Workshops - Junior Builders

Offered every Sunday and Thursday throughout the summer, our Junior Builders program teaches kids practical skills while sparking a curiosity about local heritage. Participants work together to assemble a full-size dory and enact a traditional boat launch, followed by demonstrations on buoyancy and stability. Each participant assembles their own model sailboat and we end the afternoon testing them out in the nearby brook. Be sure to bring rubber boots!

All participants take home heir model boats and receive a Junior Boat Builder Certificate at the end of the day.

Children will learn:

• types of boats in Newfoundland and their uses

• differences between a flat and round bottom boat

• modern and traditional names for parts of the boat

• compass directions

• how a boat floats

• traditional tool use, including hand drill, hand plane, and caulking iron and mallet

• traditional skills such as net knitting and caulking with oakum

• nautical folklore about boat launching, superstitions and weather

Safety: The workshop begins with a small talk regarding safety and the importance of being careful when working with tools. Children are provided with safety goggles for the workshop and Museum staff are present to ensure continued safety throughout.