Toilet Paper Tube Boats

Our toilet paper tube boats are perfect for a rainy day. Kids love them! Plus, they’re a great way to recycle some of those paper towel rolls in your house!

“If April showers bring May flowers, why is it raining in May?”

My daughter asked me this the other day and I had to laugh. Spring was late to the party this year and now that it is finally here, the last thing my kids want to see is rain. They spent the winter staring at snow and slush, early spring brought unseasonably cold rainy weather. I completely understood her irritation about the rain. We need sunshine, warm air and barbecues.

We are so ready for it!

Except that it was raining and it was going to be raining the entire day. Ugh. I suggested we do a craft together, but my kids didn’t want to make a craft. They wanted to play outside. The truth was, I wanted to play outside too. I wrangled up some toilet paper tubes and duct tape. As I spread everything out on the kitchen table I explained that we were going to make a craft that we could play with – outside, in the rain.

We sat down and I easily explained this simple little craft. They gleefully started ripping off pieces of duct tape, debating whose boat would be the fastest.  As we learned during our boat race – the shorter and squatter the boat, mast and sail – the easier it is for the boat to stay upright. After we finished racing our boats, we decided to sink them with rocks from the garden.

Every kid loves throwing rocks into puddles – the boats served at the perfect target practice!

TOILET PAPER TUBE BOATS

Materials:

• Toilet paper tubes
• Duct tape
• Q-tips
• Paper
• Glue gun
• Glue stick

Directions:

Step 1: Cut the tube open. Trim it so the hull of the boat will be shallow. The higher the sides of the boat, the more it will tip.

Step 2: Duct tape the back of the tube, this will waterproof the outside. Take a shorter piece of tape and close the open ends.

Step 3: Cut out matching triangles for the sail, decorate them with crayon. Put a q-tip in the middle of the triangles and using a glue stick, glue the two triangles together.

Step 4: Put a drop of hot glue in the bottom of the inside of the boat and put the other end of the q-tip in the glue.

Step 5: Once the glue is dry, your boats are ready to float!

Thanks for reading!

Daniele

 

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