How does rowing make a boat move?

Listen. Splash, swish, splash. A little wooden boat glides slowly across a calm, quiet lake. It has no motor to hum and no sail to catch the wind.

A person sits inside, holding two long poles in both hands. With every swing of the poles, the boat slides along the water. How does rowing make a boat move?

The person in the boat is the rower. The rower holds two oars, which means two long poles for rowing a boat. One oar reaches out on each side, like two long arms.

Each oar ends in a blade, which means a wide, flat end that goes in the water. The blade is wide so it can push lots of water at once. A thin stick would just slip through the water.

First, the rower dips both blades into the water. Then the rower pulls the oars hard. The blades push the water toward the back of the boat. Which way do you think the boat will go?

The boat goes the other way, toward its front! As the blades push the water back, the water pushes the blades forward. The oars sit in small rings on the boat, so that push carries the boat forward too.

Next, the rower lifts the blades out of the water. The rower swings the oars back to the start, up in the air. Up there, the blades cannot push the boat backward, so the boat keeps gliding.

Then the rower dips the blades in and pulls again. Dip, pull, lift. Each pull gives the boat one more push forward, and on it glides across the lake.

Oar, blade. The rower's oar blades push water back, so the water pushes the boat forward.

Sleep well, little one, and may your dreams glide softly across a quiet, silver lake.