Boats Preschool Lesson Plan

This preschool lesson plan is all about boats.  It includes boat songs, a boat puzzle, a boat story, a boat snack, a boat craft, and more!


1. Freeplay

2. Circle/Whole Group: Find a full-page size picture of a boat in a magazine and cut it into an 8-piece puzzle. Help the kiddos assemble the puzzle. Ask them what parts of a boat they see. Point out the anchor, steering wheel, and engine/sail/oars. Ask who has been on a boat before.

3. Song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, A Sailor Went To Sea

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Life is but a dream.

A Sailor Went to Sea

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

To see what he could see, see, see

But all that he could see, see, see

Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea!

4. Story: The 100-pound Problem by Jennifer Dussling and Rebecca McKilip Thornburg.

5. Craft: Tupperware Boats. Use cleaned tupperware containers (like what butter or cold-cut meat comes in) to make boats. Each child tapes straws to opposite sides of the "boat" and then tapes a "sail" between the two straws. Make your sails from paper or cloth. If you use cloth, you may need to glue it. If you choose, you can paint on tupperware with acrylic paint (or you can paint the tupperware with acrylic white paint in advance and then let the kiddos use normal paint on top of the white). Fill a large container with water and let the kiddos take turns racing their boats or having them travel across the "river" with different cargo.

6. Learning Activity. Boat Match Memory. In advance, print two sets of six different kinds of boats on one page (a page will hold 12 pictures, laid out in three columns and four rows). You could use cruise ships, ferries, tug-boats, submarines, sailboats, and canoes. Cut the cards apart. Tell the kiddos that there are many different kinds of boats and see if they know or have ridden on any of the boats you have pictured. Play memory.

7. Snack: Banana Boats. Let the kiddos put a graham cracker "sail" into a banana "boat" and enjoy!

8. Learning Activity. Boat Float Sorting. Fill up a container with water and collect an item or two that float and an item or two that do not float. Prepare two labels: "Float" and "Sink." Boats float--demonstrate in water! Other things float too--demonstrate in water. Some things do not float; they sink. Demonstrate items that sink. Place labels on two separate tables (or in two separate containers) and help the children correctly sort the items you chose. Ask them what other items they think will float or sink. Let them find items, experiment, and sort them.

9. Freeplay outside. Begin with an imaginative adventure on a boat to a volcano island to collect magic flowers. After collecting the flowers, the volcano explodes and you need to ride the boat back home. Then freeplay.

10. Circle to review and summarize day.

Supplies for the day:

boat puzzle

The 100-pound Problem by Jennifer Dussling and Rebecca McKilip Thornburg

a tupperware container for each child

straws

tape

acrylic paint

paper or cloth flags

container for boat races

boat memory cards

bananas and graham crackers

"float" and "sink" signs

items that float and sink

tub to test items to see if they float or sink