Pom Pom Shooters!

Last night we attended an amazing dinner at my former in-laws home. Knowing that there were going to be 4 children all under the age of 5 there I decided to find some fun activities for them to work on together. Distraction is always a good thing when dealing with preschoolers. One of the activities I chose was found on Pinterest a few months back and I have been dying to try it with the little ones in my life.

Pom Pom Shooters...so much fun and so easy to create. I altered the original design a bit as I felt that the sharp edges of a plastic cup were not so good for the preschool age and younger.

You will need the following:

Heavy Duty Paper Cups (you can buy these at the local dollar store...$1.25 for 12)
Packing Tape
Exacto Knife or other sharp, pointy object (the end of a pair of scissors would work as well)
Large balloons
Small Pom Poms (the size of mini marshmallows or smaller work best)
Scissors
KIDS


I started this project by poking my exacto knife into the bottom of the cup to create a hole large enough for my finger to get through.

 Once I had the hole created, I pulled the entire bottom off the cup. Sometimes I had to use the scissors to remove the very edges of the bottom so that I didn't tear the cup trying to pull it out with my hands.

Once you have the bottom all removed and can see through the cup end to end you will need to take a balloon and stretch it and then with out blowing it up tie off the one end and cut about a 1/4 inch off the top rounded end.

Take your prepped balloon and stretch the cut end wide over the bottom edge of the cup (where you tore off the bottom piece) so that it covers it completely. I added some tape around the balloon for added security as we found that with repeated use the balloon was prone to slipping off...but I leave that up to you, if you want to add that in or not.

If you have followed all the steps above you should have a cup that look like this:

Now the fun begins...taking a small pom pom place it inside your cup...

(I found that balancing it on what we like to call the belly button of the balloon works best) 

...pull back on the tied end, aim your cup in the direction you want the pom pom to shoot and release. You now have what is required to wage a full scale pom pom war with the littles or bigs in your life. I wish I had remembered to take photos of last nights fun but I forgot ...too caught up in eating and visiting...I will edit in some photos of BabyBear giving this a try once she is up and getting on with her day.

Now Go Be a Kid and Wage a Fun War right in your own home ! Feel free to link back with pictures, comments or videos of your Pom Pom Shooting Good Time!