Kids & Play

#64 · Build a tiny raft

Lay chopsticks parallel and bind the ends with rubber bands or string. Float it in the bath. Crew of Lego figures optional.

Lash a dozen chopsticks side by side, add a paper sail, and you have a raft that genuinely floats. Not seaworthy in any sense, but for a bath, a washing-up bowl or a very slow stream it works exactly as intended.

How to do it

1. Line up 10 to 12 chopsticks side by side, alternating thick and thin ends so the raft stays rectangular.
2. Lash across them near each end, weaving the thread over and under each stick in turn rather than just wrapping the bundle.
3. Pull each pass tight before moving to the next - a loose lashing lets the sticks splay apart in the water.
4. Push a single chopstick up through the lashing at the centre as a mast, and glue it where it passes through.
5. Tape a paper triangle to the mast.

Why it works

Bamboo is less dense than water, so it floats on its own, and lashing several together spreads a load across all of their buoyancy at once. Weaving the thread between sticks rather than round the bundle is what stops it behaving like a bundle of loose sticks the moment it gets wet - each stick is individually tied to its neighbours.

If it isn't working

• It capsizes with the mast up: the mast is too tall and too heavy. Shorten it, or widen the raft.
• It waterlogs and sits low after ten minutes: bamboo does absorb water. Rub a candle over it first.
• The sticks splay apart: the lashing was wrapped rather than woven.