Pellet Launchers

Making simple pellet launchers is great fun! There are two examples in this blog post of simple launchers we have made recently. The first one is simple, the second more complex!

Box Launcher:

L and A had great fun making this. We used a shoebox and added eyes and a mouth to it using bits and bobs we had around the house. We then coloured in the shoebox and L and A decided to make little signs to stick on it too. Finally, we added the launcher part. This involved sticking two pencils to the back of the shoebox and then placing an elastic band around them. We made pellets from scrunched up bits of paper. Then simply pull back the elastic band with a pellet on it and let go  wheee!!!

Trebuchet:

This is for older kids. L and I worked pretty hard to get this correctly built! It does work pretty well though and L was able to learn a little bit about trebuchets and Middle Age weaponry as we as engineering! The full instructions for this project can be found here.