Helping your your kids learning while onboard your boat can be beneficial. We know ongoing learning is not only good, but also enjoyable.

Here are some ways to bring learning onboard your boat this summer, without your kids grumbling over the lesson plan.

Knot Tying

The minute your kids can tie their shoes, they can learn to tie a bowline. Graduate them on to a clove hitch, a square knot, a figure-eight knot, and more.

If you have two or more kids, consider making a game out of it: Whoever can tie a knot properly the fastest gets to pick the next new knot to learn.

Navigational Know-How

Kids just learning to read can learn to identify speed and other basic data on your helm instruments. If you have a touchscreen chartplotter, these same little ones can learn what a way-point is, and how to tap a position on screen to mark one.

School-age children, and teens can help map out routes in advance. Similarly, they can ensure plotted courses don’t coincide with submerged objects or land masses.

Swim Lessons

This is especially helpful, and fun, if your kids can’t go to summer camp this year. Show them how to properly enter the water from your boat, and safely swim around it. Have them count the number of strokes it takes to swim from the bow to the stern, and back (bonus: they’ll be so tired at day’s end they’ll go straight to sleep, without a fuss).

Cooking Classes

If your boat has a galley, involve all ages in meal planning and preparation. Flex their math muscles (without them knowing it) by adapting recipes to the number of people in your family