Are you looking for a fun activity to do with your kids this weekend? Check out how easy it is to create a homemade catapult using some simple supplies in your house. My husband found this book called Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction and decided it would be perfect for our kids. Here are the simple steps to create a homemade catapult using pencils, rubber bands and a plastic spoon.

This post includes affiliate links.

How to Make a Homemade Catapult

Making a homemade catapult is an easy project to do with your kids this weekend! All we had to do was gather our supplies and follow the directions.

Materials Needed

5 pencils
2 ink pens
a handful of rubberbands
a plastic spoon

We created a triangle out of 3 pencils and rubberbands.

Then we connected 2 more pencils and attached them to the first triangle build. The 2 ink pens became side stabilizers. The book suggested using a bottle cap and a knife. They wanted me to cut little holes on each side of the bottle cap and then use it to pull back and launch the ammo. But I couldnt’ get holes cut in the bottle cap. So instead, we just pushed a spoon through the rubberband center.

We picked a few berries off the closest tree and our homemade catapult was ready.

My son and my husband were both super impressed. Now I think we’ll be trying some of the other weapon designs next week.

About the Book

We’ve come a long way from the Peashooter Era: with the advent of modern household products and office supplies—binder clips, clothespins, rubber bands, ballpoint pens, toothpicks, paper clips, plastic utensils, and (of course) matches and barbeque lighters—troublemakers of all stripes have the components needed to build an impressive, if somewhat miniaturized, arsenal.

Toy designer John Austin provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for each project, including materials and ammo lists, clear diagrams, and construction tips, for mayhem-loving MacGyvers. The 35 devices include catapults, slingshots, minibombs, darts, and combustion shooters. Build a tiny trebuchet from paper clips and a D-cell battery. Wrap a penny in a string of paper caps to create a surprisingly impressive “bomb.” Several of the projects even include variations where combatants mount laser pointer sights to their shooters to increase their accuracy.

You can order Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: Build Implements of Spitball Warfare from Amazon.

Have you ever built a homemade catapult? Got any great tips? We’d love to hear!

I use Amazon affiliate links. That means if you click on my link, I will receive some small compensation.