Building a Hay Bale Kicker is just like making a catapult. Children just get to fling farm objects like hay, straw, and cereal. Actually, they don’t just fling their hay-like object, they will try to get it into a tractor or box with a tractor on it. None of the objects mentioned on the challenge page are heavy. Children will have to position the stack of sticks, adjust the spoon and apply just enough pressure to have the hay land in the truck.
Building Background
Before your children start the building process, you may want to read them a book about farm equipment and hay gathering. It will help them to picture the process they are trying to replicate.
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Getting the Building a Hay Bale Kicker Set
First, you will need to download the set.
Second, if you don’t have Acrobat Reader you will need to download it. The algorithm page is an Acrobat Reader PDF file.
Third, you must go to your download file and open the page. You may be asked if you want the file to open right after you download it. You won’t have to hunt for it in your download file if you are.
Building a Hay Bale Kicker
Types of Sticks
We happened to have narrow popsicle sticks at our house. If you have wider craft sticks available, they will add more stability to the catapult. If you have both sizes of sticks, you could have your children test them out. After trying both of them, they can decide which type they want to use for the challenge.
Stack of Sticks
The directions on the Building the Hay Kicker Catapult page do not say how many sticks to put in the stack. Children will need to try different numbers of sticks in their stack. Then they can pick the number of sticks they think works best. If they have too many sticks, the arm will not push back very far.
Rubberbands
While this may sound obvious, make sure the rubber bands on the catapult are tight. You do not want the sticks to move around while launching objects.
We did not place rubber bands around the two sticks to hold the stack in place. If your children feel that is necessary or you do, please add that step.
Getting the Tractor Ready
If you have a toy tractor or wagon available, you can use it for this challenge. However, you can tape a picture of a tractor to a box and wagon on it. Below you will see toy tractors it would be fun to use for this activity.
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More Catapult Activities
There are so many different types of catapults your children can make. Below you will find some of the catapults we have made.
