Learning Physics, History, and More With Catapults!

Learn About Catapults (Beginning Catapult Activities)
Catapult Unit Activities
Lesson 1: Simple Machines
Lesson 2A: Exploring Levers
Lesson 2B: A giant balance board

Building Catapults and Catapult Kits
Lesson 3: Creating a miniature working catapult with things you have at home
Lesson 4: Building A Catapult Model From A Kit
An Excellent Catapult Kit!
More Catapult Kits
Another Working Catapult Model
Tips on building better catapults
An extra large homemade catapult

History and Types of Catapults
Lesson 5: Learn About The History and Types of Catapults
More information about catapults and their history
Lesson 6: Build Small Catapult Replicas - Directions

Guestbook, Contact Me, Other Homeschooling Resources, and More
Sign My Guestbook
Additional Homeschooling Resources
About Squidoo
About the Author
Contact Me

Most of the following catapult activities could be done in either a homeschool co-op setting, a regular classroom, or at home. My son and I did some of these in our homeschool co-op, and others at home or with a neighborhood friend.

Feel free to pick and choose those lessons and activities that meet the needs of you or your children. It certainly isn't necessary to do them all!

Simple machines help us do work by magnifying or changing the direction of a force.

Here are the 6 simple machines.

1. Pulley
2. Wedge
3. Inclined Plane
4. Wheel and Axle
5. Lever
6. Screw (which is really a type of inclined plane!)

Lesson 1:
MiKids.com's Lesson on Simple Machines gives a good description of the six types of simple machines and also provides plenty of photos! (Visit the links under "Activity" on that page to find the photos!)

Introduce the child or children to the different types of simple machines, discussing the use of each one. Next give the child(ren) some simple machines (screwdriver, tongs, etc.), or photos of simple machines, and have them sort them, putting the levers in one pile, the inclined planes in another, and so on.

As an alternate activity, allow the child(ren) to walk around and find simple machines and identify them for you! If they are having trouble trying to find a certain type of simple machine, give them some hints.

Provide the student(s) with a variety of tools to use, such as rulers, yard sticks, plastic spoons, pencils, and fun noodles (the kind that you play with in the pool), and asked them to select one to use. Next give each student a marshmallow, asking them not to eat them! Place a box on the floor a few feet away, and instruct the kids to try to use their tools to fling their marshmallows into the box. Here's the rule: One end of their tool must remain on the table at all times. It isn't necessary to use the word, "Levers" with the students yet. Simply let them explore what their "tool" can do.

After trying it a few times, you may wish to allow them to trade tools and try again. Finish the lesson by allowing the children to discuss which tools and techniques worked the best, and why.

On this large lever, we did various experiments, such as exploring where everyone needed to stand to balance the board if you had two people on one side, and one on the other. What happens if there are four people on one side, and one slowly walks up the ramp towards the other side? What if everyone starts in the middle, and one person walks to one side? What if everyone starts on one end, and one by one they walk toward the other side? When will the board be balanced? When will the board tip?

Photos © Janiece

Granted, most people won't have access to a large balance board like this one, but you might be able to explore the same concepts by sitting at different places on a seesaw (be careful where you sit so you don't get pinched or hurt).

Photo © Janiece

Although making your own catapult without any directions (in the lesson above) is a wonderful introduction to catapults, a sturdier, more professional catapult will allow you to do further experimenting. There are many kits available for building a catapult. The one we purchased came with everything needed to make a catapult, including small blocks of wood, wood glue, written directions, a few other small items, and soft bags to launch once you got the catapult built. We built the catapult in about an hour and then allowed it to dry overnight. (The instructions said to allow it to dry 12 hours.)

Using the catapult for experiments and activities:
The next day the whole family got involved in experimenting with the catapult.

1. We tried a variety of objects as the missiles (cotton balls, marshmallows, rubber balls of different sizes and weights, etc), guessing which one would go the farthest, and then experimenting to find out.

2. The kit came with plenty of extra blocks of wood, so we experimented with adding more wooden blocks at the base to force the lever arm to stop sooner, in order to find out what angle worked the best for our catapult.

Did 5 blocks (which causes the lever arm to stop sooner) have a different outcome than one block (which allowed the lever arm to go all the way up)? Did increasing the number to 8 blocks change things even more?

Photo © Janiece

3. The catapult kit came with a target to place on the floor, and we had lots of fun trying to get our beanbags (that came with the kit) to land on the target after being shot from the catapult. We also tried to get small rubber balls (that we already had on hand) that were shot from the catapult to knock down wooden blocks (included with the kit) we'd set up like dominoes!

In ancient times, regions often invaded other regions in order to acquire their land or wealth. Everyone wanted what someone else had! Soldiers used pitched battles and sieges to conquer others and take their resources.

Pitched battles took place on a battlefield and involved hand to hand combat, skirmishes (small battles), and frontal assaults. A variety of weapons were used in these battles, such as daggers, battle-axes, bows and arrows, clubs, and spears.

Sieges, on the other hand, took place when one army was behind the walls of a castle, fortress, or walled city. Different techniques were used to conquer the castle. In a blockade, the invading army surrounded the castle to stop supplies from getting in. Sometimes, though, those within the castle had more supplies than the invading army and could thus hold out for longer! Other times, threats or bribes were used in an attempt to get the other side to surrender. Spies were used sometimes as well.

If these methods didn't work, the invading army might be forced to attack the castle itself. This was no easy task, as the stone walls of the castle were several feet thick! One strategy for conquering the castle was digging tunnels under the castle wall. Another strategy involved removing enough dirt from under the wall to cause it to collapse. Obviously, both of these methods took quite some time! Yet another method made use of tall movable towers. The towers, with ladders inside, would be rolled up to the wall and a bridge would then be lowered down the other side. The soldiers could then easily and quickly climb the tower, cross over the wall, and run down the bridge!

