Today I’m sharing one of our favorite simple STEM activities: easy straw rockets. These are really fun! These are great for all ages. Little kids think it’s a blast to see the rocket shoot off the end of the straw. Bigger kids can spend time “designing” and coloring the paper rocket for the end and can also learn more about how/why this rocket and all rockets “take off”. It’s also a nice little project to bring on a trip because you can easily put the supplies in a ziplock and bring along. I first heard of this idea from scienceSeeds when they were at my daughter’s school teacher the kids a much bigger, super awesome rocket building project. They showed me briefly how to make a simple straw rocket at home and we tried it out.

How to Make Straw Rockets

Supplies: Paper, markers, tape, scissors, two different size straws (the opening of one must be wider than the other).

Directions: Using the paper and markers, draw a rocket. It should be about 3inches high and 2 inches wide – not too big!

Cut out your rocket. Take the wider of the two straws and cut off about 3 inches. Tape the top of the piece of straw to “seal it”.

Next tape that piece to the back of the paper rocket. Slide it over the top of the more narrow rocket. Now you’re ready to launch! Blow on the other end of the straw and your rocket should launch off the other end.