Learn how to make a DIY slingshot straw rocket with this easy-to-follow tutorial and explore momentum, drag, and stability. You’ll be amazed by how far it goes!
Learn how to make a DIY slingshot straw rocket with this easy-to-follow tutorial and explore momentum, drag, and stability. You’ll be amazed by how far it goes!
My kids have been asking for slingshots since we saw a hand-carved wooden slingshot at a specialty shop. So when I told them we are going to make a homemade slingshot rocket, they were thrilled!
The best thing about making a DIY slingshot straw rocket is that you probably already have all the materials at home. The only thing you might not have is the pencil eraser, but you can easily substitute that with playdough or air-dry clay. We just happen to have a whole box of pencil erasers that will last us probably years so we were happy to use them for the slingshot rocket.
Your children will love launching their own spaceship across the room (or yard!). Creating a slingshot straw rocket is also a great idea for a party – all the kids will have much fun seeing who can shoot their slingshot straw rocket the farthest!
How to Make the Slingshot Straw Rocket
Materials:
- Drinking straw or boba tea straw
- Pencil eraser (or playdough or air-dry clay or hot glue stick)
- Cardstock paper
- Large rubber band
- Popsicle stick or craft stick
- Paper clip
- Masking tape
- Scissors
Instructions:
1. Connect the pencil eraser and the straw. If you are using a boba tea straw as we did, the pencil eraser would fit snuggly inside the straw. If you are using a drinking straw, then the straw might fit inside the pencil eraser, depending on the diameter of the straw and the pencil eraser.
If you do not have a pencil eraser, you can use playdough or air-dry clay to make the nose cone. Simply shape the playdough or clay to a cone shape with a stem on the bottom, similar to a mushroom. Then stick the stem portion inside the straw. I would wait for the playdough or clay to dry before shooting the slingshot straw rocket though because the front part will encounter a lot of impact.
Another material you can use is a hot glue stick. Cut off a little less than an inch of the hot glue stick and place it inside a drinking straw.
You may be able to use other alternative materials. The point is to give the rocket some weight in the front end to keep it stable in flight. If you can make the material into a cone shape, then it would allow the rocket to be more aerodynamic, but it’s also not necessary.
2. Cut a piece of tape and secure the nose cone to the straw.
3. Take a paper clip and bend the outer loop away from you so that the inner loop and the outer loop are away from each other.
4. Tape the outer loop of the paper clip to the straw, with the inner loop bending away from the nose cone.
5. Cut out 3 equal triangles from cardstock. These will be the rocket fins.
6. Use masking tape to secure the triangular fins to the straw rocket. I do recommend taping the fins a little bit above the base of the straw – this way you have a convenient section of the straw to grab and pull when you shoot the rocket with the slingshot.
That said, I taped the fins to the bottom of the straw and it still worked fine. I just needed to be mindful and put my fingers in the spaces between the fins to shoot.
7. To make the slingshot, cut off a piece of masking tape and place it on the surface, sticky side up. Place one end of the craft stick on the masking tape, covering about half of the tape. Place the rubber hand right next to the craft stick on the tape.
Then pull the masking tape down to cover the rubber band and the other side of the craft stick.
8. To launch your rocket, hold the craft stick slingshot with one hand. Loop the paper clip through the rubber band, pull back, and then let go!
Be careful where you aim the rocket! Remember the front of the rocket is weighted so it would hurt if you hit someone with it.
DIY Slingshot Straw Rocket Troubleshooting
- If your rocket is colliding with the stick:
- Make sure that the rubber band is not twisted. My kids tended to loop the rubber band through the paper clip, then turn the rocket prior to shooting, which in turn twisted the rubber band.
- The rubber band might be too small. This happened to my daughter’s slingshot and it worked fine after we switched to a bigger rubber band.
- The fins might be too big. Use scissors to trim the fins down and try again!
- Make sure you are not pulling the rocket back too much.
- If the rocket is not flying straight:
- Add weight to the nose of the rocket.
- Try adjusting the alignment of the fins.
- If you only have two fins, add one more fin to provide your rocket enough stability during flight without having too much drag.
- If your rocket is not flying the desired distance:
- Change the angle at which you are launching the rocket. Try aiming upward at a 45 degrees angle.
- Change to a bigger rubber band or a thinner rubber band.
Science Behind the Slingshot Straw Rocket
Slingshot straw rockets are a fun and engaging science experiment to explore rocket propulsion principles. The straw acts as the rocket’s body, with a rubber band attached at one end acting as its engine.
When the rubber band is stretched, it generates elastic potential energy that is converted into kinetic energy when released. This force accelerates the rocket via Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As the stretched rubber band exerts a force forward on the rocket, the backward-reacting force propels the rocket forward in turn.
With careful adjustments to different propellants and nozzles, you can create a wide range of effects from your slingshot straw rocket! Try changing the number of fins, shape and/or size of the fins, length of the straw, size of the rubber band, or even the weight of the nose of your rocket.
YOU MAY LIKE: