Vilac Balloon Powered Wooden Boat

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And, of course, playing with a boat without a balloon is completely legitimate as well, which Budster has also tried out. The 5/8″ dowel will need a 1/4″ hole drilled through it, and the boat will need a 5/8″ hole to accept the dowel. They of course can feel the air when the wind blows or when they wave their hands around, but you can show them air too. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.

Balloons with over-long stems would tip over when fully inflated, and make the boat go ’round in circles. We laminated the base of the boat from two layers of wood: a 3/4″ thick maple board and 1/2″ roasted maple board become the hull. This project isn’t about scaling down any propulsion system actually used in a boat, but rather a fun experiment with a particular mechanical system, in this case using compressed air. Glue the pieces of wood together with the wood glue and let them dry while clamped tightly, then trace the hull pattern onto the wood and cut it out with a band saw. With a little thought and some observations, like the balloon deflating as the boat moves, they figured out it was air power!

Your IP address and user-agent are shared with Google along with performance and security metrics to ensure quality of service, generate usage statistics, and to detect and address abuse. These little boats are made with pretty common materials and don't take much time to assemble, but kids sure will spend a lot of time playing with them! The boat sat well in the water – it submerged right to the water line (where the light and dark maples join). We used an inflatable pool, but a plastic baby pool, a bath tub, or even a long plastic bin would work.

Place one wooden brick on top of the rod, five bricks extending forward in a line, and one extending behind your starting wood brick.

If you’re interested in a comparison to a real boat though, the balloon-powered boat is functionally similar to a jet boat that pumps water to accelerate. There are endless possibilities of designs players can create––choosing to go with style over technique or simply creating a vessel for speed. After you have created the second side and bottom of your boat, cut all of the straws in half to make them the same length. To make an elastic band boat move, you will need to attach the elastic band to the front of the boat. When we go on summer picnics, we seldom fail to make a barge out of freshly emptied sardine tins (don’t worry, it isn’t US leaving them behind!

Budster, who doesn’t like balloons to pop or deflate, was a little concerned at first, but quickly grew excited to see the bubbles. At first, I blew up the balloons and the girls took them, holding the straws tightly, and released them in the water. Sand all of the surfaces smooth – you can give it a bit of boat shape by carving or power sanding, if you want. If you want to stay updated on new stories from Adventure in a Box, consider subscribing to our Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram pages. With so many different variations, boats are sure an interesting way to study the mechanics of movement with kids!

While you have the 1/4″ bit handy, you can drill a hole near the front of the boat for inserting an optional peg in. About the Author Abby Smith is a super nerd and video game fanatic and grew up playing games on a variety of platforms.