Summer Diary: Day 29: Handmade Catapult

I found this game in a book I recently borrowed from my library. The book is called Play These Games by Heather Swain. The book shows you how to use simple, everyday items around the house to create a variety of games!

This is just one game called "Button Catapult" that the girls & I made today.

 To make it you'll need...

• an empty thread spool

•a large rubber band

•a small rubber band

•buttons (we also used very tiny pebbles)

•a large wooden craft stick (or two regular popsicle sticks)

•an empy egg carton

•stickers or paper (to mark the points inside the egg cups)

Here's the instructions from the book on how to make the catapult. Click the picture for a larger image. Or, following are some steps I photographed to help you out too.

 Stick the large rubber band through the spool.

Lay the craft stick over the spool. 

 Hold onto one end of the rubber band, while you pull the opposite side of the rubber band over the craft stick & down around the bottom of the opposite spool to secure.

Zoey holds down the spool while I take the other side of the rubber band & do the same: pull it over the craft stick & down around the spool on the other side. 

And here it is: 

Take the small rubber band & wrap it near one end, 2 or 3 times around the craft stick. You can get a better picture of that by looking at the top photo in this post. This part is to hold the button (or pebble) in place so it won't slip & fall.

Now your catapult is all made. Hit your finger down on the end without the rubber band to launch your button, trying to land it into the egg carton. I used garage sale sticker price tags to mark points inside the egg carton because that's what I had on hand. (But be sure your children know that they will not actually get paid  for every shot they make. Because my girls thought that. haha!)

It took the girls & I several tries to get the hand of how to hit it. 

We found out that two regular sized popsicle sticks, side-by-side, works also. (And from our tests, they made the best catapults for us.)

I am in NO WAY being compensated for this post. I just love this book & wanted to share! I also found out, by googling, that Heather Swain wrote a previous book entitled Make These Toys. Can't wait to peek at that one too!

Funny enough, I found THIS link on Heather's blog, explaining an acorn catapult game----using the same instructions for this catapult. So, if you need a better explanation, check that link out. I could have sidestepped all my silly photos & just sent you there. Oh well!

Happy catapulting!

♥