DIY Fun: Cardboard Trebuchet and Water Balloons

I hoisted this from the archives for some Father’s Day weekend inspiration.  Gather up all the cardboard you can find!

Our kids were fascinated by catapults and trebuchets for some reason. It could be the castle legos they used to play with.  Then again they loved movies about knights and castles.  Eventually they moved on to Monty Python and the Holy Grail of much silliness.  During summer vacations they often tried to make one of these with various materials and varying degrees of success. But they never tired of the quest. I suspect they were not alone–we see the “punkin’ chunkin'” trebuchets on tv sometimes. 

They all became engineers, but I doubt that everyone who tried to make these contraptions became engineers. If your family wants to try this cardboard one, it’s quite a big project.  

For smaller ways to get started in this hobby, check out the projects on the right sidebar of the linked Instructable including mini-siege engines, a  pocket-sized catapult from a mint container, and desk-top catapults.

Click here to link to the tutorial at Instructables.
Just be sure they don’t break anything valuable or hurt anybody.  This one will throw a softball 50-60 feet, so plan to test it at a park or ball field.  I wonder how far a water balloon would go?  Somehow that seems safer and more fun. 

Click on any label below this post for more Father’s Day ideas and recipes Dad will love.