Homeschool How To: Build your own lighthouse

We made a lighthouse! We knew we were taking a family vacation to Long Beach Island, New Jersey where Barnegat Lighthouse is so I thought a lighthouse unit would be fun for Mr. T. And what better way to get a hands on learner interested than to make our very own Barnegat replica. It was easy and fun.

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First, figure out what lighthouse you want to make. If you stick with one that is simply a tall cylindar this is the method that worked for us. We got a styrofoam cone, round glass candle holder, double mirrored compact and paper at Hobby Lobby. I already had Mod Podge Matte Finish and a glue gun. We cut the top of the cone off fare enough that a metal apple juice lid fit perfectly on the top. We made a 50/50 mix of water and Mod Podge Matte Finish and took the strips of wrapping paper and paper mached away. The glue mix does drip through the styrofoam so you want it on a non-stick surface to dry. We used a plastic wrapped tray and it worked great.

For the light part, it needed to rotate, so this is what we came up with. The apple juice lid (the top of the cap goes down toward the lighthouse base) with a nail through it made spinning on top of the tower easy, and allows for the glass to come off for storage and safekeeping. (Mr. T is just 3, after all.) The glass globe got hot glued to the juice lid, and the compact got glued inside of the glass. The candle was also secured onto the compact with a dab of hot glue.

Here's our finished Barnegat Lighthouse (after some craft paint) next to a picture from our trip of the real "Old Barney". And I'm proud to say that Mr. T climed all 217 steps to the top and most of them on the way back down!


Here's a video of Mr.T bringing a ship "home" by the light of our Barnegat. We have to play lighthouse at least every other day. I'm so excited that he loved it so much!


These are some of the books we've used with our unit. Beacons of Light by Gail Gibbons, always great illustrations and fun to read with my little guys. The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge: Restored Edition is a beautifully illustrated vintage tale about the little red lighthouse on the Hudson River. It's a heartwarming story and I know we will be reading it for several years. Lighthouses for Kids is a great activity book with all sorts of great knowledge, but it ended up being a little old for Mr. T just yet so we are going to pull it out again next year.

So which lighthouse are you going to make? Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome weekend!

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