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Toy Surfboard Craft for Kids

June 9, 2014 By Jessica Petersen 12 Comments



This surfboard craft for kids is a great way to bring favorite toys into water play. The Little Engineer had so much fun pretending his toys were really surfing! Plus there’s a lot of hands-on science going on, as kids try to get the toys to stand up on their surfboards. It would also be fun to make these for a surfing-themed birthday party, and I suspect a wide range of ages would enjoy it as much as we both did.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

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Today is the start of Summer Play Days, a series of ideas for summer fun with kids. We’re participating along Fun-a-Day!, My Nearest and Dearest, Buggy and Buddy, and Nothing if Not Intentional. Make sure to check out the links to their activities and crafts for today at the end of this post.

I love these series becauseย my blogging friendsย always inspire me to stretch my creativity. This idea came about as I was brainstorming for the series, which usually takes the form of me trying to think up increasingly ridiculous ideas. I think I actually shouted, “TRAIN SURFING!” while alone in the car.ย The idea made me laugh, but in the end,ย theseย little surfboardsย turned out to be pretty awesome. I’ll show you how to make them today, and then later this week I’ll show you the first of two ways we’re playing with them.

Materials:

  • White foam core board:ย I used a cheap one from the dollar store.
  • Printable template: Right click and “save as” to download our free printable surfboard craft template!
  • Pencil: For tracing the template onto the foam core board, and for lightly sketching designs before coloring them in.
  • Something to cut the foam core board: I, being too lazy to find an X-acto knife, used a large pair of craft scissors, which works okay for everything but the extra large surfboards.
  • Permanent markers:ย If you’re going to use the surfboards in the water, you’llย want to use permanent markers if possible so that the colors don’t run.ย I highly recommend a pack of neon Sharpies for this project. The bright colors glow even in the shade — perfect for pretending you’re really at the beach!
  • Ruler (optional): Handy to have if you want to draw stripes (or rails for a train surfboard like Thomas’ below).
  • Small toys who would like to learn how to surf: We used Thomas & Friends Pez trains (carefully removed from their Pez dispenser bases by an adult; you can find these at Toys’R’Us), Angry Bird game figures, LEGO mini figures, and a Brio worker figure.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

Set up:

Ahead of time, an adult should prepare blank surfboards by using the template above to trace and cut the shapes from the foam core board. On the template, there are five different sizes of surfboards:

  • Extra small: Theseย we made to be wooden train freight. They’re a little small to actually float toys in water — but you could certainly try!
  • Small, medium, and large: These sizes all seemed to work well for a variety of the small toys we tried them with. The large size is probably your best bet if you only want to make one size, but I think the small ones look the cutest.
  • Extra large: This size — which looks more like a boogie board than a surfboard — was requested by the Little Engineer so his LEGO Mixels could surf, too.

I prepared a variety of sizes so that we could compare their performance with different toys.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

 

Crafting together:

Weย always enjoy crafting together, but I think we both especially enjoyed this one! The Little Engineer dove right for the Sharpies, as usual. And he liked that he was making surfboards for particular toys. As for me, I think I tapped into my inner teenage girl for a while there, which makes me suspect this would make a great poolside craft for tweens and maybe even teens.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

We both made several surfboards, using up all the blanks I’d prepared. Pez Thomas got a special #1 surfboard complete with silver rails for him to roll onto.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

Here are some of my favorite creations:

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

And here are the ones the Little Engineer liked the best. Check out all the details!

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

These are the extra small ones we made to be freight for our wooden trains:

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

 

Toy surfing:

I really, really, really wanted this to work — and it did! Just look how happy this piggie looks on his surfboard.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

This makes for an excellent hands-on science exploration of water and waves, buoyancy and balance. The balance part also makes this a great fine motor activity. It can be quite a challenge to get the toys to stand up, especially the mini figures!

We experimented with a lot of different ways to make waves and generally move the surfers around the water table. The main thing we learned was the waves are a lot harder to predict and control than you expect at first. The great thing is that this wasn’t frustrating, because pretty much anything that happened was fun. Especially when the toys fell in the water and went “swimming.”

Here are a few more pictures for inspiration. I made this surfboard especially for Wildstyle from The LEGO Movie (the Little Engineer made one for Emmet).

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

Pez Thomas seemed to have a lot of fun on his special train surfboard.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

And the extra large surfboards worked great for the Little Engineer’s newest Mixel, Kraw. Who looks like a pretty awesome surfer, I must say. The Little Engineer picked him especially because he knew we were going to be making toy surfboards the next day, so I was very happy it worked out!

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

 

More ways to play!

Make sure to visit the other blogs participating in the series for more fun summer activities and crafts!

Summer Art for Kids – Colorful Shell Sculpturesย from Fun-a-Day!

