Step-by-step tutorial
Step 1
Design your own boat flags by decorating sticky notes and taping them to a straw (cut to length).
Step 2
Fill containers with water and put them in the freezer. Shallow containers (left) were easier to freeze and easier to blow toward the finish line. After a few hours, when the ice is slushy or partly frozen on the top, stick the straw flags into the container. Let them freeze the rest of the way.
Step 3
After the water is completely frozen, put the bottom of the container under running water to loosen the ice boats. Put them in a baby pool, bath tub, or sand table filled with water for a race.
Step 4
On your mark. Get set. Go! Blow the sails with a straw and get your boat to cross the finish line.
Final result!
After a couple of races with the boats (the thinner ice boat always won), they had fun playing with and figuring out how to break the big hunks of ice.
