S.S. Camille

As part of the build-up to Thanksgiving, Camille’s kindergarten class is learning about Pilgrims and the Mayflower. This week, one of her homework assignments was to build a boat for a sailboat race.

We started with a small plastic water bottle, and Herb got a wooden skewer to serve as the mast. But how to mount it? We came up with the bright idea of pouring melted wax into the bottom (which also served as ballast). I grabbed a cork to give the mast added stability and added a construction paper sail.

Camille was off watching TV by this point in the process.

We put it in the sink for a test sail, and it performed beautifully. Herb then wanted to cut cardboard to make an actual deck for the thing, but that’s where I drew the line.

We actually walked it in for her the next day so it would at least get to class before it broke. But at the end of the day, it had not only survived, but won the race!

Next up, we’re taking on the big boys.