Activities for big & small kids: Build this raft/ DadsClub.com.au
Big or small, building a raft is a great activity that is easy and rewarding for both you and the kids.
We’ve made a few, here’s how:
OPTION 1
Build a raft without leaving the kitchen.
- You’ll need: 2 straws, a small Tupperware (or similar) lid, paper, sticky tape, scissors.
- Masts: Split one end of each straw to create a small stand, tape each to the lid.
- Sails: Cut, paper into triangles, cut two small holes and feed one straw (masts) through each to create sail.
- Your done, make your own tweaks as required.
- Float in kitchen sink
OPTION 2:
Build a small raft with materials close to home
- You’ll need. A dozen paddle pop sticks (or similar), glue or rubber bands.
- You’ve 2 options here: (a) requires less sticks: Place your sticks flat down to create the base of the raft, best to keep the width no more than the length of one paddle pop stick. Use 2 to 3 sticks as cross beams (these lay perpendicular to your base). Glue.
- Use 1 or 2 sticks as masts, paper as sails per above.
or
- b) if you have loads of sticks, bind them sideways and attach with rubber bands. This is faster and more effective in buoyancy.
OPTION 3
Build a raft in the bush
- You’ll need: Any of the following: Wood planks OR bamboo OR branches OR sealed pipes etc..
- String or vine
- Decorations, flags (leaves) canons (we used gum nuts) etc..
- Directions:
- Create a rectangle, your base of the raft. The length is up to you.
- Add 2 to 3 cross beams and weave the string (vine) around the cross beam (which is perpendicular to your base) and EACH of the logs that are your base.
- Slip in the mast and you’re away.
- You can make this as big as you like, for superior floating so your kids can ride it , optimise buoyancy at the 4 ends with large plastic bottles or drums.
Education tip.Boats float by dispersing the water around them. This explains how large vessels float and why, for example, a pin or needle sinks.
Now what?
Float away – use a pool, river, dam or bath tub.
Pending how much pride is in the raft, you may elect to keep it or bomb it with rocks (destructive we know) but hell of a lot of fun and nobody gets hurt. Plus it gives you the opportunity of building another raft (potentially a better one ).
FIND MORE ACTIVITIES TO DO WITH YOUR KIDS: CLICK HERE
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Nice tip, thanks. Good practical stuff the way us dads dig it. If you’re genuine about helping dads, I’m sure you’ll do well
Rafts – wow, the memories! Young pirates floating around in the farm dam next to the house – priceless – despite there only ever being enough water briefly during the coldest and wettest part of winter. Such adventures…!
Dave, your rafts look great – what a good idea starting small in the sink before advancing to an authentic, lashed-together shipwreck or Huck Finn style raft!
Just one thing, Dads – if your kids get into rafting so much that they keep building them after you have made the first couple together, PLEASE make sure your kids, and their friends, can swim (learning as young as possible) before attempting to ride them.
They also need to know how to help a mate in the water who may be panicking, by getting them to grab something that floats (not each other), to know NOT to enter rivers or steep-sided dams without supervision (and NEVER enter floodwaters – there is simply too much that is unpredictable, and too many invisible hazards. The fun is outbalanced by the risk during floods).
Getting children of all ages into the habit of wearing a lifejacket, just as responsible adult licenced boaties are required to, wouldn’t kill their fun but losing a kid in an unguarded moment would sure kill yours for a very, very long time.
It should go without saying that parents (and babysitters, grandparents and other guardians) also need to know how to swim, effectively perform a rescue and to do CPR, too, AND have regular practice drills, but still there are many who don’t bother learning, relying on a misguided belief that they are older and bigger so could save the life of a child, or even two or three children if they all get into difficulties. Fact is, unskilled rescuers often drown, too.
The really sad losses of several young ones during the recent floods around Australia are a grim reminder that it only takes a few seconds to end a family’s happiness. Calm, still, clear swimming pool water can be a hazard; rivers, floodwater and dams are far more risky to enter.
