Recently the kids and I made popsicle stick catapults from Asia Citro’s newest book, The Curious Kid’s Science Book. The craft stick catapults were super fun and a great learning experience for both my preschooler and 2nd grader! And, after reading through The Curious Kid’s Science Book, we’ve got many more science activities we can’t wait to try!

Disclosure:  I was sent a complimentary copy of this book to review.  All thoughts and opinions are definitely my own. See my full disclosure policy here. This post contains affiliate links.

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The Curious Kid’s Science Book

I knew after trying out all kinds of cool kids’ activities from Asia Citro’s first book, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids, that her newest book centered around science was going to be an absolute hit!

The Curious Kid’s Science Book is packed with over 100 quality science activities for children ages 4-8. Not only is every activity in the book an amazing learning experience, but what makes this science resource really stand out is how the science experiments actually promote inquiry and scientific thinking. And, I absolutely love how The Curious Kid’s Science Book includes ways to extend the learning of each activity, as well as provides questions to promote even more critical thinking.

This is definitely a high-quaility, must-own STEM resource for educators and parents!

Popsicle Stick Catapults

One of the first science activities my kids wanted to try from the book was making popsicle stick catapults. I was absolutely thrilled to see all the learning that took place with this science activity. Both Theo (age 4) and Lucy (age 7) were enthralled with the activity and came up with all kinds of theories and predictions when using the catapults!

Materials for Popsicle Stick Catapults

• Popsicle Sticks
• Rubber bands
• Plastic spoon
• Pom poms
• Optional: Paint

Directions for Making Popsicle Stick Catapults

*We painted our craft sticks ahead of time (with our favorite tempera paint), because the kids just love to paint! But, you can also buy craft sticks that are already colored or just use plain craft sticks.

1.  Make a stack of popsicle sticks and rubber band them together on each end.

2. Take two additional popsicle sticks and stack them together. Rubberband them together on just one end.

3. Pull the two popsicle sticks slightly apart and place the larger stack of popsicle sticks in between them.

4. Rubber band the stack of popsicle sticks to just the upper popsicle stick.

5. Rubber band a spoon to the upper popsicle stick.

6. Place a pom pom onto the spoon.

7. Hold the catapult with one hand, and use the other hand to pull the spoon down. Release the spoon to launch your pom pom!

Using the Craft Stick Catapults

The kids started out by using the catapults over and over. They had a blast launching pom poms all over the backyard using their homemade catapults!

After a while they started coming up with new things to try. Lucy wondered what would happen if she moved the spoon further out from the catapult. Would the pom poms travel further?

Theo decided to try launching more than one pom pom at the same time to see what would happen. Would they all travel the same distance?

I loved watching how this science activity led to all kinds of theories and predictions- such an awesome, hands-on experiment that the kids just had a blast with! We can’t wait to try all the others!

Where to Buy The Curious Kid’s Science Book

I’m definitely planning on giving copies of The Curious Kid’s Science Book as gifts to the kids’ teachers this year, as well as lots of my friends with young children- such a great resource for anyone that wants to encourage curiosity and a love of learning in their children!

The book is available world wide: You can buy copies of The Curious Kid’s Science Book at any of the stores below:

The Curious Kid’s Science Book on Amazon

The Curious Kid’s Science Book on Barnes & Noble

The Curious Kid’s Science Book on Book Depository

Asia is also offering science kits that correlate with the book! These would make a great gift for any child or teacher! You can find out more about the science kids here and purchase them here on Amazon.