Egg Catapult …and Splatter Art

We love STEAM activities. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Whenever you can combine multiple subjects into a single activity, you activate whole brain learning, meaning you are making more connections and are more likely to remember the lessons they learn. And, when we can connect an activity to a season or holiday, it makes it all a little more real for our kids. This Easter, we decided to do something fun and launch some eggs with a catapult and we added a messy touch to it.

First, we built a catapult. It was easy enough, especially with the instructions on Little Bins for Big Hands. We used some tongue-depressors, a few rubber bans, and a plastic spoon. And then we filled some eggs with paint.

Filling eggs isn’t really that hard, but it is a little messy. We got a dozen eggs, something pointy and sharp (I had a cake decorating tool) and a skewer. At one end poke a hole roughly the size of a chickpea. Insert the skewer and mix up the contents of the egg. This allows you to empty the egg into a bowl. You can still use it to make some yummy scrambled eggs. Then, rinse the shells with a little water and fill them with paint. We used water-based paint that was pretty runny. If your paint is too thick, you can add a little water to the paint to make it runnier. Now you have eggs that are ready to smash.

We took the girls outside with a piece of craft paper and we started launching eggs. It was so much fun and a little messy. It really was a good thing that the paint was water-based because it washed off very easily.

After a few eggs the girls got a little excited and just wanted to throw the eggs, which was a lot of fun too. This was a really fun activity that combined engineering and art. We love S.T.E.A.M activities and this was a great festive, Easter activity. You really should try it!