This is such an easy way to make a boat - all you need is an egg carton lid, and then when you've made the basic shape, you can turn it into any kind of sailboat or ship you want.
We've gone for a Viking longboat - some Asterix influence at work! And an abundance of lollypop sticks helped too...
They do make great oars.
You will need:
A large egg carton (dozen box)
6 popsicle sticks
8 similar sized bottle tops (different colours is possible)
Sheet of plain A4 paper
Kebab stick
Some old modelling clay
Scissors
Craft glue
Strong glue (like UHU)
Paint
Red marker or felt tip pen
Black marker pen
Nail scissors (to be used by a grown up)
1. If there's paper on the lid top, remove as much of it as you can. Use a pencil to make two marks inside the lid, about 8cm/3in. from either end, and halfway between the sides.
2. Cut a long thin triangle up to your mark, at both ends.
3. As a guide, you're really looking to cut away the middle, bumpy, ridgy cardboard bit that you often find at the ends of the egg carton lid (see below).
4. Next, carefully cut straight across the lid from the end of the triangle, right into the curvy corner. Do this on both sides and at both ends.
5. Then the fun bit, you simply tuck the pieces you've cut behind the central part of your boat, and pull the ends together, so they overlap. Trim if you want to neaten the overlap, but hopefully they should be a pretty snug fit.
You could use sticky tape, or use glue. A glue gun would be quick - we just used PVA craft glue and some clothes pegs (or paper clips) to hold it all in place while the glue dried.
6. For the raised ends of the boat, cut out an egg carton cone and neaten around the bottom edge, then cut in half, longways.
7. Flatten out the bottom part of the cut cone, and glue to the ends of the boat, so they sit high, above the boat edge. Press and mould to the curved shape of the bow and stern. Hold in place with pegs or paper clips while the glue dries.
8. For the dragon figurehead, cut out another egg carton cone and trim around the bottom edge so it's about 3cm/1in. Draw a pencil line across one side, roughly a cm from the bottom edge, then join the ends of this line to the bottom corners below, with a diagonal line. Cut along the pencil line.
9. On the longer side, draw a V from one corner to the other and cut out.
10. You can draw the details on after painting, or cut out a mouth if you prefer. This is best done by an adult with small sharp scissors.
Brush glue inside the bottom part of the figurehead and glue to one end of the boat. Leave pointing up while it dries (use a peg or paper clip again) Then bend down into place when dry.
11. For the mast, cut out an egg carton cup and neaten around the edge so it sits flat. Make a very small hole on top in the middle, and place a ball of modelling clay underneath. Press the skewer stick through the hole and into the clay. Don't glue the mast into the boat yet.
While they're drying, make the sail. Trim a piece of plain A4 paper so it's about 20cm/8in. by 25cm/10in. We drew red strips with a marker pen, but you can obviously paint or colour-in your sail anyway you like.
13. Make very small holes a few cms from the top and bottom of the sail, roughly in the middle (you don't want the holes to be too big or the sail won't stay up). When the paint is dry on the mast, slot the sail on.
14. For the flag, fold over a small piece of spare paper and cut out a long thin triangle shape. Decorate and colour in as you like, then brush glue inside and wrap around the top of the mast.
While the glue is drying, bend the flag so it looks like it's flapping in the wind.
15. For the shields, decide where you want your bottle tops to go - we put four on each side - and lightly draw around them with a pencil on the sides of the boat.
In-between these, mark diagonal lines, where the 3 oars will go on each side. Pierce through the oar lines with something like nail scissors and cut along the slots (this should be done by an adult - placing an old piece of modelling clay behind the slot helps when you're piercing through the sides.) Push the oars into place.
You can glue the mast down too, though the modelling clay will hopefully stop it from falling over. Use a black marker pen to add details to the dragon figurehead.
