![]() ![]() Wrap the two perpendicular sticks with a rubber band. Place the popsicle stick with the cap on top of the stack, again perpendicular.Slide another popsicle stick between the bottom-most stick in the pile and the rest of the stacked sticks, perpendicular to the pile.Stack 6-8 popsicle sticks on top of one another and secure both ends with rubber bands.Glue the plastic cap to one end of one popsicle stick.pom poms (or something else small to catapult).Plastic cap (I used the lid to an old spice jar, but a milk jug cap or something similar would work, too).If you have a little knight in shining armor who needs battle practice, here’s what you’ll need for your own catapult. He loves testing its limits and seeing how far he can make it go, and I’ve started trying to help him to learn about aiming by having him try to shoot the little pom-poms into a plastic bin. This popsicle stick catapult is nothing crazy complicated, but Little Man has pulled it out over and over again in the months since we made it. Rather than fight the beast, I try to find structured ways for Little Man to unleash the destruction-loving boy inside. Experiment with different distances, and even different amounts of popsicle sticks in the stack, to see what works best.Sometimes, boys just need to throw things. When the stacked popsicle sticks are farther from the elastic on the spoon, the objects tend to be shot straight up in the air. The closer they are to the elastic, the farther the projectile will go. You can also change the angle of the catapult by moving the stacked popsicle sticks closer to the elastic on the spoon. If your spoon is flexible enough, pull it right down to the table before releasing it to get more speed. Try pulling the spoon down at different angles. Then gravity plays a part, bringing the load back down. Releasing the arm changes the potential energy to kinetic energy, sending the load flying. ![]() Pulling down the arm of the catapult is force, which creates potential energy. An object stays at rest until an external force is applied. How levers work can be explained using Newton’s Laws of Motion. You push the arm (plastic spoon) over the fulcrum (popsicle sticks) to launch the load (tin foil balls, or whatever you choose). ![]() These popsicle stick catapults are a simple machine called a lever. You definitely want heavier duty rubber bands for this experiment. ![]() We first tried using rainbow loom elastics, but they were too loose. If you don’t have asparagus elastics, thicker elastics, like size #64 rubber bands, will work the best. We used the elastics that were around our asparagus bunches, and they worked perfectly. Make a prediction about which object you think will fly the farthest! Which elastics are best for a popsicle stick catapult? Try paper balls, marshmallows, eraser tops, bottle caps, or pom poms. But you can send any object flying with these catapults (within reason!!), which makes them so much fun. Objects with a bit of weight to them, like a ball of tin foil, are the perfect projectile. What type of projectiles work best in popsicle stick catapults? The full printable instructions are at the end of this post, but here’s a list of products on Amazon that are similar to the supplies we used: If you use these links to buy something we may earn a small commission which helps us run this website. Looking for more DIY games? Here’s some of our favourites: ![]()
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