20 Boat Craft Ideas – Summer Fun!

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Time for our Boat Craft Ideas for Summer! Boats are a wonderfully fun activity for kids to take part in. The perfect Kids Crafts theme for the great outdoors. Learn how to make a boat today.

20 Boat Crafts - such wonderful Boat DIYs for the Summer holidays - float them. Play with them. Use them as decorations. Quick and easy ones, more complex boats.. all sorts of boat crafts for kids and grown ups. Love those self propelled boats, as well as the quick and easy sponge boats. Fabulous.
There are lots of fun boat DIY ideas to choose from

DIY Boats: Design them. Make them. Then see how well they float! Lots of Summer Crafts fun for kids.

To me, making boats are all about “childhood memories”. I hope my kids look back one day, and remembering that time we made the boats and how well they floated…

You can make boats out of a surprising amount of different things – the humble Paper Boat (which we LOVE), margarine tub boats, crafts stick boats! Your imagination is the limit. Check out what we have to share with you!

Note: if you do let them float outdoors, do add a little string to your boat, so you can retrieve them and not harm local wildlife! (or have sobbing children that want their boat back!)

Wonderful Boat Crafts for Kids

As mentioned of these boats are great for playing it water with, as they actually float! Others are meant more for decoration. But we will highlight this as we go along! You don’t need any special kits for these fun boat crafts today.

Learn how to make a Walnut Boat – super simple and so cute. We love them!

Boat Craft

We then share our Self Propelled Tug Boats – they actually work. So fun.

Rocking Paper Plate  Boat

We love this Paper Plate Boat – that actually rocks. Such a fun and simple activity for boat lovers! There is also a Submarine for you to enjoy too!

paper boats
Origami boats can be made from any type of paper/ color paper!

No boat craft collection is complete with out an Origami Boat! All you need is a sheet of paper to make this easy Paper Boat. The origami boat diy is a great introduction to origami for kids of all ages. It only needs some simple folds and creases that are easy for children to learn and remember. And once you have got the hang of this paper boat, you can make it any size you wish! And maybe even have boat races with it down a stream (but be sure to collect them again, so as to not pollute the environment!). (Oh and you don’t need special origami paper to make these.. any paper will do, when I was young, I even made them out of our bus tickets!).

Devilled eggs

Crystal Treasures has made some Deviled Egg Boats, which made me smile!! A yummy recipe for any boath themed party (actually, wouldn’t these be fun as part of a summer olympics party too?).

juice carton boat

Juice cartons are great idea for boats, as they are already waterproof. Domestic Goddesque shares her crafts. You could almost make these on the go!

More DIY Boat Ideas

egg-carton-boat

A while back we also made Egg Carton boats – and used the kids artwork to decorate the flags.

How to Make a lolly-stick boat

Me and My Shadow made some rafts using Craft Sticks. They look fabulous. I love these as they have “planks” like real boats. So good fun and no sealant needed!

Simple quirky little cork boats we made AGES ago. They were very much a spur of the moment “craft” – super easy and fun to make! These are so very fun to make and plat with. And they float really well. The sails may get a bit wet, so if you are worried about that, use leaves as sails or some scraps of fabric.

milk-carton-crafts-boats

We love these Juice Carton or Milk Carton Boats – these would be fun for cardboard boat races, don’t you think?

seashell-sailboat-summer-craft-photo-420-FF0605CRAFTA13

Adorable little shell boat

diy-cardboard-ship

We still love our Pirate Ship! And it is much played with over 10 years later. This pirate boat has a very simple construction method and will last you ages!

Pirate ship

A simple impromptu pirate ship for our playmobil.

simple boat craft

Love these Sponge Boats! So clever.

sailboat1

Laundry Basket Sail Boat Fun for rainy days!

ice boats

Adore how fun these Ice Cube Boats are!

paper mache boat

Stunning Papier Mache Boats – these are a bit more involved, and a great for older kids to have a go at. But don’t they look great?

Handmade boat

Another simple wooden boat idea, are these Twig Boats – so pretty!

Driftwood Boats

..or how about these wooden boats: Driftwood Boats. Older kids will love this lovely boat design.

Recycled Croc Boat Craft for Kids

Upcycled Croc Pirate Ships! These float incredibly well and will resist those splish plashing waves the kids create. Also a great way to bring recycled elements onto your crafting area!

aluminium boat
Aluminium foil boats are easy to make and float really well

Another great recycled boat is this aluminium boat from Gift of Curiosity. It floats so well too!

Hope you enjoy the boat crafts and that you are inspired to look around you and see what YOU could make a boat from!

Looking for more wonderful Summer Crafts.. try these:

Collage of summer crafts for kids