Pitsco Catapult and Trebuchet – Science Made Real

Both children were happy to learn that we were going to be able to “play” while learning with a Pitsco catapult and trebuchet kit.  This kit is called the Medieval Machines Pack and includes a Trebuchet Kit, a Catapult Kit, Pitsco’s Siege Machines book, and counter weights for the Trebuchet Kit.  They also sent some Klean Klay to make projectiles.  {I will add here that the kids really liked the idea of “projectiles” that they were going to be encouraged to make and launch…}
So, the kit arrived, and I started er… my husband began to look over the supplies and instructions.  He quickly discovered that we would need some glue.  We decided to get Gorilla Glue, and that ended up working well.

Oh, yes.  I could have helped the kids with this project, but why?  This was the perfect opportunity to get Dad involved, and the kids really seemed to enjoy the change.  The project was well laid out with much history and information in the Siege Machines book.

It really didn’t take a lot of “hands-on” time to finish either the catapult or the trebuchet.  The worst part was watching the glue dry…

After both machines were completed, the kids took their projectiles and followed the lesson guides to compare the abilities of the catapult vs. the trebuchet with different weight projectiles.  I will say that we do not have a scale, so we just made different sizes and compared them.  Of course, we ended our Siege Machines lessons by watching Punkin Chunkin on Thanksgiving.  🙂

You may ask what we do with our completed catapult now that we have completed our lessons…

If you can’t see the video in this post, it can be viewed here.

Well…  We use the catapult to keep the cat entertained.  🙂

Pertinent Information:                                                                                          

• Product name:  Pitsco Medieval Machines Pack
  
• Price:  $21.95
  
• Age Range:  Geared toward 5th grade and up
  
• Read other reviews on this product on the Crew Blog Page.

FTC Disclosure:  I was given a Medieval Machines Kit to review as a part of the TOS Crew. Although I was given this kit free of charge, my opinions stated above are my own and not influenced by anyone.