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Clay Boat Building

Goal, Objective or Purpose of Activity:

To create a “boat” from a piece of modeling clay that will carry as much “cargo” as possible

Appropriate Age Level: Any

Minimum and Maximum Number of Participants: Any

Set-up Time Required: 0-15 minutes

Time Required for Activity: 15-30 minutes

Space Requirements: Sufficient classroom space for number of participants

Materials/Resources:

§ Modeling clay divided into equal portions

§ Containers of water such as buckets, dish pans or large bowls

§ Pennies or other small weights

Procedure for Teaching:

1. Give each participant an equal size piece of clay
2. Talk about what makes a boat float
3. Instruct participants to mold their clay into a boat
4. Put the boats into the water and see if the design floats. If not rebuild the boats
5. For boats that float, add one piece of “cargo” at a time until the boat starts to take on water and sinks. Keep count of the number of weights each boat can hold
6. Participants can rebuild their boats based on their observations of others and try again.
7. At the end of the allotted time, the boat that holds the most “cargo” is the winner.

Student Product:

Extensions:

§ See also Flotsam and Jetsam Boats – same objective (to hold as much cargo as possible) build boat with found materials or arts and craft supplies

Contributor(s):