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Float a Boat

Physics is fun! Students will learn about some of its properties as they design a colorful paper boat.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Container of Water
  • Paper
  • Tape

Steps

  • Step 1

    Students don't have to understand terms like surface tension, adhesion, hydrophobic, or repel, but their meaning can be demonstrated with a fun and easy experiment. Explain that they will be learning some principles of physics by designing a colorful paper boat and putting it in the water.

  • Step 2

    Have students color the entire sheet of both sides of a piece of paper with thick layers of crayon. (Make sure the bottom side gets a substantial wax build up on the paper.) The crayon-coated sides will be the bottom of the boat, interior and exterior. Then have them fold up the edges of the paper and to form the sides of the boat and tape the edges together to form a structure that could float. They can embelllish the boat with additional designs including patterns on the sides or a sail, and mast they would attach to the watercraft.

  • Step 3

    They will also need one plain uncolored paper boat for the experiment to compare to the wax-coated boat when they are placed in water. Ask a student who has finished early to fold and tape one and undecorated boat that is constructed in a similar way to the wax-coated ones.

  • Step 4

    Place all the boats including the plain paper one in a container of water or a sink. Leave them in for a few minutes and periodically ask students to check them and tell the class their observations. Are they still afloat? Did any of them sink? Have students describe what they observe with both the plain boat and wax-coated boats. Then you can explain why those physical differences are happening. The crayons are made of wax, and wax repels water (hydrophobia). Explain that the plain paper boat sinks or falls apart because it had no wax applied it so it absorbed water (adhesion).

Standards

SCI: Ask questions about the features of phenomena observed and conclusions drawn from investigations or models.

SCI: Convey designs through sketches, detailed drawings, or physical models to communicate ideas and solutions.

Adaptations

You can extend the physics lesson to include density and talk about why boats float. Have students roll a ball of water-resistant modeling clay. Then have them form a boat shape with a flat bottom. Put both the ball and the boat in water. The ball of clay will sink because it has a high density. The boat shape will float because the it is less dense.

Have students read about different types of boats such as "Working Boats: An Inside Look at Ten Amazing Watercraft" by Tom Crestodina or "A Kid's Book on Boatbuilding" by Willits Dyer Ansel. Or they can compare boat structures using online references.