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This week, several excellent bloggers have teamed up to provide a play series of ideas for what to do with ALL of the candy that will be entering our homes this month! Here is our contribution to the series - candy corn catapults!

We're going to show you four different catapult versions that can all be built with items from around this house. However, it would also be fun to just provide the materials and let your kids experiment with building the best catapult. Building and testing catapults to see which shoot candy corn the farthest would make a fun fall playdate!

Some friends of ours helped us come up with good catapult designs, and all of the boys (8 boys total!) had fun launching candy corn!

"Wow! Look at all those boys! Are ALL those boys yours?"

"No, this time they're not, actually! In this photo four are mine, and two are friends." 🙂

Whoa! That one went far!

Here are the catapults we built!
Catapult #1: Pencil Catapult
Aidan designed this catapult completely on his own. He built it out of unsharpened pencils, rubber bands, and a plastic spoon.

This catapult shoots well. It's a little unpredictable, but fun overall. It would also be easy for kids to build on their own.
Catapult #2: Wide Craft Stick Catapult
We saw the idea for this catapult on Kids Activities Blog. This catapult is easy to build out of wide craft sticks and rubber bands. However, it shoots up towards the ceiling, and not very far forward. The older boys were not happy with the distance. I will say, however, that this is the best design for young kids. Owen (age 4) could shoot this catapult easily, and he didn't care where it shot - he just had fun launching candy corn! We built our version with a plastic spoon, and our friends built theirs with a bottle cap. The bottle cap is definitely easier for little hands to shoot.
Catapult #3: Popsicle Stick Catapult
Aidan and I built this catapult out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and a plastic spoon. It is more difficult to put together, but it shoots at a good angle, and it shoots far!

This is how it shoots. The popsicle stick that goes across at the top stops the spoon and ensures that the candy corn is launched at the right angle.

We used the instructions in this YouTube video to build this catapult. The video explains it much better than I could!
Catapult #4: Siege Catapult
Aidan's friend built this awesome catapult out of clothes pins, craft sticks, binder clips, rubber bands, duct tape, and a plastic spoon.

The design for this catapult was modified from the siege catapult in Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: Build Implements of Spitball Warfare. Please note that this book has a lot of fun projects, but it's not actually geared toward kids. The title is very tongue-in-cheek and refers to cubicle workers building mini weapons out of office supplies.

The siege catapult was a lot of fun, and Aidan is dying to build one just like it! But first, we have to go to the store for binder clips.
Be sure to visit these fantastic blog for more fun science activities involving CANDY!

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Candy Corn Catapults! (Four ways to build a catapult out of items from around the house!)

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This week, several excellent bloggers have teamed up to provide a play series of ideas for what to do with ALL of the candy that will be entering our homes this month! Here is our contribution to the series - candy corn catapults!

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Here's a collection of simple and beautiful flower crafts for kids! These flower crafts are perfect for spring and summer, and most of these projects use craft supplies that you probably already have on hand. We love crafting with felt, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, and things from the recycling bin. There's even a flower project with LEGO bricks! These Pipe...

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Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls - Engaging activities for kids of all ages.

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Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls is a place to find fun activities that kids will LOVE: LEGO building ideas, STEM activities, and play ideas for active kids!

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Five engineering challenges for kids - with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It's a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love.
Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys. The first time we got them out, Owen (almost 7) spent well over an hour busily creating all kinds of designs. And that's saying something, because out of all of our kids he has the shortest attention span by far.

Kids will have a blast just exploring with these materials, and it's a great activity for hand-eye coordination. After they have had a chance to experiment with building, expand the activity with these fun engineering challenges!
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Materials Used:
We used a train table board as a building surface.
Challenge #1: Build a structure that can support the most possible weight.
For this one, you could either challenge kids to build a true bridge, or just a structure that supports weight.

Two clothespins with a craft stick between them make great supports for a structure.

We couldn't believe how much weight this could hold! We didn't keep going to find the capacity on this one, but Gresham built another one that held many, many chapter books (about 25!) before collapsing!

Then we tried building bridges. Gresham came up with this design.

Then he tested the strength of his design with books.

It held 8 books and then collapsed, which was not too bad!

Then we tried a bridge with triangles in the design (since I knew that triangles are a stronger shape).

As expected, this one held a lot more weight. It collapsed after 13 books.
Challenge #2: Build the tallest structure.
Colored craft sticks make this whole activity a work of art as well as design!

This was Owen's tallest structure that he built completely himself (he's almost 7).

And Aidan's (age 12.5). As you can see, this is an activity that works well for a wide range of ages.
Challenge #3: Build the tallest structure with the fewest clothespins.
It doesn't seem like it would be possible, but we were able to build structures with only two clothespins at the bottom!
Challenge #4: What can you build with triangles?
This one was my favorite. Triangles lend themselves to really neat designs.

Owen started this one, and I made it into a hexagon. I never would have thought to balance the triangles on the binder clips the way he did, but it worked very well!

