Tuesday, March 1, 2011

English vs. Scotts or Catapult vs. Trebuchet

Two Rock 4-H SET went back to medieval history to learn about two ferocious weapons - the catapult and the trebuchet. In keeping with our 2010-11 project theme, "Kid Powered Creations", our project group met at Hobbytown USA Petaluma and watched a short video about siege weapons. That geared us up for building our wood catapult and trebuchet kits we got from Pitsco Education. These kits were fantastic. The instructions were just enough to make everyone think about what they were building but not to hard to get done in an hour or so. The catapult may have been a bit easier to build, but the trebuchets had the advantage of range, easily launching their clay projectiles across the room. The kids all brought in some things to knock over and luckily no one was unintentionally hit with flying projectiles. Let the siege begin!