Boat Building Challenge!
One of the most famous artifacts in Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s collection is the Egyptian Funerary Boat. The boat, which was discovered outside of Cairo in the Dashur pyramid complex, is currently on display in Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt. Egyptologists believe that the boat, one of four discovered at Dashur, was used in funerary rituals to transport the pharaoh’s body across the Nile where it was mummified and buried.
For this week’s challenge, you’ll use recycled items, household items, and craft materials to construct your own boat. Once you’ve built your prototype, you can test whether it floats and if it has the ability to hold a little cargo!
Kids: be sure to get permission from a grown-up before using any materials (especially scissors)!
Below, you will find suggested materials and instructions for building and testing your boat. You may use as many or as few of the materials as you like. If you do not want to place your beautiful boat in the water, you do not have to complete the second challenge. Have fun and good luck!
Suggested Materials
General Materials
Boat Materials
Here are some suggestions to use for making your boat, but you can be creative and use whatever materials you have at your house. Check with a grown up before using anything. (And recyclable materials are encouraged!)
Cargo Materials
Use your imagination and design the boat to hold different types of cargo! Remember not to use anything with a battery or items that can’t get wet.
Learn more about items in our scientific collection.
Step One: Make Your Boat
Using stuff around your house, build your boat!
- Find a container to float your boat in. Your container needs to be something that can hold water. You could use a big bowl or the kitchen sink. The size of the bowl or sink will limit how big your boat can be (which is totally OK).
- Gather materials to build your boat. See the materials checklist for some suggestions.
- You can use any materials you have at your house as long as your grown-up approves. Get creative and have fun!
- Think about how you could use your materials. Use a piece of paper and pencil to draw your boat.
- Remember: Your boat needs to fit in your container.
- Remember: If you are going to complete Challenge Two, you’ll also need to design your boat to hold weight.
- Use the materials and make your boat. You might need scissors, tape and/or glue to help build your boat.
- If you’d like to share your boat or boat design with the class, take a picture or bring your boat to your afternoon session.
Step Two: Float Your Boat
Test your boat to see how much weight it can hold!
- Once your boat is built, fill your container with water and place the boat in the water. Does it float?
- If it does not float, what went wrong? Can you change your design to make it float?
- If your boat is floating, congratulations!!! Let’s see how much weight it can hold!
- Gather your cargo items. See the materials checklist for suggestions.
- Remember! Don’t use anything with a battery or any items that can’t get wet.
- Add cargo items one item at a time. Keep count of your number of items as you go.
- How many cargo items could you add before your boat sank?
- How can you change your design to hold more weight?
- What is your personal record for the number of items you boat can hold?
- If you’d like to share with the class the number of items that your boat held, remember the number or bring them to show us and tell us at the afternoon session.
