Building Imagination with the Twirlywoos Big Red Boat

#AD – This post is in collaboration with DHX Brands / Twirlywoos

Where will your Twirlywoos Big Red Boat take you?? At 2 years of age, Neve is an incredibly happy and inquisitive child, who loves nothing more than to ‘help’ Mummy and be involved with the days’ activities. Just like her favourite Twirlywoos character Great BigHoo, she loves to try and make sense of the world around her, asking “Why?” a LOT, and is keen to understand how things work. She also has one hell of an imagination, so one of my favourite things to do is simply to sit and watch her play with her toys. She loves to act out little scenes with her characters, and I often wonder what it would be like to be inside her mind for a while!

We are big lovers of craft and creative play in this household and in recent months we have been attempting to be more sustainable as a family, making play activities for the girls from items that would otherwise have been thrown away or recycled. It’s been a massive hit. As a fun preschool activity, not only is the process of creating the toys an adventure in itself, but the finished toys provide hours of fun afterwards whilst they bring their finished creations to life.

Entertaining pre-schoolers doesn’t have to be expensive – sometimes all you need is the great outdoors and a little sprinkle of imagination.

Make your own Twirlywoos Big Red Boat 

Neve is a big fan of the Twirlywoos – she loves the bright colours, the cute and friendly characters, the happy music and the laughter, but most of all she loves The Big Red Boat. So much so in fact, we decided our next challenge would be to make one of our own.

To make our Twirlywoos Big Red Boat, we gathered up lots of cardboard over the course of a week that would have otherwise gone in the recycling, including boxes from parcel deliveries, wrapping paper inner tubes and toilet rolls. The idea wasn’t to create a perfect replica of the Twirlywoos Big Red Boat but something that Neve would immediately recognise, letting her imagination set to work to do the rest. If you want to make a Big Red Boat yourself, you will also need some red and gold paint, scissors or a craft knife (for the adults!) and a glue gun (or strong parcel tape would also do the job).

Daddy set to work on creating the basic boat shape, using a large sheet of cardboard for the base, cutting the curve of the bough, and then folding up the sides to become a foundation / support flap for the sides, which were then constructed using other large pieces of cardboard. We wanted the boat to be big enough for a few of us to sit in (why let the adventures be limited to just Neve?!), however you can cut back the scale if you only have smaller boxes to hand.

Once the basic boat shape had been constructed (and with Neve already very VERY keen to get inside!) Daddy then cut two circles from the side to make portholes, whilst Neve, Erin and I set to work painting the gold circles for the frames.

You can stop here if you wish, however, we also wanted to create the taller back of the boat with another port hole to play peekaboo. Daddy used another piece of cardboard to become the curved section of the boat, fixing it into place using the flaps from the original box as a supportive base.

You can see more about how we bought our Big Red Boat to life in the video below:

Creative Twirlywoos Preschool Fun

Neve knew straight away that the boat should be painted red, and was very keen to get started. We accepted that this was probably going to make a bit of a mess, laying out a dust sheet and giving her a bit of freedom to experiment!

She has always loved painting, and painting is a great way to help build hand eye coordination in toddlers. Neve loved holding the brush (in her left hand at that!) and being given the chance to feel creative and important, using the brush to dab, create smooth strokes, and blot the red paint on to the box. It was great fun to do together, and I was able to guide and support her, encouraging her to dip more gently when she scooped up too much paint and it splashed. Occasionally I’d ask for a photo, and she’d tell me she was “too busy” 🙂

Painting the Twirlywoos Big Red Boat was really enjoyable and a pleasant change from our normal day to day activities! We were able to chat about what we were doing as we went along, with her following basic instructions such as aiming for the parts that weren’t already painted red.

After lots and lots of painting, and hour or so to dry, Mummy was able to stick the final gold pieces in place, and add the string to the front, whilst the girls went for a (much needed!) bath. Finally our finished Twirlywoos Big Red Boat came to life.

The Finished Twirlywoos Big Red Boat

Neve was so proud of her Twirlywoos creation and was desperate to get inside, pretending to drive with her imaginary steering wheel. There was plenty of room for her to sit in the front, and we bought down our little step from the bathroom so she could sit a little higher up and check out the view.

She particularly enjoyed playing peekaboo through the portholes, bending down so she could peep through the holes in the sides of the boat, and then walking around to peer through the one at the back.

She also loved looking through our makeshift periscope – looking out for oncoming guests and a visit from the Very Important Lady!

Getting the Twirlywoos Characters involved

Of course no journey in the Big Red Boat would be complete without the Twirlywoos characters coming along too! Great BigHoo, Toodloo, Chickedy and Chick sat with Neve in the front, keeping a look out through the portholes and balancing on the front of the boat. It was so cute listening to Neve nattering away to them as she tried to get them to balance without being held.

Sharing the Twirlywoos Big Red Boat

Over the last week our Twirlywoos Big Red Boat has been on a whole host of adventures, with Mummy and Neve’s big sister coming along too. We’ve had more hours of fun from this home made creation than I ever would have imagined, with us now storing it in the shed and bringing it out far more regularly than I first anticipated! I love the idea of incorporating the The Box into our Big Red Boat, adding some surprise activities into a box stashed inside, letting Neve open it up to reveal an exciting treat, a little tea set or some instruments.

With her sister sharing in the fun, their imaginations have really come to life, holding on tight and rocking side to side as they battled choppy waves approaching the shore, and even enjoying a picnic inside as they stopped for a well earned break. Whilst it may have looked like a child sat in a carboard boat to me, to Neve I imagine it looked somewhat like this…

If you’re looking for fun ways to entertain your little ones on a budget this Summer, I can strongly recommend creating your own Twirlywoos Big Red Boat – who knows where your adventures will take you?

*Disclosure – This is a collaborative post. We are Twirlywoos Ambassadors for 2019*

Like this post? Why not check out our Teletubbies Playdate post too?