How to Make a Flat Bottle Boat

As many of you know, I have been a Cub Scout Leader since 1991.  I only had 2 or 3 years off during all that time.  In our Pack we love to do water sports during the summer.  We will be making flat bottle boats for a Pack Meeting in the not too distant future.  I have been saving flat bottles for months and I have had the other Leaders in our Pack save them too.  We have even asked parents to save some over the last few months. We will be racing them in wading pools. This is really fun and easy and inexpensive, a fun activity for any and all children.  So here is how to make a Flat bottle boat.

Supplies:
An empty flat bottle (shampoo, conditioner, baby lotion, body wash, etc)
A 1”x1”x4” piece of Styrofoam (left over from old packaging materials)
2 rubber bands (used to be wrapped around newspapers)
A 10” skewer
A 8” square piece of paper,
Scissors (not shown)

Here is what I mean by a flat bottle.  Two sides are wide,

and two sides are narrow or flat.

Fold the 8” square paper on the diagonal, in each direction. 

Cut it into 4 triangles.  One of these will be the sail for the boat. You could have the kids deorate the sail with markers and or crayons.

Take the skewer and push it in and out of the paper sail, so that the skewer becomes the mast.  I cut about 3 inches off the end of the skewer so that the mast wouldn’t be too tall.

Lay the styrofoam rectange on the top of the bottle.

Use the rubber bands to attach the Styrofoam rectangle to the top of one of the wide sides of the bottle.   Center the Styrofoam as well as possible (eyeball it). 

Stick the mast into the center of the Styrofoam, until it touches the bottle.  Your flat bottle boat is complete. 

Now to test it out in water; YES, it floats.  Blow on the sail to see if wind can move the boat!  IT WORKS!  I can foresee just how wonderful this Pack Meeting is going to be.  What are your ideas for using flat bottom boats with your kids this summer?  Enjoy!