When you are learning about watercraft, ship terminology is an important part of the lesson. Also, you’ll love my post Ship Craft Ideas.
Whether it be battleships, pirate ships, cruise ships, cargo ships, or sailboats, your child will want to learn ship words.
Cruise into some fun lessons on the various types of ships and what they are called, how they are used, and who they are used by.
I have included ship terminology, some resources, and even an activity to get you going on your study.
Hands-on activities are one of the best ways to learn about a topic.
Besides, I have an inexpensive activity that is so much fun- how to make a kid’s ship wheel.
I found both key parts at Dollar Tree with plenty of leftover craft sticks.
Do not overlook Dollar Tree for school supplies or items for awesome crafts.
They have so much that I never have a shortage of ideas when i walk up and down their aisles.
Books for Kids Who Love Boats, Ships and Sailing
First, look at some of these books about ships and sailing.
17 Books & Resources for Kids Who Love Learning About Watercraft
Add some of these fun books and resources to your learning day about ships.
How does a giant cruise ship stay upright? Just how big is an aircraft carrier? How are submarines powered? Join the Stickmen for a close look at how watercrafts work, though be careful―you may get into deep water!
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world. Many of the models are official, contemporary artifacts made by the craftsmen of the Royal Navy or the shipbuilders themselves, ranging from the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. As such they represent a three-dimensional archive of unique importance and authority. Treated as historical evidence, they offer more detail than even the best plans, and demonstrate exactly what the ships looked like in a way that even the finest marine painter could not achieve. Now available in paperback, this book tells the story of the evolution of the cruising ship under sail. It includes a large number of model photos all in full-color as well as close-up and detail views. These are captioned in depth, but many are also annotated to focus attention on interesting or unusual features. Although pictorial in emphasis, The Sailing Frigate weaves the pictures into an authoritative text, producing an unusual and attractive form of technical history.
Step aboard, buccaneers and book lovers! On the Salty Carrot sails a wild, rowdy band of Buccaneer Bunnies, led by Barnacle Black Ear, the baddest bunny brute of all time. His son, Henry, would rather read books than shout "Shiver me timbers!" or make prisoners walk the plank, even if it means swabbing the decks as punishment. But when a crashing, thrashing, bashing wildcat of a storm threatens them all, will Henry and his landlubbin’ library save the day?
This is the saga of the great Swedish warship, the Vasa. Built to be the crown jewel of the Swedish Navy, the Vasa capsized not a mile into her maiden voyage in 1628―a tragedy resulting in many deaths and great loss. But who was to blame? Award-winning author Russell Freedman explores the history of this ship, and her resurrection from the seas in 1961. William Low’s gorgeous illustrations bring The Sinking of the Vasa to life.
The acclaimed author of Miss Rumphius recounts the lives of four generations living on a New England coastal island and the importance of family ties.The youngest and quietest of 12 children, Matthias grew closest to Tibbets Island, learning its secrets through the years. And though in later years he sailed to faraway places, he always returned to the island he loved.
A child journeys from her bathtub on an imaginary ocean voyage. Her blue boat sails across the bathtub, into the harbor, between the whales, under the moon and the stars...until it manages to find its way home. A simple tale and light-filled watercolors together create the voyage of every child's dream.
Readers today are still fascinated by “Nat", an eighteenth-century nautical wonder and mathematical wizard. Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailor's world—Salem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. But Nat didn't promise to have the makings of a sailor; he was too physically small. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by “log, lead, and lookout.? Nat's long hours of study and observation, collected in his famous work, The American Practical Navigator (also known as the “Sailors' Bible"), stunned the sailing community and made him a New England hero.
I could hardly talk about a shipping unit without mentioning the classic game Battleship could I?
Complete deck fittings including searchlights, motor launches and whaleboats, rangefinders, ladders, cranes, and tripod masts with observation nests.
Packed with extraordinary illustrations, this history book for children covers everything from warship design to navigation. Biesty's incredible drawings slice through a man-of-war to explore every corner, from the crow's nest to the stinking hold. Packed with fascinating facts and gory details, the pages teem with sailors going about their duties. Find out how gun crews fired a cannon, examine a surgeon's toolkit, and learn the best way to wriggle the maggots out of the ship's biscuits. Look out, too, for the stowaway on every page. He's the one with spiky hair, and there's a reward for his capture!
As a kid, Will Ansel would spend hours rowing the creeks around Annapolis, Maryland. From his boat he could look down on the wrecks of Chesapeake skipjacks, and watch the turtles sun themselves on deckbeams and the tops of centerboard trunks. He found other types of Chesapeake boats there too, including the old "log" boats. Years later, Will built scaled-down skipjacks, wrote about them, and eventually went to work at Mystic Seaport as a ships' carpenter and boatbuilder. Will now lives in Georgetown, Maine, in an old house built at the water's edge, with a small shop and dock. The inventory of boats and kayaks is currently seven. Besides keeping up, using, and adding to these, he does some writing and painting, and work around a cabin in the woods.
Raise the sails and follow the wind across the green sea in this captivating marriage of lyrical prose and intricate illustrations from a renowned West Coast artist.Old wood boat remembers the wind. Dilapidated and parted from the sea, she remembers and waits as her mast cracks and blackberry vines creep across her deck. But one day, a family tows her home. Scraped, scrubbed, sanded, and varnished, she is made beautiful and seaworthy again. After libations have been poured out, the family casts off, and old wood boat embarks on adventure once more. In this love letter to sailing, heralded artist Nikki McClure tells the story of a restored boat in timeless and reverent prose that perfectly accompanies her stunning cut-paper illustrations. At once delicate and bold, each page is masterful, rendered from a single sheet of black paper with precision and care that is sure to enthrall readers from coast to coast.
