Tristan came up with this cardboard roll canoe one on his own!

It was while we were finishing off the logs for the DIY campfire and he had half a paper towel roll tube cut lengthwise.
He pinched the ends together and it formed a canoe shape. I put a piece of masking tape over the edge to hold it in place. This was the basic design for the cardboard roll canoe.
We took out the poster paints and tried to mix an acceptable colour. Why they don’t provide a brown, I don’t know. If I ever see a bottle of brown it will be a useful purchase for us. In the meantime charcoal and gold mixed with some copper did the trick. The slight sparkle looks like the sheen of the water!
When the paint had dried I thought we could use some Lego for a seat in the cardboard roll canoe, but Tristan told me to hold on, he had an idea! He ran into his bedroom and came out with a smile on his face and a piece of Lincoln Log in his hand (thank you for letting us bring it from Canada Nana, Papa, Coralie, and Andy). It fit just perfectly!
Now it was time to raid the lego box for a little guy to paddle. We found a pirate and he looked comfortable in the craft. We still needed an oar and after searching the craft cupboard we found a glue paddle that lived up to its name.

We set our new sailing vessel and paddler up on the pond we previously made for camping and fishing (see the post here); added a couple more items from the Lincoln Logs set and we were set to have some fun!
To bring another element to this I again went back to my camping times with the Girl Guides and we’re learning the Canadian folk song “Land of The Silver Birch”, a nice soothing song with a good rhythm for paddling. You can view the words and hear a lovely rendition of it.
For more fun ideas, click over to our pages on Indoor camping fun and cardboard crafts.
