St. Patrick’s Day is coming up next week, and we’ve got a super fun activity you can do with your little Leprechauns – Lucky Charms Catapults! This simple and exciting project is an awesome way to get the whole family engaged and help your children learn about physics. Trust us, you will not have to ask your kids twice if they want to launch some Lucky Charms!
Here’s what you’ll need to make your catapults:
- Lucky Charms Cereal (Yum!)
- Plastic Spoons
- Rubber Bands
- Craft Sticks (make sure they are JUMBO!) – You’ll need 9 per catapult
- Optional! St. Patrick’s Day Washi Tape
- Optional! St. Patrick’s Day stickers to decorate your catapult
- Optional! Any color cauldrons (or you can use solo cups)
Now let’s make some Lucky Charms Catapults! First take 7 jumbo craft sticks and tie a rubber band around one end. Make sure you tie the rubber band tightly.
Once you have one end tightened, tie another rubber band tightly around the opposite end. You should have 2 sticks left (have your kiddo count out the sticks and help you with these steps!).
Take the last 2 sticks and tie a rubber band on one of the ends, making sure to wrap the rubber band as close as you can to the edge of the sticks. Insert the 7-stick bundle in between the 2 sticks. Tie a rubber band in a cross fashion joining the 2 pieces around the 7-stick bundle. To give your catapult more leverage, you can place the 7-stick bundle close to the edge. For the final step of making your catapult, attach the plastic spoon on the open end with another rubber band. Once the catapults are made, your kids can have some fun decorating them.
Okay… Time to grab your Lucky Charms cereal and your pots or cups (this is optional). If you choose to set up targets, try lining them up in a shape of your choice and adding point values to each one.
Divide up the marshmallows so each child gets their own marshmallow shape(s). Throw some more math into your activity by having your kids count how many marshmallows they have.
Now for the fun part! Grab your catapults and your marshmallows. Take turns catapulting your marshmallows into the pots or cups. Once you have shot all your marshmallows, go look in the pots or cups and add up all the points that you made. Let’s see who can get the highest score!
If your kids decide they do not want to set up targets, see how high they can shoot their marshmallows in the sky!
See the full experiment and the science behind it from Joy in the Works HERE.
As always, get as creative as you want, and above all, have lots of fun learning together!
We’ll see you right back here next Saturday for another STEAM Saturday activity! Scroll through the rest of our website to learn how Critchlow Adkins is Building Brighter Futures for the children and families we serve!
