04/09/2026
Can building a boat spark scientific thinking? ⛵
Absolutely! When children have the opportunity to explore, test their ideas and try again.
Float Your Boat is a playful activity that turns a simple building challenge into an opportunity for scientific inquiry.
You’ll need:
⛵ recycled building materials, such as cardboard, bottle caps, foil, straws or small boxes
⛵ tape, string or craft sticks
⛵ a container of water for testing
⛵ small weights, such as coins or pebbles
How to do it:
1. Invite the children to design and build a boat using the available materials.
2. Before testing, encourage them to think about what might help their boat float.
3. Place the boats in water and observe what happens.
4. Add small weights and see how much each boat can carry.
5. Encourage children to make changes to their designs and test them again.
The important part isn't whether the boat floats on the first try.
It is what happens when children observe, wonder, test, notice, change something and try again.
Through this process, children explore ideas about buoyancy, weight and structure while developing creativity and problem-solving skills.
And this is where the educator plays an important role.
By asking questions instead of giving ready answers: What do you notice? Why do you think that happened? What could you change? A simple play activity can become an opportunity for children to practise scientific thinking.
As our Head of Pedagogy Mervi explains in the video, learning doesn't always need complicated materials or adult-led instruction. Sometimes the educator's most important role is to create space for children to explore their own ideas.
This activity is part of ONNI Months.
ONNI Months provides teachers with ready-to-use lesson plans that help teachers turn research-based pedagogy into meaningful everyday learning.
This lesson is part of the Water Wonders theme, encouraging children to observe, experiment, ask questions and explore scientific ideas through play.