Here is Aidan's triangle design.
Challenge #5: Build a domino chain.
Gresham discovered that he could make "dominoes" out of craft sticks and clothespins!
Then we came up with several designs that didn't really fit any particular challenge. The kids just had a great time exploring!
Who knew clothespins could be so much fun?
Order Supplies on Amazon:
I am storing our "building set" in a plastic shoebox. We have about 36 binder clips, 150 craft sticks, and about 50 clothespins. That has been plenty for three kids building at one time. If you have a classroom of kids, you might want to get more.
Also, be sure to check out our Engineering Challenges with Craft Sticks, Cups, and Wooden Cubes!

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5 Engineering Challenges with Clothespins, Binder Clips, and Craft Sticks

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Five engineering challenges for kids - with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It's a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love. Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys.

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What you need

Activity

Print out the free template onto coloured card stock.

Cut along all the unbroken lines on the template. The broken lines are fold lines, so don't cut along those.

Cut around the outline of the card.

Fold on the fold lines to make the heart pop up.

Add a contrasting backing card to make it even fancier.

Hints and tips:

You don't have to have fancy paper, your child can colour and decorate a plain white version of the card and you can then help cut it out.

For younger kids, you'll find a simpler version of this card here.

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Print out the free template onto coloured card stock. Cut along all the unbroken lines on the template. The broken lines are fold lines, so don't cut along those. Cut around the outline of the card. Fold on the fold lines to make the heart pop up.

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krokotak - Red and White PAPER DOLLS... | Facebook

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could plant some sweet peas

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I've started some flower seeds today. I'm thinking I should have done this sooner but.....well......wait a minute.......I'm thinking........

I made newspaper pots to sow them in and get them started. The pots are super easy to make, free, and earth friendly. And once your seedlings are old enough to move out on their own you just pop them into the ground -- paper pot and all.

You could get fancy (and expensive) with this project. Purchased newspaper pot makers cost $25 or more. Sure, they're cute...

But they don't really make sense when I can whip out a can of Campbell's Soup that'll do the job for free and later sacrifice itself for dinner.

Tear a single sheet of newspaper in half and fold in thirds.

Wrap the paper around the can about 1/4" from the top edge. Not too tight -- you're going to have to slip it off.

Fold the bottom edge in like this...

Secure with tape and slip it off the can.

I fill the pots with dirt (also free) from my compost bin and keep the seedlings moist, not soggy, until they're ready to plant, pot and all.

If you enjoyed this post (and, gosh, I hope you did) please BECOME A FOLLOWER!

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I've started some flower seeds today. I'm thinking I should have done this sooner but.....well......wait a minute.......I'm thinking........ I made newspaper pots to sow them in and get them started. The pots are super easy to make, free, and earth friendly.

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This Instructable will show you how to make a simple, easy-to-make, easy-to-fly, paper kite that is great for kids.

Step 1: Materials

To make this kite, you will need:

1. 8.5"x11" piece of paper.

This is your standard copy paper size. Regular paper works fine, but I like card stock because it's a little sturdier. Use whatever you have. If you use plain white paper, let your kid color bright designs all over it before beginning the project.

2. A wooden skewer. A straight drinking straw works too.

3. Kite string. You can find this at a lot of department stores. If not, almost any strong but light string would work. Quilters' string is about the right thickness. Yarn may be too heavy, sewing thread too light. Fishing line is light but strong.

4. Ribbon. Most wide ribbon would work fine. I like using surveyors tape (available at hardware stores) because it's made of plastic, which is lighter (for a longer tail!) and durable. Surveyors tape comes in bright fluorescent colors that kids like.

5. Scissors or hole punch.

6. Tape.

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Step 2: Step 1

Start with your piece of paper:

Fold it in half.

Step 3:

Mark a point on the top of the paper about one inch from the fold.

Mark a point on the bottom of the paper about one inch from the open side.

Imagine, or draw, a line connecting these two dots.

Step 4:

Fold the top corner of the paper down along the line that you've just created.

Step 5:

Next, flip the paper over and fold the other side down to match the side you just folded.

Step 6:

Flip the paper back over so that it looks the way it did in Step 4.

Tape along the middle seam.

Step 7:

Lay a skewer across the kite, as shown, and tape it in place. You'll probably have to cut the skewer down to size with your scissors.

Step 8:

Flip the kite back over and straighten the "spine".

Step 9:

Mark a spot about a third of the way down the spine, and about half an inch from the edge. Put tape over this mark to reinforce it on both sides.

Use your hole punch or scissors to make a hole in this spot.

Tie your kite string through this hole. Make sure to use a good knot!

Step 10:

Tape a length of ribbon to the back of the kite, at the bottom.

If you use light ribbon like surveyors tape, the tail can be 6-10 feet long. Heavier ribbon should be shorter. You can experiment with the length; if it seems the kite can't hold up your ribbon as it flies, just trim it shorter.

Step 11:

Your kite is ready to fly!

These kites don't need very much wind to get lift, and are not the best for VERY windy days. A nice steady breeze is all it needs.

Remember, sometimes it takes practice to learn to fly a kite. Just remember to reel it in some if it looks like it's falling, and let out more string if it starts to tug hard. Make sure that middle "spine" is straight before the kite goes up.

Good luck!

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This Instructable will show you how to make a simple, easy-to-make, easy-to-fly, paper kite that is great for kids. To make this kite, you will need: 1. 8.5"x11" piece of paper. This is your standard copy paper size. Regular paper works fine, but I like card stock because it's a little sturdier.