Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Catapults–Castle Defense

The children have been defending the castle by hand to hand combat with swords and shields, arrows and axes.  Last week I set materials and a few pictures of catapults on the art table to inspire them to think of a new way.
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        The families were busy everyday creating new designs.
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Here are a few samples of what they created.
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Wood block, tongue depressor on a clothespin.
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Tube, sponge, tongue depressor and egg cup.
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Tube, elastics and plasticspoon.
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Straws, tape, spoon and elastics.
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Tissue box, chop sticks, elastics and milk jug lid.
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I’m not sure what they used to build this catapult but it was amazing.

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We used the shelf beside the art table as the shooting area. 
          Pom poms were used for the ammunition.
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Although many were tried right at the table to see if they functioned.
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It was very exciting to watch the failures and successes.
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The children carried the idea of catapults over to this week at one
                             of our play trays.
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             I set up a tray with a scale and little dinosaurs.
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Each child that played with it placed a dinosaur on one side and hit the other side.  Not what I intended but was thrilled to see the follow thru of what we learned the previous week.