1Cut a paper plate in half.

Cut a paper plate in half. The resulting pair of halves will be your ship's body or hull.

Use two paper plates if you want a taller hull. You can cut the top edge of the plates into an irregular shape. Just remember that the two should be mirror images of each other.

2Trim off the plate's curved bottom.

Stack the two halves together. While keeping them aligned, cut a straight line close to the plate's curved bottom.

3Join the two halves.

Position the two halves facing each other so that they form a boat-like shape. Make sure that the edges are aligned, then staple or glue all four corners together.

4Paint the ship.

Paint the ship with brown tempera or poster paint. Paint on some round windows or portholes if you like.

5Prepare the sails and masts.

Prepare a pair of wooden dowels for the ship's masts. Trim 1 to 2 inches from the second dowel to make it slightly shorter than the other one.

Cut three rectangles of varying sizes from any white-colored paper to make the sails.

6Make a pair of holes on each sail.

Mark the middle of each sail. You can do this by folding the sail in half without making a crease. Pinch the corners lightly to mark the middle. Unfold.

Make a pair of holes on each sail along the middle—one about ½" from the top edge and the other ½" from the bottom edge. The holes should just be big enough for the wooden dowel to get through.

7Position the largest sail.

Take the shorter mast. Insert one end through a hole on the largest sail and out through the opposite hole. Carefully move the sail down the middle of the mast.

8Position the two other sails.

Take the longer mast. Insert one end of the mast through the holes on the middle-sized sail. Carefully move the sail down the middle of the mast.

Next, position the smallest sail. Similarly insert the top end of the mast through one hole on the sail, then out the opposite hole. Adjust the position of both sails so that the top edge of the smallest sail is 1½ to 2 inches from the tip of the mast.

9Create flags.

Create flags to put at the top of each mast.

a.)   Mayflower ship - cut out two small white paper triangles. Glue one at the tip of each mast.

b.)   Pirate ship - cut out two small black rectangles. Using a white crayon or colored pencil, draw a skull and crossbones on each rectangle to make it into a pirate ship flag. Glue a flag at the tip of each mast.

10Position the masts.

There are a number of materials that can be used to hold the masts upright inside the ship. The masts can easily be anchored into a ball of modeling clay or a small chunk of Styrofoam packaging.

In this tutorial, we will show how a toilet paper roll can be used as an anchoring material. Use the point of a pencil to punch a pair of holes, each one about an inch from the edge of the TP roll. Push the pencil until each hole is just large enough for the mast to get through.

Punch another pair of holes opposite the first set. Position a mast in place by inserting the bottom end through one top hole on the TP roll and then straight through the corresponding bottom hole. Position the second mast on the other pair of top and bottom holes.

11Place the masts inside the ship.

Place the TP roll (or other anchoring material, e.g. ball of modeling clay or chunk of Styrofoam packaging) with the masts inside the ship. It should fit snugly. If it moves around, glue its sides onto the inside of the ship.