Blogger / 24 August, 2020 / Nanny Anita

How to Build a Twig Raft

With lock down and all the social distancing, it has meant that we haven’t been able to go to Scouts. That hasn’t stopped us from having online meets or from trying to earn badges. The Scouts have actually come up with a new great indoor badge, which we have been trying to complete. One of them is to do a practical stage, and for that we have been making twig rafts.

Make sure you follow my outside activities board for more ideas. Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

To make your own twig raft you will need:

• 11 Twigs – 8 that are roughly the same size and straight and 3 that are slightly longer.
• Twine
• Paper
• Scissors

Going for a walk is the perfect excuse for finding all of the twigs that you will need. We found ours over a few walks.

Line up your 8 twigs to create the body of the raft.

Using a length of string, wind it around and between one end of the twigs. When you get to the last twig, tie a knot to fix it in place. If you know anything about knots, then the clove hitch is perfect for this activity.

Repeat this for the other side.

Next lie the two longer sticks across the raft, they should lie the other way to twigs that make up the deck. Carefully attach they twigs to the deck, a diagonal lashing is perfect, it makes a cross pattern.

On a piece of paper make a sail for your twig.

Slot the final twig in the middle of the raft and attach your flag by poking the twig through it.

To test your twig raft either give it a test after bath time in the left over water or take it out to your local body of water. I took mine to home and tested it out on the ponds behind my house. The last I saw of it, it was sailing away to the centre of the pond through all the lily pads.

If you enjoyed making this twig raft be sure to check out my sock filter and Olympic ring toss game.

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