As little kids my younger brother and I one day dragged our smallest brother, not yet a swimmer, out of the farm dam with much difficulty – he was wet and muddy, making him a heavy load and the bank was slippery. Other than swallowing a fair amount of muddy water he was fine but we learned a BIG lesson that day. Sinking is nowhere near as much fun as floating on a raft, and the thought of Mum and Dad finding out Len had been anywhere near the dam was even more scary than the near-miss (they would have easily guessed why there were 3 sets of very poorly washed clothes on the line and why we’d all had a bath before they returned from the paddocks, but they said nothing. Perhaps they were in shock. I recall their silence was a bigger punishment and better lesson than any shouting or smacks could have ever been – we kids had plenty of time to reflect and feel guilty, and my parents perhaps time to think they should have been more aware of what we got up to whenever farm work called them away).
Yes, young Dads, this was another era – the early 60s when kids were left to play by themselves, doors weren’t locked and strangers were people to get to know, not someone to be feared.
There were bad guys back then, too – our parents knew the Beaumont family whose kids (our age) had disappeared, which meant we were not allowed to walk the kilometre or so to the remote school bus stop for a while, but we did not have the same level of sensational and fear-mongering media as nowdays to convince us all to live cloistered in our homes, mistrust strangers and shun adventure.
We kids had a ball – hiking, floating, building, climbing, meeting new people, taking risks, getting hurt sometimes, getting over it, experiencing achievement, joy and failure.
Being a kid is great and although being a grown up seems so hard sometimes, I wouldn’t swap how I learned life’s lessons for an easy street or over-protection.
That said, I am a true believer in reducing the risks to a level suited to each child – to a point where there is just a little danger of the occasional non-life threatening injury to enable lessons to be learned by experience.
Hey, sorry fellas for rambling on a (big) bit.
I just can’t help feeling some fear seeing photos of children paddling or splashing about in floodwaters, even though seeing your rafts reminded me what a thrill we had when the dry creek ran and the dam grew from a grassy cracked earth bottom to a veritable lake – no, an ocean to be navigated, explored, fished and plundered under the pirate flag!
I know, though, what it feels like to lose a 7 year old sister, my parents’ youngest child, and later the brother we had dragged from the dam as a toddler (who, through our efforts, was granted several more years of fun, love and adventure). Both of these still sorely missed siblings were lost through road trauma, not drowning or falling from a tree while doing fun, kid things or learning stuff from Dad.
I wish that no-one would ever again have to experience the everlasting pain of not seeing their children or siblings grow to be adults, but Dads (and Mums too if you are reading this), just as it is hard to watch your child repeatedly fall off their bike at first, you don’t deny them the thrill of practising until the day they finally can ride without falling off – you just make sure they practise in a safe spot and gradually adjust their range as they develop safe habits, skills and awareness.
Similarly with rafts – there’s no reason to forbid them trying to sail one they have built that actually floats, even when it’s pretty obviously going to fall apart after a brief thrilling few metres, but please let them launch their vessel under your watch and where there are no snags or slimy sludgy steep banks that will put YOU ALSO in danger if you need to go to their aid…
The mud, the shivering wet kids with exciting tales to tell, and everyone’s precious, precious memories will all be worth it so long as you all survive.
Unfortunate events sometimes happen, it is true, but being too afraid to venture out will not give you a life (taking some calculated risks sure can).
Hey, have fun, Dads, as you share your time doing stuff with your kids. Every minute with them is precious, including daubing them with antiseptic and listening to the tale of how they came to lose a bit of skin fighting off a giant dinosaur. Enjoy them.
Now, I have a confession to make. I have to admit I’m an interloper here – first, I’m female, plus I’m not even a parent, but I am a terrific great aunt to mobs of amazing kids and have not lost my ability to appreciate fun, daring, curiosity, learning new stuff, and also having a really great family (or family substitute for those kids and grownups who are not so lucky to have one of their own).
I hope I haven’t spoiled your fun by being so darned sensible – blame it on old age or something… Whatever your reaction to my comments, I am glad I stumbled upon this webpage.
Take care and may your kids one day look back with love and laughter as you recal the memorable moments you shared and the lessons you have taught them, including how to build rafts!!
Kindest regards,
A huge fan of great Dads.
PS: My Dad was, and still is at 86 next month, a great Dad. Not perfect, but as close as needed.
He loves hearing about the adventures of his 7 grandies and 9 great-grandies, and has plenty of tales of his own boyhood mischief, fun and friendships. Considering he never knew his own Dad, I reckon he’s done a grand job of being a great one, indeed!
PPS: Excellent website!