Straw Rocket with Printable Template

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Want to make a very easy, but fun little toy for your kids to play with? These Straw Rockets (with a printable template) are a blast! My kids have been having SO much fun with this at our house. It has hung around for a while- and today they are making new ones to replace the tattered ones they have been playing with all week long.

We made these originally at our local library story time in the Summer about 8 years ago. The kids loved it so much that day they came home and wanted to make more!

Now, I am doing the project again with my younger kids (and with my improved photography skills!)

This simple little Straw Rocket is propelled by blowing through a straw that with launch it across the room.

Watch this quick video to see them in action:

How to Make the Straw Rocket:

Start by printing the free printable Straw Rocket template~ it’s in my subscriber library.

Not yet a subscriber? Sign up here and it will be emailed right to you! Already a subscriber? Get the link and password to the subscriber library in each of my emails.

The paper rocket template has 6 rocket styles and all six are included in both color and black and white for coloring in. If you print out the black and white one, let kids color with markers or crayons and decorate as desired!

Cut out the template with some scissors. There are just two pieces to the rocket- the rocket and the rectangle that you roll to put the straw in.

Roll the rectangle the long way with the fold line on the top. You can roll it around a pencil to get it tight. Tape it along the sides to secure it.

Fold it over at the top on the part that says fold. Secure the fold with tape to keep it down.

Tape the rolled piece to the back of the rocket body.

Insert a straw and blow the rocket up into the air. The rocket travels pretty far! Try it again and again and again! Try blowing it at different angles and at a different trajectory to see if you can get it to fly higher. The wind and air resistance will make a difference here, too.

There is a little trick to making the rockets work and fly higher. Do not push the straw very hard into the rocket. You want it to be loosely placed on top. Then when you blow, give it one fast and hard blow to make it fly sky high!

We took it outside because it kept hitting the ceiling. This way we could see how high it would really go!

This is a fun and simple activity to make with kids to keep them entertained.

The Science Behind It:

Add a learning component to it, too! Talk about physics and the force of air. When you blow into the straw, the big puff of air gets stopped at the top and pushes back down. The force pushing it back down causes the rocket to fly! This is Newton’s third law of motion- action and reaction!

This is also a lesson on gravity, as the rocket will always land!

This is a great STEM activity. Test a few variables, like adding a paper clip for weight, trying a wide straw instead of a skinny one, changing the angle of the launch, etc. Get out a measuring tape to see which one will fly farther.

Now, just for posterity’s sake, here is my daughter the first time we made these (in 2012!) Back then, we drew our own rockets. Now my youngest daughter looks nearly the same! When I update my posts, I love seeing my big kids so young loving the activities the first time we did them.