A boat made out of sticks?

The Basic Idea

Take a walk to a local wooded area with a river or stream. Make boats using the natural materials they can find and see if the sail away!

Immerse the children in the story of The Gingerbread Man – using the Talk for Writing approach, for example. Explain to the children that you will be adapting the end of the story. Discuss different possibilities for the ending. As a class agree on a happy ending where the Gingerbread Man escapes from the fox and talk about how this could happen. Encourage children to agree on an ending where the Gingerbread Man sails away from the fox and across the river in a boat.

Take the children on a walk to a local area. Arrive at a clearing and explain the challenge – to make a boat for the Gingerbread Man! Get children to work in teams to create the boat from materials they can find – a perfect opportunity to talk about not picking growing things!

Once the boats are made take the children to a safe spot where you can drop to boats into water, a stream or river would be ideal and watch to see if the boats sail away.

How to take it even further or make it more challenging

Link to science learning about materials and floating and sinking.