Homemade Siege Weapons: Catapult Craft

For this craft you will need:

• 12 popsicle sticks
• Plastic Spoon
• Craft glue
• 2 clothespins
• Rubber band
• Mini marshmallows, cotton balls, or other small soft items
• Small village or castle to siege and ultimately pillage

Directions:

1. Lay 2 popsicle sticks (evenly) vertically on your work surface. Glue the rest of
    the popsicle sticks horizontally. Let dry. (Once dry, add in a third popsicle stick
    to the base if you think you need extra support.)

Space the base sticks 1 popsicle stick
length apart.

Third stick added to middle for extra
support.

2. Glue the clothespins on top of each other, facing the same direction. (Wipe
    off any glue that drips down.) Let dry.

3. Glue the clothespins onto the base. Try to set in the middle of the base. Let dry.

4. Next, wrap the rubber band around the top of the clothespin. You want it pretty 
    tight.

5. Place the spoon under the rubber band. Make sure it doesn't slide out and that
    the rubber band is tight enough.

Red rubber band is Step 4. I ended up using two rubber bands
to get more height to our launches. 

6. Attack!

Higgins shooting a left-over Peep at some
paper target circles. (Yes, we still have a
box of Peeps from Easter.) The Peeps fly
amazingly well. The mini marshmallows
did ok.

ALTERNATIVE: You could also use a block of wood as the base. Hot glue a clothespin in the middle, towards the back of the wood block. Glue a large popsicle stick to the end of clothespin. Let dry. Next, glue a cap from a plastic bottle (like water or soda) to the end of popsicle stick (leave a little space for them to press down on the stick). Load up the cap bucket and aim away!