The sail can be butcher paper or a piece of an old sheet, etc. We used a sheet of white packing foam we found in the refrigerator box. Of course, we also added a cardboard anchor and compass . I built the treasure chest myself. Teacher or parent make a small cloth bag with draw string for each child to keep.
Children make the gold found in the new world by spray painting rocks.
Use the gold to act out the adventures of Columbus and his men as they look for gold in new lands. Set out paper towel rolls for making telescopes, paper for making maps, scraps of flat Styrofoam, shoe boxes or other small boxes for making Nina, Pinta, Santa Marie, straws or dowels for the mast, roll of string or yarn for ropes, tape, etc. Before introducing the unit, teacher search the internet for useful information and pictures. Save the pictures and information to a disk. Copy some of the pictures to a editing program such as Paint where you can add labels to the pictures.