The Raft Craft: Storybook STEM
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Have you ever read the book The Raft by Jim LeMarche? It is such a wonderful summer themed book and one I love to read to my kids. If you haven’t read it yet, you should find it at your library. We made a raft craft to go along with the book. This is a fun storybook STEM project. We are excited to take them over to our pond this week and sail them!
The Raft is about a boy who goes to stay with his grandma for the summer. He isn’t very happy about it, though. She lives in the woods and spends a lot of time on the river. He is a little worried because she doesn’t have a television so he doesn’t know how he will keep busy all summer long. His grandma sends him out to fish and he discovers a raft with drawings of animals all over it. He learns to love fishing and playing out on the river and ends up spending most of the summer there. He and his grandma spend time together on the river. He learns that his grandma draws the animals on the raft when she sees different animals she draws them on the raft. At the end, he even gets to draw an animal on the raft. It is a lovely story!
How to Make the Raft Craft:
My kids really loved this book and were excited to make a little raft craft to go along with it. We made the rafts out of jumbo craft sticks. To make a raft with a sail, you need 19 craft sticks. We made one with a sail and one without.
Glue the sticks together like the picture above.
To make the sail, make a T with three sticks and glue the T top down onto the raft. Make a paper sail and glue it on after the other part is dry and secure.
My son wanted to make his look just like the one in the book, so he drew some of his favorite animals on it. I love it! It’s so creative. 🙂
Check out some more summer book ideas from the iHN by clicking the image below.
Looks like a book my son would enjoy this summer. Great idea!
I remember fondly when we read this book years ago. It was one of our favorites! 🙂
It really is a gorgeously illustrated book.
Love this! It’s always fun to find a craft that compliments a well-loved book. We’ll have to look for the raft book next time we are at the libary.
This is a perfect simple summer craft! Pinning! 🙂
Love the craft stick raft! I’ll have to check the library for this book too!
What a fun craft! I’ve never heard of this book, but it sounds lovely!
Reminds me of Kon Tiki….great book and craft for kids.
I read this to one of my children, this evening. The craft idea will be fun over the summer.