B is for Boats: Themed Activites

 

B is for Boats

A brave boy in a battered boat is bobbing on the waves of the blue waters.

The boisterous boys bounded along in their bathing suits with binoculars in hand, battling the waves in their hurry to be the first to the boat.

The best and brightest had a battle of the minds over their beliefs during a breakfast meeting aboard a cruise boat.

The beach became a distant blur as the boat bolted along the blue waters of Barney’s Bay.

Beauty and beast alike benefitted from the peacefulness of the blue skies and blue waters at Bingo Beach.

So, I am sure you can see what I am doing here as I take the concept of a boat and the literary technique of alliteration with the letter B and have fun creating a variety of visual images in these descriptive sentences. You can try this with any theme and any letter to help develop language skills for yourself and for the child(ren) in your care.

A boat is a great topic for literature as it has such a variety of directions. Is it a rowboat as in the nursery rhyme for your baby that could lead to other rhymes and songs? Is it a cruise boat for your parents 50^th anniversary? Perhaps it is a pirate boat filled with plunder! Or maybe it is a sailboat on a summer afternoon with friends. There are so many possibilities and with each one comes an opportunity either to tell a story (real or imaginary) or to do some research. How do heavy cargo boats float? What do you call the part of the boat that cuts through the ice in the Arctic waters? If submarines go underwater and do not float, are they still consider a boat?

My son enjoys survival shows and one of the tasks many attempt is to make a boat so that they can go further to find food. Historically, people made boats in attempts to sail to new places and go on great adventures. Using a tarp, branches and vines, the contestants work hard to create something strong enough to survive powerful waves yet light enough to stay on top of the waters.  A less advanced version might be to see what materials you have in your house to make a boat that will float in the bathtub. It is both a craft activity and a science experiment in one that generates great discussion as you contemplate together what might work and seek solutions for problems that arise.

Boats are popular in literature, partly because they transport people to far away places that lead to tales of great adventures and partly because they are a form of transportation that is meaningful and popular in many cultures and continents so it has relevance to its readers. There are poetic nuances to boats too as we encourage others to endure the winds and waves of stormy periods of life with the hope of ‘sailing off into the sunset’ as a picturesque end of our days.

My favourite boat is the ferry to Centre Island as I cherish memories of trips there with family and friends over my lifetime. Do you have a boating story to share with the children in your life? Maybe you could expose them to a new experience on a boat? You could take a rowboat and go fishing or a tour boat and go around the islands or find some other type of boating adventure to try.  I am considering taking my own advice and going on a whale watching boat trip with my family next month. If we go, I'll be sure to let you know what we see!