Simple Craft Stick Catapults

Kids love building things, and when you add in the chance to fling a bit of candy? We are talking an instant hit!

Whether you are looking for a rainy day activity, awesome camp craft to do with scouts, or just something fun to do with your kids, this STEM activity is sure to be a hit.

Make your own craft stick catapults and let your child’s imagination soar.

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This is one kids STEM activity you will want to try!

For another craft stick STEM activity, try making your own balancing craft stick toy.

Craft Stick Catapult

Materials Needed:

Craft Sticks (7 for each catapult)
Plastic Spoons (stronger spoons, like these, work best)
Small Rubber Bands

To make future STEM projects at home easy, keep these most often used STEM supplies on hand.

How to build a craft stick catapult:

Stack 5 craft sticks on top of each other and secure both ends with a rubber band. (We used some of the colorful loom bands that seem to be everywhere in our kitchen.) This will be your crossbar.
Next, stack 2 craft sticks on top of each other and secure one end with a rubber band.
Carefully open up the 2 craft sticks and slide your stack of 5 in between them.
Then lay a plastic spoon on top of the top craft stick and secure both ends of the spoon to the craft stick. (As shown in the picture above.)
Finally, criss-cross one more rubber band around the area where the craft sticks intersect, holding it all in place.

Launching your craft stick catapult:

To launch your homemade catapult, simply hold one side of the crossbar while using one finger to push the spoon down and then — let go!

Extensions:

Try experimenting with how many craft sticks you use for your catapult. We tried using just 3 craft sticks for the crossbar (which caused the candy to not go as far). We also found 7 craft sticks also didn’t work very well.

Try taking the criss-crossing rubber band off one catapult and moving the crossbar up on the catapult to see how it effects the distance.

You might also want to try using different candy pieces. We found heavier ones didn’t fly as far, and smaller candy pieces flew further.

You could also use marshmallows, cotton balls, paper wads… Let the kids have fun seeing what will fly the farthest! We had a blast using marshmallow peeps in this catapult game.