Let me tell you about some really fun science projects you can do with your children. It is a kit called the Medievil Machines Pack, by Pitsco Education. 
It includes a Trebuchet Kit, Catapult Kit, Siege Machines curriculum book “Exploring The Science, Technology, And Math Of Medieval Siege Machines(32 pages of history, standards, and 11 science lessons that promote the STEM Initiative), Instructions and Activity Guide, Clay, and extra Counter Weights.
The kit is designed for students in 5th through 12th grades, but younger children will enjoy participating in some of the action too.
The kit retails for $21.95 from the Pitsco website, and can be useful in homeschools, schools, and after school programs.
We set up shop on the kitchen table. Dad is a very good construction engineer, and woodworking expert, and this was a perfect project for him to do with our 11 year old son.
The kits do take several hours to build and you also need to allow time for the glue to dry.
The finished Trebuchet.
Building the Catapult.
The finished Catapult.
Once the machines are built and dry, you can begin using the activity guides and the Siege Machines book in doing projects. You can also create different variables and get different outcomes in your experiments.
One of the first activities suggested in the Catapult guide, is making different size weighted projectiles from the provided clay. We made four balls weighing 1.5 gram, 3 gram, 4.5 gram, and 6 grams and predicting how far they will travel. The smaller balls traveled the farthest, over 8 feet, and the heavier balls traveled the shortest distances in our experiments.
Some of the activities suggested in the Trebuchet guide include experimenting with different amounts of weights, lengths of string, sizes of clay balls, and angles of the hook to fling balls higher or farther. They suggest building a scene with walls, or setting up a bullseye target to launch the balls at. They also suggest a game, competing to hit the target, and the one who hits the bullseye is the winner.
We have several more experiments to complete in the Siege Machines book, and we are looking forward to many more fun afternoons completing it with these amazing historical machines.
We will be learning about:
Tension and Torsion
Mass vs Distance
Metric Conversion of Length
Calculating Averages
Elasticity
Testing Different Rubber Bands
Gravity and Levers
Prediction
Right on Target
Force and Motion
Swinging Weights vs Wheels
and more.
We will get the younger children involved more in some of the experiments, but I don’t recommend younger children building the machines. They are very specific in step by step directions, and in exactly lining things up perfectly for the machine to go together and to work properly.
As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was provided with the kit mentioned above in exchange for an honest review. If you would like to read more reviews of this great product, check out the reviews and links posted here.
