How to make a Nature Boat
For our adventure for our April #12familyadventures, we had popped raft-building on the list. One day it would be fun to build a proper raft – one that would take all of us! But that seemed a little too adventurous (especially after our canoeing adventure) so we settled for making boats and rafts and sailing them down a stream. A couple of years ago, we had a really lovely day paddling about in a stream on a very hot day. The kids remembered it and wanted to repeat that kind of day. Unfortunately we didn’t quite have the sunny, hot weather over the Easter holidays so the paddling was more welly style but we headed out to the woods and challenged ourselves to a ‘nature boat building competition”. The plan was that we all had to build a boat using only nature items and try and sail an acorn down a stream. We did cheat a little bit and brought some scissors and string with us.
The girls swiftly joined forces and decided they’d be better off working together. Elodie sent poor Orla into the holly bush to collect some spiky leaves as they had tested that these ‘floated the best’ whilst Finlay took forever perfecting his knots to help his raft float, he ended up making two boats for safe measure! I helped Archie make his boat and I think he broke it about five times before it was actually time to go and test the floating. I had been fairly proud of mine and Archie’s boat with a make-shift rotten wood sail but it ended up being the worst of the lot as it capsized as soon as we popped it in the water! The kids boats fared better – they waded in, water splashing over wellies and chased their boats downstream. Tiny, busy hands pushed their boats, rescued them from getting tangled amongst the weeds. They dismantled dams to allow their boats to travel further and then haphazardly cobbled the dams back together just in case they’d been created by a beaver or an otter. They were secretly very hopeful that they’d see one in their little stream!
It was an afternoon that felt a little like an adventure out of the Famous Five or Swallows and Amazons – a climbing trees and paddling in rivers kind of day. We were only missing a night spent in the woods but that seems one adventure step too far at the minute!
It was definitely a memorable #12familyadventures and one I think we’d like to do again in the future. This is the kind of joyful outdoorsy childhood I wanted for them. We don’t always make time for it and don’t always quite have the energy for these nature fuelled days. The kind of days that see us scrambling through woodland, whole days in fields, seasonal nature crafts; playing outside whatever the weather, splashing in puddles. But somedays we do get it right, among the film-watching, screen-time, computer games kinds of days which I guess, have their own place in today’s childhood.
You can see our other #12familyadventures here.
