Science can be easy and still amazing. These simple straw rockets are super fun and use the most ordinary of materials. The results are exciting.
To make a straw rocket, you will need paper, scissors, tape, and a straw. Cut a sheet of regular, photocopy paper in any color. Fold it in half the short, wide way—known as the hamburger fold. The long skinny one made by folding the other way is called the hot-dog fold.
Cut the paper into two pieces. On one of them, kids trace around a jar lid to make 1 or 2 circles. It helps to have somebody else hold down the lid. Roll the other half of the page around a straw 3 or 4 times and cut off the excess. Tape the paper edge in a couple of places but make sure the tube is not taped to the straw. It will need to slide on and off. Adult hands may need to help the child hands cut out the circles. Once done, fold the circle in half. Place this cone or hat over the end of the straw and tape it to the paper tube on both the top side and the bottom one.
Now comes the rocket part. Kids hold the straw fairly. Check that fingers are only on the straw and not holding the paper tube. One, two, three, take a deep breath and blow into the straw. Where did the rocket go? As long as the paper didn’t get accidentally taped to the straw it should shoot off really fast. To get the rocket to go in one direction, all you need to do is point the straw where you want it to go. Straight up might mean it comes straight back down.
These simple straw rockets were so fun, we had to make a couple of them using straws of different sizes. The kids colored their rockets and also made up their own games. They faced each other across the kitchen and tried to blow at the same time. The intention was to zoom the rocket all the way to the other person. Once when Big Sister was blowing the rocket, it hit Little Sister on the knee. They also tried to blow the rockets onto the sofa from various distances.
There was lots of blasting off with these rockets even though we stayed right at home. These would also be fun outside. Might your child enjoy some science play with these simple straw rockets?