We make boats from polystyrene

Boys and girls love to play in the water, so it's important to give them what they need to do it. In addition to purchased inflatable or other toys, you can make a boat yourself using foam plastic and improvised means. Thanks to the variety of foam sheets, finished products can come out in different sizes and shapes, and therefore each child will have their own vehicle, which is not like the others. Knowing how to work correctly with foam, you can quickly create a neat, comfortable and safe toy for children.

Children love to play by the water, and it doesn't matter if it is a sea, a river, a fountain or just a big puddle. To make the process of play interesting and meaningful, it is necessary to provide the child with suitable toys. All kinds of boats and boats will feel best on the water, but purchased products are often very expensive. An alternative to a toy from a store can be a do-it-yourself ship.

Building a ship may require certain skills from both a child and an adult, so it is important to choose the right material for the job. The most convenient for this will be polystyrene. A ship made of polystyrene is lightweight, keeps well on the water, and can have any size and appearance. Thanks to the special structure of the material, even children can handle it.

To create a foam craft, you need to prepare certain tools and materials.

• Styrofoam sheets. They can be of different thicknesses and sizes, which will affect the appearance of the product or the way you work with it.

• Stationery knife for cutting out parts.

• Glue if needed.

• Paper clips if you need to fix any details.

• Toothpicks, skewers, sushi sticks, or any other fairly delicate wooden item.

• Fishing line for securing the sails.

• Material for the sails themselves.

• Pen, marker, ruler for marking foam sheets.

• Sandpaper for sanding the finished product.

To make a simple foam boat with your child, you need to watch the master class right away, and then get to work. If you follow all the steps step by step, follow the recommendations, you can quickly get a beautiful boat. The creation scheme may look like this:

• prepare all the necessary materials and tools;

• draw a layout of the future product on paper, check if everything is in it the way the child wants;

• draw the markup on a sheet of styrofoam;

• cut the main product along the marking contour;

• sand the base of the boat with sandpaper;

• place toothpicks or other sticks on the surface of the ship;

• string the sails onto the installed toothpicks.

Sails can be paper or fabric, everyone decides for themselves. The number of sails, the presence of several tiers, all this is embodied with the help of the imagination and skillful hands of parent and child. If you wish, you can place decorative elements on the craft. Once the ship is finished, you can try to launch it on the water.

A homemade foam boat can have a flat deck or a more complex structure. A child can cope with a simple product on his own, but if additional structures need to be made, then he cannot do without the help of an adult.

To work on a more massive and complex ship structure, you must have with you:

• foam sheets of different thicknesses and sizes, if possible, choose square, rectangular, semicircular ready-made shapes;

• superglue or hot fixing glue;

• skewers or other elements for attaching sails;

• stationery knife;

• a pen, felt-tip pen and ruler for marking;

• material for sails.

The process of creating a ship is not much different from the previous version, only work is added on the upper part of the product, where it is better to use the help of an adult. The order of work.

1. Create a layout of the future ship, check its convenience and compliance with the idea.

2. Apply markings on the main foam sheet and on the auxiliary ones, from which additional superstructures at the stern will be formed.

3. Cut out all the details with a clerical knife. This work is best done by adults, since the knife is very sharp, and the material is not uniform, and can be cut both very easily and with difficulty.

4. Sandpaper all the components of the craft in order to remove as much as possible all irregularities and roughness.

5. Place additional parts on the base of the ship, check that their dimensions correspond to the dimensions of the main part. If everything fits together, use super glue or hot-fix glue to fix everything together. To protect yourself from displacement of components during the gluing and drying process, you can put the parts on skewers to securely hold them in place until the glue dries completely.

6. If the child likes to play with boats at home without using water, then the product can be pasted over with corrugated paper to give it a neat, attractive and finished look.

7. When the base is completely finished, it is necessary to place toothpicks or other sticks on which the sails, flags or flag of the vessel will be attached. If you wish, you can equip the boat with a steering wheel, make figures of sailors, create a chest or other products that will complement the finished product.

To create a pirate ship at home, you need to find drawings of such a ship or make your own project. The model can be any thanks to the imagination of the parent and the child, as well as the certain skill of both, and the result will delight everyone. A pirate ship can be large if you have all the necessary materials for it, or small if the amount of foam is limited.

Before building your own ship, it is worth watching the master classes of professionals, looking at photos of finished works. The tools and materials for work will be approximately the same as in the previous versions. The creation process will look like this.

1. Detailed consideration of finished projects, drawings. If the existing option is not suitable, but there is no alternative, then you need to create your own drawing. The pirate ship has its own characteristics that must be reflected in the finished product.

2. Based on the drawing, mark the foam, cut out all the details.

3. Each element must be sanded with sandpaper to remove all roughness.

4. For a more spectacular appearance, it is worth covering the stern with colored paper. The most suitable for such work is the corrugated version. Fastens the paper to the base using super glue or hot-fix glue. Deck elements should also be glued over so that they create a single composition, and fixed on the base with glue. You can choose one color, or use a wider color palette.

5. Build a steering wheel, make a pirate chest, design and create a pirate flag.

6. Place all auxiliary elements on the ship's hull, make mountings for the sails. It is best to use black fabric, draw on it a skull and bones pattern, or come up with something of your own.

For such a ship it is worth making the pirates themselves, who will cut across the seas and oceans in search of treasures. If you manage to build beautiful and interesting ships, then you can make a gift option and please your brother, uncle, grandfather or friend on a special day.

The stern of the ship can be solid, or you can cut a hole in it, which will store the treasures looted by the pirates. Thanks to a well-thought-out product plan and systematic work on it, you can get a realistic boat that the child will enjoy playing with.

The process of making a sailing ship from foam is clearly shown in the following video.