Zucchini Boats

Ever wonder what to do with all that zucchini from your garden? If your garden is anything like mine, the zucchini grows like crazy (and the cucumbers too)! We try to eat as much as we can by cooking, baking, and freezing it. I've even given some zucchini away to neighbors, friends, and co-workers. But even then, I still have left overs.  So the Zucchini Boats were born.

To make a zucchini boat, all you will need is 1 large zucchini (or cucumbers work great too), a sharp knife, a spoon, and any materials you want to use to decorate your boat.  I used a skewer stick and scrapbook paper.

We had enough zucchini and cucumbers for everyone in our family to have one.

First, we cut a hole in the top large enough for Barbie dolls to sit in.  You can skip this first step if you don't have any dolls or toys that you want to ride on your boat.

Next, carve out the zucchini out like you would carvie a pumpkin.  Use the spoon to remove the seeds.  Then we used skewer sticks and scrapbook paper to make a mast.  You can decorate your boats any way you want.

When our boats were ready, we took them up a nearby canyon and raced them down a little stream to see whose was the fastest.  The barbies made the boats a little top heavy so we raced them again without the dolls.

The kids had fun watching their boats float in the stream, fixing them when they go stuck and wading in the stream.  I packed a light picnic dinner which we ate on the bank of the stream.

If you did not want to go to the mountains you could use a kiddie pool, a gutter filled with water, or even a bathtub to watch your boats float or race.

Enjoy being creative!