You will need:

• Juice or milk carton
• Scissors
• Acrylic paints
• Paint brushes
• Patterned, thick paper or card
• Card drinking straw
• Plasticine or play dough

Step 1: Make a cut-out

Wash and dry an old juice or milk carton.

If it has a pouring spout carefully remove it by cutting around it.

Then make the main opening for the top of the boat.

Cut a rectangle shape out of one side of the milk carton. This part is best done by an adult.

Step 2: Cover the spout

If you removed the spout you will be left with a hole in the top of the carton.

Glue a piece of card over this section to cover it.

Step 3: Paint the boat

Paint the whole milk carton in your base colour using acrylic paints. You may need to apply 2 coats to completely cover your carton in a thick layer.

Here we painted it all white. We then added on blue and red stripes to our two milk carton boats.

Finally, paint some fun designs to make your boat look ship shape.

You could add more stripes, some round circles for port holes or some colourful dots for rivets.

Have fun with different colours, stripes and shapes!

Step 4: Make your sail

Cut a triangle of thick patterned paper or card. Fold it around a drinking straw and tape it in place to make the sail.

Check the height of the straw. You may want to cut it back to make your sail shorter.

Place a ball of plasticine or play dough on the bottom of the milk carton boat (inside the opening).

Plant your sail into the ball, so that it stands upright inside the boat.

Step 5: Let their imaginations sail away

Help them put their favourite small soft toys in your milk carton boats and they can go wild with imaginary play.

Where will they sail off to?