Homemade Straw Rockets

Today the kids had hours of fun with a bicycle pump and some straw rockets. All we did was cut a plastic straw to about 6 inches. An adult used a glue gun to put a dab of glue on the top of the straw to seal it shut completely (make a few extra, each straw only lasts for a few launches). Now, pop the straw on the end of a bicycle pump (yellow nozzle) and watch it fly. After experimenting, we found out that the longer the straw (within reason) the farther it went in the air. We also found out that this project was better outdoors after we kept hitting the ceiling.

This was a super fun activity that encourages:

• muscle strengthening of the shoulders and arms
• science experimentation
• cooperation (you need one kid to hold the straw and one to pump)

After using it for awhile just to shoot off the straw the kids added on a racing game - who could get to the straw rocket first!

Watch the video here:



Stay tuned for tomorrow's post with another activity using a bicycle pump.