Wee Steamers: Our Boat
Climb aboard and set sail with “Our Boat,” a delightful Wee Steamers video for early learners! Children will discover how different boats move through the water—using people power, wind power, or motor power. Perfect for preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary classrooms. Be sure to check out the free classroom resources, too!
 | CATEGORY:science | GRADE LEVEL:early childhood |
DOWNLOADS:
ACTIVITIES:
DIY Boats for Dramatic Play
Provide your budding boat captains with large cardboard boxes to transform into their own personal watercraft! Invite children to embark on their own voyages to spark their creative imagination, engineering, marine biology, technology, and math skills in estimation and distance with this all-hands-on-deck activity!
Match the Boats
Create a simple boat-matching game with images from preschool-level activity books or by using an AI app. This is an easy way to build one-to-one correspondence, observation, and part-whole relationship skills in your young mathematicians!
Off to the Boat Races!
Using the DIY boat from this theme’s craft, or a boat like the one in this image, set up races in the classroom water table or in an outdoor miniature pool. Have two players compete to blow their boat from one side of the table or pool to the other. This active game introduces important STEM concepts such as buoyancy, distance, velocity, and estimation. It also helps build coordination and aerobic skills. Let the games begin!
Which Boat is This?
Create a simple 3-column chart labeled People-Powered Boats, Sailboats, and Motorboats. Provide photographs or images of boats representing each category. Invite children to sort and place the images into the correct columns. This activity introduces important science and math concepts, including observation, classification, and comparison.
Fishing Trip Board Game
Create a simple board game in which children guide a boat from a fishing spot back to the dock. Simplify the image here, or use a template from a website or AI app. Provide small plastic boats as game pawns, and add a few fun obstacles or “pitfalls” along the path to increase interest and challenge. Children will develop important early learning skills, including one-to-one correspondence, sequencing, directionality, counting, and spatial awareness — all while enjoying an exciting boating adventure!
CRAFT:
Float Your Boat Fun!
Children will have a splashing good time creating Doodle Lou’s Sponge Boat, designed by former art teacher Louann Brown! As they build and float their colorful boats, they’ll discover the fun of floating, balance, and motion through playful hands-on learning.
