Ships & Wrecks
Boat Building and Boat Propulsion Development
Sinking and floating activity.
Testing materials that float and sink.
- Is it possible to change the shape of a material that sinks in order to make it float?
Resources
A variety of materials including malleable ones e.g. plasticine or clay.
Questions
- How would early man have crossed a lake or river?
- What do you think the very earliest boats would have been made from?
- What are the problems and restrictions of a simple log boat?
The next stage of boat development.
- How can the log boat be improved on? (Hollowing out?)
Boat making
Question
How would boats have developed on from log boats?
Remember that the materials used would have depended on the resources available to people in any particular area.
- Introduce the idea of the reed boat and the notion that they were used by people who lived in waterside areas that lacked trees, but had reeds and rushes.
- Think of the boats that the Celts used (coracles).
Reed Boats and Coracles
Questions
- How can we make the basic shape of a boat with reeds?
- How can the reeds be kept together?
Resources;
Reeds/long straw or ‘Art straws’ and string.
Questions
- How can the coracle shape be made?
- What should be used to cover the frame?
- What considerations do you need to take into account when looking at materials to cover the frame? (E.g. waterproofing)
Resources;
Flexible willow, withy sticks, binding materials, plastic sheeting or oil cloth and waterproof glue.
Further Question
Rowing a boat is hard work.
- What can be done to make the life of the sailor easier?
Sail Making.
Objective
To design and make effective sails that will best harness the power of the wind.
InputDiscuss how, boats travel through water and what makes them travel through water. Emphasise how rowing needs to use the energy provided by the rower and gather suggestions as to how we can use natural energy resources to assist the ‘sailor’.
Activity
Once the idea of wind power has been introduced, tell children that they will be designing and making sails and test their efficiency.
Explain that children will need to think about size and shape of their sails.
- Use outdoor parachute to experiment how moving air exerts a force that can be felt.
- Draw sail designs and record how they catch the wind to propel a boat.
- What is the best sail design?
- What do would improve the efficiency of sails?
Think about:
- How to fix the sail to the mast
- Simple square shaped sail.
- Size of the sail.
- Number of masts
- Number of sails.
- Make sails out of paper or fabric and fix to boat models
- Test boats
Question
Is it possible to improve on sail design by changing size and/or shape?
- Make sails of a different design and comment on any differences these might have had on the efficiency of the boat.
Extension
Question
Does the position of the mast affect the boat’s efficiency?
- Test and comment.
Will additional sails change the way the boat behaves?
- Test multiple sail design and comment.
(Possibly test boat efficiency by timing their progress over a given distance.)
ResourcesParachute, boat models with masts, paper or fabric, pool, wind machine (flap a large piece of hardboard/thin MDF) and a stop watch.
VocabularyEnergy Force Propulsion Wind Efficient Efficiency Sail Mast.
Activity- Wind up Boats and Paddle Boats
Using elastic bands to store energy and propel a model boat.
Show elastic band aeroplane model.
Question
How can we adapt this to a model boat?
To Make A Model Paddle Boat You Will Need…
Balsa wood. Approximately 30cm x 45cm |
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Small hack saw |
Stapler |
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Strong elastic band |
Activity – Motor Boats
Use motors to drive a propeller
Construct boat hulls from Lego, for example, and fix on a motor.
Resources
Construction kits, Lego, motors, propellers
Activity – Jet propulsion
Look at balloons when released and question how this may be adapted to a boat.
Use bent straws to redirect the released air from the well of a model boat to the water.
Resources
Toy boats, balloons, plastic straws