’s also really easy and they can even do it themselves. Use wood or cardboard, paint or paper, glue or tape, whatever you have on hand. You can even use scraps from other projects to make this fun little boat! My kids LOVE playing with boats. These wooden sailboats are so cute, they’re fun to make too! So pretty! Would also be fun as a classroom craft. They can go into a sensory bin and float around on the water!
This would also be great for sensory bins or as party favors if you plan on having your own birthday party (or maybe not). The peg person could also be used for crafts such as painting his clothes or putting her in different positions like jumping into the water after falling off her boat while sailing across an ocean filled with sharks chasing them down because they want revenge after being attacked by pirates earlier that day…yeah…it’s pretty much just me rambling here but hopefully it helps inspire some ideas of how this craft could be used 🙂 Thank You!!
How to Make a Flexible Wooden Sailboat From 3/4 Inch Dowel—Flexible sailboat made from dowels. Dont break on impact and will not harm your child if it hits them. We used a flame to burn the ends of the dowels to give them the cut ends. We used black thread for the mast instead of adding glue which would dry out with time. The wood is solid balsam fir, very hard wood that seals itself naturally so no need to add any sealer to protect from water damage.
Flexible sailboat made from dowels. Dont break on impact and will not harm your child if it hits them. We used a flame to burn the ends of the dowels to give them the cut ends. We used black thread for the mast instead of adding glue which would dry out with time. The wood is solid balsam fir, very hard wood that seals itself naturally so no need to add any sealer to protect from water damage.
Conclusion
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