Make a pool noodle raft

Combine outdoor fun with science experiments by challenging your kids to make a raft out of pool noodles. Will it float? Will it hold together? Will it carry your weight? What else can you do with your pool noodle raft?

What you need:

• 6-8  pool noodles (we cut two in half to use as edge pieces and increase the width)
• 3m of soft form wire (available in craft shops)
• 1m of rope
• a small hand drill

Number of players:

Activity:

You can make your raft any way you want. In fact, it's a good idea to get your kids to work it out for themselves. But here's how we did it.

Lay your noodles side by side. Get an adult to drill a hole through the tip of each end of each pool noodle (about 10cm from the end)

Thread the form wire through the holes in the noodles, to secure them all together.  Go back around each pool noodle, over-under style to secure it even more.  When you have a bit of wire hanging left, cut it off and then push it back into the last pool noodle to get it out of the way.

Now secure the middle of the raft using the rope: go over and under each one, then go back the other way doing the same thing. Tie it off.

Time to test your pool noodle raft!

Hints and tips:

• You will find form wire in a craft shop, it's used to make sculptures and is soft and easy to work with.
• You could also just secure each end of the raft with rope, but we were worried about it slipping of the end, which is why we decided to use the wire method.
• If you don't have a drill, you can just push the wire through each pool noodle.
• If you had lots of pool noodles you could add cross pieces to each end of the raft, or even a diagonal cross-brace could work well too.
• Thanks to our sister company Kidspot Australia for creating the instructional video.