Pirate ships arrrr fun...

A couple of girlfriends and I enrolled our little ones in a local preschool for the summer.  A one day a week, free, mommy and me class.  We all went into the class expecting letter of the week, themed crafts and enrichment of our young toddlers minds and what we got was an extremely unorganized and opinionated teacher, who required moms to pick up toys, and kids to sit still for a half hour snack break.  After week number two, we have all officially decided to call this class a lost cause and share a thankful secret smile that we did not spend any money to be told to sit down while our children eat because it is better for their brains. Yes this happened and yes, we didn't have to take a child development class to realize that this statement is just not true.

Regardless of the serious parental disinterest in ever returning to this class, the kids still had "sort of" fun. On the bright side we always came home with a craft to show daddy. This week was a pirate ship made of paper. When we made it home Scarlett came up with the brilliant idea of making a pirate ship that can float. I thought the mixture of art and water could not have been a better idea on this stuffy summer day. I racked my brain for things around the house that could be easily transformed into a perfect pirate vessel and came up with this:  




What you need:



Empty water bottle
straws
two index cards or two pieces of paper cut into sail shapes
piece of decorated paper to add color to your ship (optional)
spare change or something with weight to stuff into the bottle to keep it from tipping over

How to assemble ship:
Color a piece of paper for decoration, roll it up and stuff it inside the ship.  Use your fingers to unroll the paper inside the ship until the paper is touching the sides.



Throw a couple pennies or spare change into the water bottle.  Seal it up.  Poke two holes in the side of the water bottle.  Stuff in the straws.  Poke two holes in each sail at the top and bottom and thread onto the straws.  Put your bottle in the water gently to make sure that the bottom of the bottle has enough weight to balance the weight of the sails.  If the bottle tips, put more weight into the bottle and try again.  Put on an eyepatch, say a couple of arrrr jokes and enjoy 20 minutes of toddler free mommy time.