CANNON!

We provide designs for the wheels, the carriage sides, and the frame. You need to obtain:

1 toilet paper tube (You can get one of those, can't you?)
1 12-inch wooden ruler or paint stir stick
1 strong clothes pin
corrugated cardboard
strong glue
ping pong balls
rubber bands
1 bamboo skewer
all-purpose cord
heavy duty scissors (for the cardboard)
black constuction paper or black paint
brown paper to print the wheel designs out on
x-acto knife to cut the spur in the ruler compass to draw out the wheels and hubs

1. Roll the black construction paper around the cardboard toilet paper roll tube. Glue and tape in place. Use black paint (water color, acrylic) if you don't have black paper. Barrel done! Take the ruler or paint stir stick and cut a spur into the end about 1/2 inch long to hook your rubber band onto. Glue or staple the barrel onto the end of the stick with just the spur protuding. Glue the clothes pin to the other end of the stick facing the tube. Use a good glue and let dry over night.
2. Print out the designs for the cannon wheels on light brown paper (cut 8 1/2" x 11" sheets out of a brown grocery bag if you need to). Cut out the designs and either trace around them or glue them onto the corrugated cardboard. Cut out the cardboard pieces. Glue the paper wheels to the cardboard wheels. Fold up the axel box into a rectangular tube. Tape and glue it together. Cut out four dime-sized hubs. Use the bamboo skewer and thread them up: hub-wheel-hub-axel box-hub-wheel-hub. Glue the hubs to the wheels and skewer but not to the axel box. (This way they will roll.)
3. Now the carriage. Print out the left carriage cheek and right carriage cheek. Glue onto a piece of corrugated cardboard. Let dry and cut out with heavy scissors. Cut out the inner frame and fold with the bias into a triangular block. Tape together. Fit the square noches over the axel box, flat part facing forward. Make sure it is centered (try measuring). Glue. Put the cheeks in place. Glue. Get the barrel assembly. Push the bamboo skewer through the black dots on the print out and through opening in the metal spring of the clothes pin. Lower the ruler down onto the inner frame and glue it. Glue the cheeks to the barrel. Cut out the transomes. Insert the front transome about 1/4 inch recessed into the cheeks. Glue. Fit the rear transome in between the cheeks. When you are sure it fits, glue to the underside of the ruler and the inner sides of the cheeks. Cannon done! Test it out by shooting a rubber band (be careful). It should go 25-30 feet at a 45 degree inclination.

4. Now the bombs. In order to keep them from getting caught in the tube, attach a rubber band and piece of cord to each one. Here's how: skewer a ball with a bamboo skewer with a bit of all-purpose cord taped to the end. It should look a giant sewing needle. Don't impale your hand. Pull the cord through the ball and tie to a rubber band. Pull the cord back through and pull toward the clothes pin to see how long the cord should be. Put a knot in the cord where the clothes pin will bite down at the maximum tension of the rubber band (don't over do it). A bit of glue on this knot will keep it together.
To fire: dangle the bomb by the rubber band down the muzzel and hook it over the spur with your left hand. Reach up the breach with your right and get the cord. Move your left back to the clothes pin and hold it open while you pull the cord down and insert the knot into the clothes pin. Ready! Stand back. Fire the cannon by pressing down on the clothes pin with your hand, foot, or stick.