Columbus' Three Ships

Pre-K, K, 6 & Up

In honor of Columbus Day, Thomas, Gracie and I are having some navigational fun today.

We made, and later raced, Columbus' famous three ships: The Nina, The Pinta, and The Santa Maria.

For this craft you will need:
*the original craft called for egg carton cups, but when I finished off one of the small Pringles packages the other day I thought "hey, I bet this would actually float!"

• Snack sized Pringles containers or 3 cutout egg cups from an egg carton
• Brown paint (optional)
• Toothpicks
  
• Clay (I used play dough)
• White paper (looks more historical with white, but my Gracie wanted colored paper)
  
• Permanent marker
• Glue or tape

First, paint your egg cups brown (do not paint Pringle cups--I tried this, it does NOT work and all the paint comes off when you float them (see picture above)--lesson learned ;) to make them more like boats. Once they are dry you can use a permanent marker to label the ships.

Pat out some clay or play dough and put in the bottom of the "ship." This will hold the ships sails upright.

Cut or fold your paper into three small sails, and tape or glue to your toothpicks. Insert your new sails into the play dough or clay. Note: you will want to tape your sails on at three different heights on the toothpicks, gives it an old fashioned look.

If you use a buoyant bottom like the Pringles cups, you can then let your child, or children race them to see who hits land first.


Mommy Tip: If you are looking for a fun book to go with this day and your Kindergartner or older likes Junie B. Jones, read them "Junie B. Jones First Grader, Shipwrecked." We read it last week, which actually helped me come up with the ideas to crafts for today!

Take a look at the original craft from which I based my idea...