straw rockets!! (quick + easy, and so much fun)

You'll have to excuse me. I write maybe two posts a week, but I work on an average of three or four projects in that amount of time. Often more. Sometimes, projects like these straw rockets from February (February, for Pete's sake) get lost in the fray. It's a bit sad; there's a lot of good stuff in that stack of bypassed blog entries.

These are fun for birthdays any time of year (as party favors or as an activity), for Independence Day, or just because it's summer! If you keep back from trees (so none of the rockets get lost in the branches), they're super impressive at the park. Whose rocket can go the highest? Whose can go the furthest? Who can hit a target?

Materials needed:

• large diameter bubble tea or milkshake straws (you can make two rockets from each straw)
• smaller diameter milkshake straws or regular drink straws that can fit inside the larger straws (one per person, labeled with a piece of tape)
• staples + stapler
• washi tape
• scissors


To make:

The smaller straws (not pictured) are the "launchers". Each child will need his or her own, because the rockets are fired by blowing into the thinner straws. Label each with washi tape and a permanent pen to make sure you're not spreading germs.


Each larger straw will make two rockets. Cut one in half. If your straws have a sharp point, cut that off too, so no one gets injured.

Staple one end shut. (The launcher will fit into the other end.)

Use washi tape to make tips and fins, as shown. Trim into the right shape with scissors.

Repeat for each of your other stapled straw halves, until you have a nice assortment of rockets.

To fire:

Insert launch straw into open base of rocket.

Aim at target or up into the sky, and blow! Depending on the amount of force, these can blip up just a bit, or shoot ten feet in the air; it's all in how fast air moves through the launcher.

And there you have it: one perfectly good (no dust at all, I promise) project I meant to post four months ago. Have a good launch!


Linking up to:
Lou Lou Girls 
I Should Be Mopping the Floor