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Build A Boat

Activity

Exploring Buoyancy

Using your engineer brain, make a boat. You can use natural materials (leaves, sticks, grass) or recycled materials. How long does your boat float? Can you make your boat travel by blowing or tapping it? Use your planning, designing, problem solving and modification skills to create a boat that floats!
a model of a ship made from a recycled plastic bottles, sticks and toothpicks
three childreen building boats from sticks and cloth for sails

Science Seed

Why do some things float and others don’t? The secret is buoyancy, or the ability of objects to float in water and air. Whether or not an object has buoyancy depends mostly on two factors: the amount of water an object displaces and the density of an object. An object that is less dense than water will float on water. A boat is very heavy and dense, but it weighs less than the water that it displaces.
botany jar illustration

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earn Badges

Badges can be earned through hands-on experiences within each of the 16 branches of science, or “Science Slices.” You can earn a badge in each branch of science by doing four activities in these categories. We also encourage participants to keep a Nature Journal to record their memories, and to express themselves creatively through writing or drawing after each activity. We recommend that each child (and parent if they’d like) write or draw in a journal after each activity, with expectations of your children that match their age (the goal is self-expression, not perfection).

Explore Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

The Ecologist School Pocket Guide: TSBVI edition is a collaboration between Families in Nature and the Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired as an effort to help our community learn more about the TSBVI campus, while getting outside into nature together! This booklet has 80 lessons across 16 different branches of science to help you play, learn, and volunteer on campus!

join Families in Nature

It is our vision to inspire all families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists. Becoming a member of Families in Nature will give your family the opportunity to have adventures in nature, experience field science, develop as youth conservation leaders, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Memberships are free for everyone.

Who are we?

Families in Nature works to create opportunities for nature connection with the purpose of sparking a deep love and desire to protect, conserve and restore the environment. Our mission is to connect children and their families to nature and to each other through time spent learning, playing, and volunteering outdoors. It is our vision to inspire ALL families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists.
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