Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue Back in 1492.

At circle time we sang a catchy tune about Christopher Columbus and discussed, using the globe, how Columbus's intent for his exploration west was to find an easier route to India for spices. Of course, going west from Europe, Columbus came across the Americas instead...

With talk of oceans and ships, I thought the children would enjoy some sailing (or should I say "floating") of their own on this dark, damp day in South Carolina.

First we prepared a tub of water.

We cleaned the sand out of a container and scrubbed the inside with sponges. This was a group effort first thing in the morning! It was amazing to see the children all work together and communicate while developing essential practical life skills. 

Then we tested our sails.

We reused a styrofoam egg carton for to base of our ships. At first we utilized old playdough to hold up our scrap paper sails. But soon realized this construction slowly sank our boats. So we opted to eliminate the playdough and sails for the remainder of our exploration.

Continued the Theme in Our Snack

Columbus was gifted three ships to make his journey- the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. So today for snack we had "Three Ships on an Ocean" (celery, raisins, and cream cheese tinted blue for added fun).