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Sail the seas craft
Crafts

Sail the Seas

Turn a leftover milk carton into a boat. Here’s an easy and fun way to give new life to an empty milk carton.

Sail the Seas

Ingredients

  • 1 half gallon milk carton
  • 1 drinking straw
  • White glue
  • A small amount of air-dry clay
  • 1 piece printer or writing paper
  • 1 piece stiff paper (magazine covers work well)
  • Scissors
  • Duct tape (optional)

Instructions

  • Lay the milk carton flat, with the spout facing down. You’ll notice that it looks like the shape of a boat, with a bow and a stern.
  • Using a pair of scissors, cut the carton in half lengthwise. Keep the top half. Now you have a boat. Optional: If you want to decorate your boat, you can cover it with duct tape.
  • Place the boat on its hull (that’s boat-speak for “bottom”). In the middle of the boat’s floor, squeeze out a quarter-size circle of white glue.
  • Pinch off a small amount of clay and mold it into a circle that’s roughly the diameter and thickness of a bottle cap. Don’t worry if it’s smaller or bigger or not exactly a circle! Press it into the glue.
  • Take the straw and stick one end into the clay so that it stands up straight. This is your boat’s mast. Let it sit a few minutes so that the glue starts to dry.
  • Meanwhile, using a stiff piece of paper, cut out a right triangle. One leg of the triangle should be approximately 4 inches, give or take.
  • On that same right leg of the triangle, use the tip of the scissors to poke a small hole about ¾ inch from the top of the leg. Then poke another hole about ¾ inch from the bottom. Make sure the holes aren’t bigger than the straw, or your sail won’t stay up.
  • Starting with the bottom hole, put the sail on the straw.
  •  Fill up your sink or tub with a few inches of water. If the weather is nice, you can use a pool or even a lake. While you are waiting for the sink or tub to fill, take a piece of printer paper and fold it into a fan. Float your boat. Make it move by flapping the fan. How fast can you sail?