Dad builds, kid launches: straw rockets
Cutting and taping is the part that loses a four-year-old. So you build a small fleet of paper rockets ahead of time, and they get the fun half: launch, measure, change one thing, launch again.
- Time
- 45 min
- Cost
- $0
- Ages
- 4 to 10
- Where
- Hallway, garage or yard
What you need
- Plain printer paper, cut into strips about 4 by 5 inches
- A pencil to roll the rockets around
- Tape and scissors (you do the cutting)
- Drinking straws, one per kid, slightly thinner than the pencil
- A tape measure or yardstick
- Paper and a pen for the flight log
Before you start
- Never aim at a face or a person. Toys that send things flying can cause serious eye injuries. Launch only down an empty lane, and stop the game if anyone aims at someone.
- Clear the launch zone. Nobody stands in front of the launcher or goes to fetch a rocket until everyone has stopped launching.
- Soft noses only. Paper and tape, nothing else. No paper clips, pins or pencil tips in a rocket.
- One straw per kid, labeled with a marker. You handle the scissors.
Steps
- Build the fleet ahead. Roll paper around a pencil, tape it into a tube, twist the top into a taped nose cone. Make four to six.
- Add fins to half. Tape small paper fins on half the rockets. Check each one slides easily over a straw.
- Mark the launch line. Tape a launch line, clear the lane in front, and say the rule: never at a person.
- Launch and measure. Slide a rocket on the straw, blow one hard puff down the lane, measure from the line and write it down.
- Change one thing. Pick one change, build that rocket, guess the distance, then launch and compare.
- Crown a champion. Read the log out loud, name the farthest flyer, and save the log for next time.
If it stalls
- If a rocket won't slide off, the tube is too tight. Re-roll it a little looser around the pencil.
- If it flops out of the straw and drops, the nose cone is leaking air. Pinch it tighter and add tape.
Farthest flight · which change won
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date