Other techniques for conquering a castle involved blasting the castle wall with various types of missiles! That's where catapults came in!

The first catapults looked quite similar to large crossbows, and used much of the same technology.

Tension Catapults
The earliest catapults, dating back to around 399 BCE, were tension catapults. Tension catapults shot heavy darts (called bolts) and worked by bending back a bow that was usually made of animal horn or wood. Although they were powerful, their disadvantages included the time it took to load and fire them, as well as their large and heavy size.

The gastrophete is a type of tension catapult.

Photo credit: Hartmann Linge

Torsion Catapults
Around 340 BCE, torsion catapults came into use. Torsion catapults used springs made from coils of rope as their power. Some types also had throwing arms on either side of the catapult. Ballistas, Mangonels, and Onagers are all types of torsion catapults.

Photo © Janiece


Photo © Janiece

As the winch is turned on this torsion catapult, the bowstring is pulled back, which pulls back the throwing arms, thus tightening the ropes. When a pin is pulled out, the ropes are released, and the bolt is shot forward.

Gravity Catapults (Trebuchet)
Gravity catapults, such as the trebuchet, first began to be used by the Chinese armies around 600 to 900 CE, but didn't enter widespread usage until around 1200 CE. In gravity catapults heavy weights were attached to one end of a lever arm. When the weights fell, the other end of the lever swung quickly up, throwing a rock or other item(s) in a high arc toward the castle wall.

Photo credit: 19th century drawing - public domain

In this photo of a trebuchet, a sling is currently holding the rock or other ammunition in a raised position. The side of the arm with the sling on it will be pulled down, raising the weight on the other end of the arm. When the weight is dropped, the sling side of the arm will fly up in an arc, releasing the contents of the sling and hurling them through the air.


Traction Catapults
Around 800 CE, traction catapults became popular. These catapults were more like our idea of a catapult today in that they had levers which were pulled down and then released to shoot rocks long distances.

*Please note that this is not meant to be a complete and detailed account of war techniques and weapons during ancient times. Whole books have been written on the subject. This section is meant to be just a brief overview. For more info, please read a good book on catapults, such as The Art of the Catapult, or visit one or more of the following websites.

1. Directions for making the Teeny-Tiny Catapult
To make the "Teeny Tiny catapult," you'll need:
10 popsicle sticks, a ruler, a long rubber band, a pencil, a roll of masking tape, and scissors.


2. Build a Ballista Catapult.
A Ballista catapult is a Greek catapult which has two vertical torsion springs (the 2 vertical white ropes on this one).



Pictured here are two different views of the Ballista Catapult we made.

Ballista catapults have a bowstring and throwing arms, and shoot darts, rather than rocks.





To make this Ballista Catapult model, you'll need:

popsicle sticks,
string,
a glue gun and glue sticks
a ruler or measuring tape

For the dart, we rolled a piece of paper and then taped it closed.




3. Directions for building this Onager Catapult.
Onager catapults use twisted rope to create the force that propels the lever arm forward. Onagers were a type of torsion catapult.

To make this Onager catapult, you'll need popsicle sticks, string, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, a piece of paper, tape, and scissors. Note: Although it's not as authentic, if you can't get the twisted string to provide enough force, you may wish to wrap a rubber band around the base and twist that instead.

All photos in this section: © Janiece

photo © Janiece

My daughter and some of her high school friends created this large catapult. It involved a great deal of experimenting and redesigning, but they learned a lot from it! They did the entire thing alone, from planning to sawing (with adult supervision) to assembling to testing and redesigning and testing and redesigning, and...well, you get the idea! Their projectile was a tennis ball.

photo © Janiece


photo © Janiece

photo © Janiece

One of my readers left me a comment in my guestbook about the snow. He thought we were shooting balls of snow with the catapult! Yes, there is snow here and there on the ground in these photos, but it was a tennis ball we were propelling down our driveway with the catapult!

Want To Read More?

~ Links to all of my recipes, articles, and webpages on Squidoo! ~

By visiting the link above, you'll find pages on reading games, homeschooling, how-to-make shadow puppets & put on a play, meerkats, fun math activities, vegetarian recipes, pet rabbits, raising tadpoles & frogs, raising caterpillars & butterflies, Connestee Waterfall, parrots who can really talk, goal setting tips, crepe recipes, science curriculum reviews, our experiences in Europe (Venice, Rothenburg Germany, Manarola Italy), genetics, science & nature gifts for kids & teens, spiritual pregnancy experiences, pregnancy dreams, science lessons & activities, free biology study guides, high school biology labs & videos, and more!

Visit My Blog, Laughing, Loving, and Learning, on homeschooling, nature activities, vegetarian recipes, & more.

Copyright © 2012.

Contact Me

Squidoo is a company which provides free webspace for people to use to share their experiences and thoughts, sell things, provide information, create pages in honor of their new baby, generate more traffic to their business or personal websites, blog about their vacations, share travel tips or recipes, etc. The Squidoo lenses (mini websites) people write can be about anything they want...well, within reason, of course!  For example, this catapults site you've been reading is a Squidoo lens! They're lots of fun to write, and hey, it's a great way to earn some extra money! In fact, quite a few people are using Squidoo as a part time job. Some, with more time to spend on it, are even making a full living by writing for Squidoo!

Sound interesting? Want to find out more? Or sign up to create a web article of your own?

For more information, or to get started, visit:
Is Squidoo For You?
Sign up! (It's free!)

Contact Janiece.

But keep in mind, Squidoo is very addicting!!

© 2012 Janiece Tobey. All rights reserved.
Page last updated 5/29/12.