Summer Sunshine Clay from Nothing if Not Intentional

Fine Motor Sun Craft from Buggy and Buddy

Ocean Cloud Dough from My Nearest and Dearest

 

Don’t miss our other Summer Play Days posts!

Summer Pom Pom Tree Craft and Fine Motor Activity from Play Trains!

Summer Pom Pom Tree Fine Motor Activity

Customize this travel-friendly mini sand play kit to match your child's interests!

Mini Sand Play Set

 

More Summer Fun with Trains!

Pool Noodle Train Tracks: Summer Train Fun for Kids @ Play Trains!

Pool Noodle Train Tracks

Fizzy Engine: Baking Soda & Vinegar Trains @ Play Trains! Fun summertime science for kids who love trains.

Fizzy Engine: Baking Soda and Vinegar Train Science Activity

Travel-Friendly Mini Sand Castle Kit from Play Trains!

Travel-Friendly Mini Sand Castle Kit

Natural Freight for Toy Trains: Late Summer @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/

Natural Freight for Toy Trains: Summer

DIY Zoo Set for Wooden Trains @ Play Trains! Our train twist on the Jungle Diorama from Jo-ann's Cape Discovery summer crafting challenge. #summerofjoann

DIY Recycled Wooden Train Zoo Set

Ice Train Play @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/ice-train-play/

Ice Train Play

Sand Tracks: Learning with Trains at the Beach @ Play Trains! This activity combines art, science, and sensory play, demonstrating one of the technical pages between chapters in the first book of the Peter's Railway series. These books are perfect for train-loving children of any age!

Sand Tracks: a Train Beach Activity Inspired by Peter’s Railway

Icy Engine: Cool Summer Train Ice Play @ Play Trains! Activities for ice frozen in the shape of an engine and freight cars.

Icy Engine: Cool Summer Train Play

 

Top 10 Ways to Learn with Trains this Summer @ Play Trains!

Top Ten Ways to Learn with Trains the Summer

 

8 Train Books for Summer @ Play Trains! Discover eight titles to add to your little engineer's summer reading list.

8 Train Books for Summer Reading

Filed Under: Making Trains Exciting Again, Mini Toy Train Activities, Outdoor Activities, Preschoolers, School-age Kids, Science Activities with Trains, Sensory Play, Summer, Toddlers, Train Crafts for Kids, Train Obsessed, Water Play Tagged With: crafts, crafts for adults, DIY, freight, kids' crafts, summer, Summer Play Days, water play

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Summer Pom Pom Tree »

Comments

  1. Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest says

    June 9, 2014 at 4:53 pm

    Those surfboards are awesome!!! What a fun idea.

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      June 10, 2014 at 12:59 am

      Thanks, Ann! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  2. Dana says

    June 10, 2014 at 9:04 am

    Jessica
    Way too cool! With summer here and with all the time I spend at the pool with my daughters, this is a great craft they’ll enjoy at the pool! Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      June 10, 2014 at 10:53 am

      That’s perfect! I hope they enjoy them as much as we have been!

      Reply
  3. Rachael @ Nothing if Not Intentional says

    June 10, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    Toy surfing!! I love it! It turned out so well!

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      June 10, 2014 at 10:10 pm

      Thanks! I was so excited when it worked. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  4. Emma @ P is for Preschooler says

    June 14, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    It’s going to be hot all week – so water play on the agenda every day. And these will be perfect!

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      June 16, 2014 at 11:44 am

      Fantastic! We’re looking forward for the sun coming back later this week so we can play with them some more. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  5. Claire says

    June 17, 2014 at 12:38 pm

    I think these are super cute. I am a 4-h kid who is looking for a project to do as something we call a working presentation. I would love to do these as my working presentation, however I need your permission to do use these as my presentation. If you could e-mail me with permission to use that would be awesome. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      June 17, 2014 at 4:35 pm

      I’m so glad you like them! I’ll email you. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  6. Cucicucicoo says

    July 9, 2014 at 1:48 am

    What an adorable idea! I’d bet that regular upcycled styrofoam plates or trays would work great for this, too! ๐Ÿ™‚ Lisa

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      July 9, 2014 at 10:19 pm

      Quite possibly! That would be a great upcycle! They’d have to be thick, though…the foam core boards are a lot thicker than the styrofoam plates/trays I’m used to.

      Reply

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Jessica Petersen, author of Old Tracks, New Tricks
Hi, I'm Jessica! We're so happy you've climbed aboard the Play Trains! express. Next stop: a trainload of fun and learning for your little engineer!

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Hi, I'm Jessica! While playing trains for the last several years, my Little Engineer and I have had a lot of fun and learned so much together. I'm excited to share our discoveries with other people who have kids who love trains in their lives.

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