This classic tale makes the perfect gift for children who love adventure!
A little boy has a toy boat that he made out of a can, a cork, a yellow pencil, and some white cloth. The boy and his boat are inseparable . . . until the day the wind pushes the boat out into the wide lake, and the little boat must face fierce waves, a grumpy ferry, a sassy schooner, and a growling speed boat if he is to find his way home. From Randall de Seve and bestselling artist Loren Long, creator of the Otis series and illustrator of The Little Engine That Could, comes a child-friendly adventure sure to inspire imaginative toy play.
The evolution of shipbuilding reflects the growth of civilization, and in Oars, Sails and Steam, Edwin Tunis has produced a beautifully illustrated and skillfully
written history of water transport from the dugout to the aircraft carrier. He resents the most interesting and important types of boats and ships in chronological order, revealing each advance that made navigation easier, faster, and more efficient. Every page in this delightful book becomes a new adventure in the story of humanity's progress on traveling across the seas. The Egyptian sailboats that plied the waters of the Nile in 4700 b.c. give way to Phoenician warboats, Greek war galleys and Roman triremes, which in turn are surpassed by Norse long ships, Mediterranean carracks, Elizabethan galleons, and British East Indiaman. The Steam Age is represented by John Fitch's 1787 Delaware River steamboat; the 1807 Clermont, which made five miles per hour against the current of the Hudson; and the Curaçao, which in 1827 became the first ship to cross the Atlantic almost entirely under steam power. Graceful clipper ships, profitable whaling barks, reliable tramp steamers, opulent steam liners, and deadly warships, from destroyers to submarines, round out Tunis's illustrated history.
In addition to his fine drawings of the vessels, Tunis includes a glossary of seagoing terms and detailed diagrams that take readers below decks, up in the rigging, and alongside the gunners of the U.S.S. Raleigh. Remarkable for its clarity and accuracy, Oars, Sails and Steam, first published in 1952, is a treasury for all those who are sailors at heart.
Once, lightships anchored on waters across America, on the oceans, and in the Great Lakes, floating where lighthouses could not be built.
Mr. Small is a sailor in this maritime adventure! Captain Small and his dog Tinker sail and fish together. When a storm comes, Captain Small heads for the safety of the shore. A comforting, nostalgic story full of information about sailing.
Next, let’s find out the definition of what is a ship.
Ship- A vessel that is larger than a boat and is used for transporting people or goods by sea. They are classified as a ship based on their size, shape, load capacity, and purpose.
Boats on the other hand are smaller watercraft. And are intended for navigation of coastal and inland waters rather than ocean faring.
Now that we know what defines a ship, we will move on to learning about the various types of ships that are or were used in more modern times
Types of Ship Terminology
Passenger Ships- Before airplanes people used to travel on ocean liners, they had dining rooms and cabins where guests could sleep.
Today big ships used for travel and entertainment are cruise ships. You will find swimming pools, bowling alleys, restaurants, and more onboard these multilevel ships.
Find out about the most famous passenger ship of the past with my RMS Titanic Unit Study and Free Lapbook.
Aircraft Carriers- An aircraft carrier is a warship that is a sea-traveling airbase. These massive ships have tops that are almost entirely a flight deck.
The deck is a landing and take-off point for the aircraft it carries. Aircraft carriers are used by the United States Navy.
There are currently 11 active US nuclear-powered fleet carriers in the water. Learn How to Make an Aircraft Carrier.
Battleship- A large warship that is armored and has large caliber guns.
The first battleship was the USS Texas in 1892. However battleships are no longer used in war today; they were retired as strictly museum ships following the Cold War in 1992.
They were initially used to attack the defenses of the enemy’s coast in preparation for amphibious assaults.
This model would be fantastic to put together as an art project while you learn about battleships.
Oil Tanker- Like the name implies tankers carry oil in bulk within their cargo spaces. An oil tanker transports crude and refined oil from port to port and some can even refuel moving other moving ships.
Cargo Ships- They are freighters and a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another.
They are massive and carry these items inside thousands of giant containers like the big metal boxes you see semis pulling down the road.
The first container ship appeared in 1956. It could only hold about 1,000 containers; now there is one being built that can hold up to 30,000. This is how we get the majority of our goods from overseas.
You can build whatever type ship you like in a bottle with these Ship Craft Ideas & Ship Terminology | Fun Ship in A Bottle Craft for Kids.
Submarines- Submersible crafts are considered ships but are referred to as boats.
They are able to dive a minimum of 800 feet below the surface and can stay submerged for 3 months.
Submarines are used by scientists and the military for exploration, patrol, and attack enemy ships in wartime.
How to Make A Ship Wheel With Kids
You will need:
- Craft sticks
- Styrofoam wreath form
- Canning lid (or cardboard)
- Brown craft paint
- Gold craft paint
- Foam brush
- Hot glue gun/ sticks
First, start by painting your mason jar lid or a circle cut out of cardboard gold, you will likely need several coats to cover it well. Set aside to dry.
Then, push 5-6 craft sticks into the center of the wreath form from the inside stopping before they pierce the other side, securing each place they go in with hot glue to hold them well.
Now push the same number of popsicle sticks through the outside of the round, lining them up with the others but pushing just above or below the other stick so they can go as far in as possible.
Add hot glue at each point where the sticks go into the styrofoam wreath form.
Be sure all your center spikes just overlap in the center, it doesn’t have to be perfect as you will be covering it up.
Paint the entire wreath form and craft sticks with brown paint, it will take at least 2 coats to cover it well, and allow it to dry.
Flip it over and hot glue the painted round over the center, attaching all the sticks to the lid or at least each other.
I think this turned out so fun and would make a great handmade decor item too.
