Cranberry Catapult

To make this catapult, we started by making an X out of two sticks and putting a rubber band around them. Then, we stacked up 7 sticks and secured them with 2 rubber bands. Each of these rubber bands should be about halfway between the ends of the sticks and the middle of the sticks.

Now you are going to secure the X to the stack of sticks by using the rubber bands around the stack.

Set this aside to build another part of the catapult. After we do that, we'll come back to this. As a heads up, we'll call this the X piece.

For this part of the catapult, bring 3 sticks together and secure them with a rubber band. The 2 sticks on the outside need to be in one direction. These will be 1 side of a rhombus. The stick sandwiched on one end between the 2 sticks will be another side of the rhombus.

Grab another 3 sticks and complete your rhombus. On the side parallel to the one with 2 sticks, you'll have another 2 sticks. On the side parallel to the one with 1 stick, there will be another 1 stick.

Shift your sticks a little to make the shape a square.

Now you are ready to bring the X piece together with the square. Place the X on a side of the square. The X should be facing the inside of the square. Then secure it with 2 rubber bands - 1 on each side..

This is how things should look at this point.

Now, add a rubber band to the open end of the X piece. Slide the spoon between the rubber band. The back of the spoon should be towards the center of the square.

Now you are ready to launch! We chose cranberries as our ammunition since I had a few extra as I was preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. We were careful about where we were launching given the potential for stains or crushed berries. We also thought about heading outside for acorns. Or simply grabbing some pom poms.

This catapult was endless entertainment as we tried to launch cranberries into a large bowl. At first, there was some sharing amongst the kids. Then, we quickly made more catapults: one for each kid.