To change things up from my regular posts, I decided to write instructions on how to make a simple catapult. I’m a Den Leader for my local Webelos cub scouts group and we are working on the engineering activity badge. One of the requirements of the activity badge is to built a catapult. This catapult can be used as a craft idea for kids on a slow weekend or it can be used as a school project.
When finished, I found that the best items to launch from this type of catapult was mini marshmallows commonly found for a few dollars at a grocery store.
I chose a simple design that would be easy for the boys to follow and would allow plenty of time to launch marshmallows at a target. Many designs (including the one provided in the scout handbook) were fairly complex and would require a long time to built. Some I saw were just as big as the scouts themselves. After following these instructions, it only took the scouts about 10 minutes to complete everything and start participating in trying out their new catapult.
If you’d like to print these instructions, download this PDF.
Materials
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Instructions
Step 1 – Take 7 of the craft sticks and tie a rubber band tightly around one end.
Step 2 – Tie another rubber band tightly around the opposite end so all 7 sticks are bound together.
Step 3 – Take the remaining 2 sticks and tie a rubber band on one of the ends. Try to tie the band close to the edge of the sticks.
Step 4 – Insert the 7 sticks banded together through the 2 stick bundle as shown in the illustration below.
Step 5 – Tie a rubber band in a cross fashion joining the two pieces. The closer the 7 stick bundle gets to the edge, the more leverage the catapult will have.
Step 6 – Use a few rubber bands and attach the plastic spoon on the end.
If these instructions helped you in anyway, please leave me a comment or link to this page so others can find these instructions as well.
That rocks. Nice work mr. cub master.
that worked great!!!!!
You rock
Tnx MAN!!!!
nice catapault model
it is so smart i think i will try that .. THANK YOU I reall like your ideas
great idea, will be using this with my son’s scout group.
thank you sooooo much this really helped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for the great idea. We plan to give these out to Webelos II scouts visiting our troop open house.
Sweet, so easy and just what I needed. Thank you!
COOL I WILL TRY IT
thats sweeeeeeeet
awsome it shoots so far
for a small thing
This is easy and neat.
this is cool im sorry for telling u the wrong thing before it rocks u rock man thank u for the great ideahs kkep up the great work
thanks this really helped
hi dude i had this project and i got great thanks i am in grade4
that is great for my science project!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much, this sounds like a great project to do with kids
I made these with my Cub Scouts today, and they loved them! Thanks for the great idea!
Hi I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pleased with my catapult it is amazing!!!!!!!!!!
extra credit baby- 10 extra points(; thanks soooooo much!
omg that really work thanks <3
Thank you so much for this! I am using it for my cub scouts this afternoon. It was simple and fun to make and it works really well.
Thx using this for 6th gr and who said girls couldn’t do this? 🙂
it worked 1 marshmallow went 18.5 feet
that was sooo coool and i thank u guys !!!!!!!!!+
Love this simple design. I will make these with my 3rd graders this week!
this project was great but a little difficult. great job!!!!!!!!!! Its awesome!
Thanks sooo much! perfect for my social studies class!
Excellent idea and easy to make.
The only issue I had was that they tended to shoot straight up. I fixed this by taping the whole contraption to the side of a cup.
Kids had a blast!
this is exactly what I needed for my webelos! The easiest catapault ever!
i used this design at a 4-h camp for kids age 8-13 and they all loved it. great idea.
Awesome!!!!!!!!! I have this science project and Im hoping this will get me an A+ Thanks
You saved our lives! You are the best!
This sounds amazing I think I’m going to use this for my project hope I do good bro ho!
Thank you! You just gave me an idea in making my catapult.
Although we are required to make it using barbecue sticks instead of Popsicle sticks, still you gave me a nice idea on how to make it.
Again, Thank you very much!!! ;3
Thank you for posting this idea! I really appreciate it when people post their great ideas and share! We are doing a science group this year and this is perfect- we’ll have to coordinate it with the engineering merit badge as well- great idea!
I found this project via pinterest, and we will be making this for a craft at my son’s 7th birthday party (vikings and dragons!). I know this will be a huge hit!!
This helped me out With my physics class! Thanks a Lot. (:
Thank you. So easy. I was dreading this and it only took 4 minutes.
Sweet sassy molassey!
Perfect catapult project for our den meeting
Nice no glue quick design we will be using in our simple machine unit (7th grade) Thanks.
What a great set of directions! I just linked to this post on my blog. Thanks for sharing.
http://blog.moneytrail.net/2013/01/indoor-kids-activities-on-budget.html
Minimal required items and inexpensive too. Super idea and so glad to have found this link! Husband is headed to a ranch with over 100 kids and this will be perfect for his group’s project. Thank you.
Ask around for these sticks. a box of 100 from a vet supply runs about $0.70.
Awesome and Simple.
I may post a video in how they work.
Thanks for the awesome web page on this!
I also plan to make 2 or 3 different wedges to help my kids learn to shoot farther or less far.
Great idea to use for my Tech System project
wow. this really helped me build something for camp!
this has given me a great idea for my school project keep think peace out
I think this is very helpful. Thanks:).