A Paddle boat

A paddle boat

You will need:

  • Two plastics bottles (fizzy drink bottles work best)
  • Two elastic bands
  • Ice cream stick(Magnum works well) or a plastic spoon
  • Tape
  • Boat decorations: ice cream tub lid, toilet paper roll, margarine tub.

Instructions

Tape the two bottles together (side by side, with the tops of the bottles facing the same way).

Place the elastic band around the two top ends. Put your ice cream stick through the centre of the band and hold it in place by wrapping the other elastic band around.

Wind up your ice cream stick and check it turns OK, trim down if necessary.

Decorate the boat as desired, for example, the ice cream tub lid can be glued on top of the bottles, the margarine container can be glued upside down to the lid to form a wheel house, and the toilet paper roll can become the boat’s chimney.

Wind up your band and have a bath or visit a pond! The boat will propel itself across the water.

You may need to adjust the ‘draft'(how deep it sits in the water) of the boat so that the paddle is in the water. This is done by adding some water to the bottles. This exact method is used in real ships and is called ‘Ballasting’.

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