STEM time: Trebuchet building and launching | Mommy and Me Monday | 372nd ed

The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful this weekend. Even though I pay for it with my eyes and sneezes, it’s totally worth it.

Sunday morning we got up, went to church, had communion, daddy and the girls went to a playground and I hit the bullseye store and we were home by noon! It left a lot of the day.

N and I got to some building and playing with a trebuchet we were sent to review from MindWare.com.

We didn’t realize we were going to be building it first! Which turned out to be kind of fun. We worked together with the directions and parts and got it built. Yeah, we broke the “dry for 12 hours before using” rule. Who can wait 12 hours after building something to use it?

I should have timed us, but I didn’t. I would say we were done building in about 45 minutes and that’s because we did do a required 10 minute drying time. Over all, it was easy to put together. But, when in doubt, use more glue!

Our first couple launches were a bit troublesome. But, we kept trying. It turned out, we needed more counter weight in our basket. We just dumped some more change in it, and Mr. Serious captured our first successful launch.

We later moved to the grass because the launching balls were similar to ping pong balls and they bounced all over the driveway. I highly recommend the grass. (There was a pin to pull for launching, but our string wasn’t long enough, so we did it by hand.)

She and a neighbor kid set up different ranges for launching and kept score. We had fun experimenting with different weights in the basket and different launching positions. After our fun playing with it, they girls are going to bring them to school for their teachers and friends to play with.

Our kit also came with a catapult and wrecking ball set.

The Catapult allows you to test launch distance by adjusting the arm recoil or the height of the flight deck. What travels farther, a marshmallow or a piece of macaroni? The Trebuchet can vary its hurl by altering the counterweight; experiment to knock down a field of target planks using the two included balls. The Wrecking Ball is a master of destruction! Turn cranks, a winding drum, a removable boom and hoist rope provide huge impact and a smashing lesson on pendulums and the effects of energy and motion. 

Our family also had a fun time playing Twangled. You link up, step over and under and get yourselves in a good knot. Then, you have to work together to get untangled. Make sure you have a good grip on the handles because if you let go, you get untangled very easily!

Thank you to MindWare for sending these fun STEM activities. We’ve had a lot of fun together with them!

How was your weekend? Did you get in the picture?

GET IN THE PICTURE WITH YOUR KIDS! Who cares what you look like? Who cares how you appear? Who cares what you are wearing? JUST DO IT! Since the button code stopped working many moons ago, I took it out. But, if you are adding your link to my link list, please, as a courtesy, add a link back to my site so people can explain and link up themselves if they’d like. After all, that’s the point of the link up!

It’s time again for Mommy and Me Monday. Pop out from behind that camera and capture yourself in action with your kids. Check out the inaugural Mommy and Me Monday for more information.  Need another reason to participate in Mommy and Me Monday? Read my post about why I blog with words from a friend’s husband.