What kid doesn’t love a catapult! So we came up with the idea for a Christmas catapult modeled after our first simple catapult. You only need a couple things which you might already have lying around. Of course if you want a Christmas themed catapult, grab some red and green popsicle sticks to get started! Learn about simple machines too! Join us as we celebrate the holiday season with festive and fun Christmas STEM activities for kids of all ages.

Explore STEM This Festive Season

Making a catapult is a great STEM activity for kids of all ages. A catapult uses math, engineering, and science in a very fun way. You could begin your activity by checking out some medieval catapults to see what they were originally used for.

A catapult is a simple machine design that uses a lever, and building one is one of our favorite Christmas STEM activities.

The supplies are simple, and you probably have everything you need in the junk drawer. The science behind it is awesome, and I love that you can explore physics with such a playful activity that gets the kids involved.

Hands-on learning is an excellent way to help kids understand what’s happening and to be a part of the learning process!

Use The Engineering Design Process For Christmas STEM

This season, why not pair the engineering design process with fun holiday themes including candy canes, gumdrops, Christmas trees… you get the picture!

Engineers often follow a design process. There are many different design processes that all engineers use but each one includes the same basic steps to identify and solve problems.

An example of the process is “ask, imagine, plan, create, and improve”. This process is flexible and maybe completed in any order.

READ MORE: STEM for Elementary Age kids

Remember, it’s ok to not get it right the first time. Good ideas take tweaking, designing and re-designing, testing and re-testing to get it right. Often it’s from our failures that we find success. STEM provides incredibly valuable life lessons for kids!

Helpful STEM Resources To Get You Started

Here are a few resources that will help you introduce STEM activities and challenges more effectively to your kiddos or students and feel confident yourself when presenting materials.

You’ll find tons of free printables, templates, and journal sheets throughout all of our activities or join us in the Library Club for instant access all year long!

FREE printable Christmas Catapult Worksheet!

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How Does A Catapult Work

Imagine you have a popsicle stick with a rubber band wrapped around it. When you pull the ends of the rubber band back and hook it onto the stick, you’re storing energy, like pulling back a bowstring on a bow and arrow. The rubber band wants to return to its original shape, but the popsicle stick holds it in place.

When you put a small object, like a small pom-pom, on the other end of the popsicle stick, it’s like loading your “launcher.” You hold the popsicle stick steady, and then you let it go.

The stored energy in the rubber band is released, and it quickly snaps forward. As it does, it sends the small object flying through the air, like a little catapult.

So, a popsicle stick catapult works by using the energy stored in a stretched rubber band to quickly launch a small object when you let go of the stick. It’s a fun way to learn about how energy can be used to make things move!

With a catapult you can…

  • Learn about a fulcrum point. The point that doesn’t move.
  • Learn about force.
  • Learn about a lever arm.
  • Learn about potential and stored energy.
  • Create a simple machine to test it all out!

Read about potential and kinetic energy here, and check out more simple machine projects.

Christmas Simple Catapult Holiday STEMPin

Christmas Catapult STEM Challenge

Check out our original simple catapult which shows a video and a variation in building.

Supplies:

  • 10 Jumbo popsicle sticks
  • 3 Rubber bands

Instructions:

Step 1: Stack eight popsicle sticks and wind tightly at either end with rubber bands.

Step 2: Make 2 notches, one on either side of each popsicle stick close to the end. Adults should do this part!

Christmas Simple Catapult Popsickle Sticks Rubber BandsPin

Step 3: Push one popsicle stick through the stacked sticks so that it rests on top of the bottom stick of the stack.

Step 4: Place the popsicle stick on the top of the stack

Step 5: Where the notches meet, wind a rubber band around the two popsicle sticks. This should not be as tight as the rubber bands on the sides of the stack. You need to be able to provide a decent amount of force to launch your item.

Optional Step: You can glue a cap to the popsicle stick for easier launching.

Christmas STEM activity simple catapult for kids to makePin

Christmas Items To Launch

Your Christmas simple catapult project is complete and ready!

Gather your launching items like marshmallows, pom poms, and crumpled paper, and test your machine. Small jingle bells are not a great idea, as we found out!

Now add force by pushing the lever arm down so it moves around the fulcrum and let go!

You can test it further by trying different items of varying weights. See how far each travels and compare the results. Use a measuring tape and record your findings. Does one go higher than another? Which one goes the farthest distance, the shortest distance?

A catapult provides countless opportunities for experimentation while having tons of fun!

Christmas theme catapult activty Holiday STEMPin

More Fun Christmas STEM Challenges

Santa’s Chimney Challenge: Soft candy and toothpicks are a winning combination for building structures for STEM. Build a chimney for Santa. How high can you make it?

Jingle Bell STEM Challenge: This is our version of the classic egg drop challenge with a more Christmasy theme. Can you quiet a jingle bell so it doesn’t make any noise?

Santa’s Sleigh Challenge: Santa needs a sleigh in order to make his rounds. But what happens if Santa’s sleigh is down for repairs with no time to spare? It’s up to you to design and build Santa a new sleigh with this Christmas STEM challenge complete with free printable worksheets.

Christmas Tree STEM Challenge: Get your kids off the screens and into Christmas building games with this Christmas tree cup game. The challenge is to build a Christmas tree with just 100 cups.

Santa’s Balloon Rocket: A fun Christmas version of the classic balloon rocket. Explore forces as you send Santa flying across the room.

Check out more fun Christmas STEM projects here.

More Christmas Activities For Kids

Printable Christmas STEM Project Pack

200+ PAGES OF HOLIDAY THEME STEAM, STEM, Science, and Art!

  • 25+ Christmas theme science and STEM activities with printable sheets, instructions, and useful information all using easy-to-source materials perfect for limited-time needs. Includes a holiday theme engineering pack with fun, problem-based challenges for kids to solve! NEW observation sheets included.
  • Try a Santa’s Letter airplane challenge or take the gingerbread house-building challenge! 
  • Explore the five senses with a specially designed Santa’s Lab pack.
  • Try a mini nature study with your favorite type of Christmas tree.
  • Try your hand at building shapes with gumdrop structure challenge cards or build shapes with jingle bells. Or try the Christmas-themed paper chain challenge!
  • Christmas Screen-free Coding activities include algorithm games, binary code ornaments, and more!
  • Explore 6+ Christmas Art Projects with famous artist-inspired activities that combine art history, process art techniques, and more with simple to-do ideas. 

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