Creating an Ancient Weapon of Destruction at the Dining Room Table

Boy holding box with Leonardo Catapult Kit

Rarely is there anything as exiting as destruction and mayhem to a 7 year old boy.  Couple that with a father that prods him on with an ancient machine of destruction- and you’ve got a winning afternoon!

After Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma’s House this year, my husband and son brought out Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult Kit, available at ThinkGeek.com.

Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult Kit - PIeces on the Table
Getting Ready To build the Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult

The kit came complete in the box with a number of wooden pieces, a few screw eye holes, string, and glue.  The instructions were straight forward and there was no backtracking necessary to get it done right.

Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult Kit - the Instructions Sample Page
Sample Page of Instructions

The kit is recommended for ages 12 and up- and for building that’s true, but for playing and watching – 5 years and up is enough. 🙂 It is fun for adults too!

Father and Son Building a Kit
Father and Son Putting the Kit together

After about 40 minutes, the kit was complete.  The Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult Kit came complete with a small slab of clay from which Elijah crafted ammunition and ordnance.  It turned out in the end that launching caramel corn was much more fun when my husband tried to launch it into Elijah’s mouth!

Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult Kit Built from Kit
Finally Built! Took about 40 minutes

The whole family was initially afraid of the power of this device- especially with Great Grandpa sitting in the other room within EYE-shot of it.  We started slow, and found the right system.

Learning how to use the Catapult
You'll shoot your eye out!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmu-H4Mw59Y[/youtube]

After the first few minutes of play, the included string became loose- which is what was said would happen in the instructions.  Re-tightening the tension strings gave us a much much much more powerful catapult- if we had the room, we’re betting on 50 feet!

Launching the Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult from a Kit
Knocking Down Blocks

Elijah set up the target of wooden blocks.  He had fun trying to position the catapult to aim at the blocks. I love seeing my kids try to figure things out through trial and error and then succeed!

Buy Leonardo Da Vinci’s Catapult Kit

ThinkGeek has a great number of products available for the smart kid and dad.  Go take a look!  This catapult was a high quality winner!

This was not a paid post. My own opinions were used based on my perceptions and experience. Thank you to ThinkGeek.com who provided the products for review.

Comment Via Facebook
Cindy
Founder and Lead Blogger at Akron Ohio Moms
Cindy is the top Akron Blogger with her own take on awesome brands for families, where to vacation for families, a beat on local activities and family fun, a knack for getting moms to share , and a house that is always 2 weeks away from a complete remodel!
Sign up for our Ohio Specific Newsletter- Each Email Focused on Only our best Fabulous Local News and Ideas!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Leave a Reply

Share via