How To Make a Spoon Catapult

Catapults are fun for kids of all ages, and for five-year old G it provides hours of play. We use pompom balls as ammunition, so we don’t worry about hurting each other, or breaking things inside the house. The catapult itself uses very simple, everyday objects and can be made in just a couple of minutes (really!) I show how in a Youtube video at the bottom of this post. The demo also includes instructions on how to make paper targets. Since G is currently obsessed with the Harry Potter book series, I drew the troll from The Sorcerer’s Stone as a target. If you don’t feel like shooting paper villain targets, there are other ways to play with the catapult. For example, we have played to see who can get the farthest pompom ball:

or to attempt to get the balls through circular holes:

To make the catapult and the paper targets, you will need:

• 1 large binder clip
• 2 rubber bands
• 1 pen/ pencil (thicker ones work better)
• 1 plastic spoon
• some pompom balls
• Paper drawn with a target (you can get a free printable of Harry Potter villains here)
• Scissors
• Tape

And here’s the video demo of how to build. Enjoy!