Ship Race
Kids will have a blast (and a friendly competition) with this homemade ship-race game from Brittany of One Charming Party. The miniature Nina, Pinta, and Santa Mariaare constructed from painted milk or orange juice cartons—and propelled by balloons!
Day #4: Need some games to play on Thanksgiving Day (or at a school classroom party)? It can get pretty boring for the little ones while the adults are cleaning up dinner or watching football. Here are two games to entertain your kiddos.
Thanksgiving Boat Races
Just like Columbus and his crew crossed the ocean in search of the new world, so can your kids with these little boats made from milk cartons and powered by balloons.
You will need: one small milk carton or whipped cream carton to make 2 boats, exacto knife, hole punch or scissors, brown spray paint, one 12″ white balloon per child or boat, sticker letters, blue paper like wrapping paper or butcher paper, a marker for drawing a map
Directions: Take an empty milk carton and cut it in half lengthwise with an exacto knife. Make sure you cut it through the pinched together part at the top, not the other direction. Wash and dry each half really well. This will make two boats but you might want to make three boats like we did, to represent the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. In this case you’ll have to have more milk cartons–but you can make as many boats as you’d like. Using a hole punch or scissors, make a hole at the flat end of the boat (look at the picture for reference). Punch more holes around the first or use the scissors to enlarge the hole to the size of a dime. Spray paint each boat brown and let dry. Meanwhile, take your blue wrapping or butcher paper and draw a map of the new world with a black marker for the boats to sail to. Once your boats are dry you can add sticker letters to the sides to name your boats.
When the kids are ready for the boat race, set up your map on a table. Have the kids tuck their balloon through the hole in their boat and blow up the balloon. Starting on one side of the map, have them set down their boats. Everyone releases their balloons at the same time. You never know what each fantastic voyage will bring. Some boats sail straight ahead, some boats go in circles, and some fall off the side of the table (the world is flat after all, right?). They can race and race over and over again, as often as they want to keep blowing up their balloon. Bon voyage!
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Author Bio: J.J. Morgan is a Freelance Writer and Editor of SmexyMom. She is also the owner of Parchment, a custom stationery boutique and online shop in Los Angeles catering to celebrity clientele.
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