It would be interesting to see which design shoots the farthest. You can make multiple catapults using the same design, or you can make one of each catapult design.

Make multiple catapults and see who can launch the ball the farthest! Hurl balls at the castle and blast the castle wall open! Just make sure the blocks are not too heavy so that the balls have enough force to knock them over. There are so many fun activities you can do with a popsicle stick catapult! You will find that your child may come up with his own ideas, but here are some to get you started: Attack the Castle:īuild a castle with some lightweight blocks or even LEGO bricks (without snapping the pieces together). You never know what they absorb and remember! Popsicle Stick Catapult Activities However, you can always try to explain everything in simple terms and start introducing the concept of force and motion to them.

If you have preschoolers, Newton’s laws may be a little complicated for their minds. Then when the ball hits the ground, it bounced and rolled until the friction of the floor eventually stopped it. You can also explain to your kid that because of gravity and air friction, the ball was pulled down to the ground instead of flying in the air forever. The action of letting go of the spoon causes the reaction of the ball getting launched. The force of the spoon exerted on the ball produces acceleration upward and makes the ball fly into the air. When you pull back the spoon and let go, you overcome the ball’s inertia and fling the ball into the air. The ball is not going to launch itself without you applying force. You can explain to your child how without touching the catapult, nothing happens. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.When an external force acts on a body, it produces an acceleration (change in velocity) of the body in the direction of the force.An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.You probably heard of Newton’s Three Laws of Motion ( source):

The biggest benefit of STEM projects is that you can show your kids the science visually, which helps them understand the concepts. The Science Behind the Popsicle Stick Catapult

Catapult pictures