How to build a simple catapult

My kids love launching things into the air.  We made these simple catapults a while ago to launch packing peanuts.  When we were asked to build some simple catapults for a group game, the kids were really excited.

These little wooded catapults are so easy to build, and were also able to use left over wood from another project.  Love that!  Simply measure and cut a 1 x 4 32″ long and a another piece 3 1/2″ long.  Next cut a 2 x 4 to 3 1/2″ long.  Once you have all your pieces cut, screw both the 3 1/2″ pieces 8 – 10″ from one end.  Done!  Now your ready to launch.

Notice that the front catapult had 2 2x 4′s as the base and the back catapult uses a 2×4 and a 1×4.  Play around a bit to see which works best for you.  The kids liked the one made with the1x4.

Simply find something small items to launch, stomp on the end and watch it fly.  Smaller items like marshmallows, microfilm canisters, soft toys etc all worked great.

I love her look of determination!

The kids enjoyed both launching and catching the flying objects.

Yes, your seeing correctly.  My husband and a good friend decided to take launching small items a step further.  They built a small fire ball and sent it flying.  I’m sure you are wondering what they were thinking, well I can’t answer that question;)  Although since I knew the fire launch was going to take place, we made sure we had plenty of water on hand and waited for a wet rainy day.

It was pretty amazing to see how far and high the fire ball went.  It looked like a comet flying through the air.  Even though this was pretty amazing to see, we will be sticking to safer items to launch in the future.  Hope you enjoy building and playing with these easy to build catapults!

Here is a link to a fun list of great experiments that my kids love.