How to Make Marshmallow Shooters
The last few days of summer are getting the better of me… And since I am on the run getting ready for school, and get kids shuffled to multiple birthday parties and activities… I thought I would post the tutorial for Marshmallow Shooter that I did for Skip to My Lou earlier this summer.
Split, splat, splodge…
Marshmallow shooters are a riot for the entire family. They are great backyard fun and perfect for any outdoor party. Have a distance shooting contest, we’ve seen them go 20 feet or more. Or a see who can hit a target with the most accuracy. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to eat a few.
Making Marshmallow Shooters couldn’t be easier. In fact, once an adult cuts the sprinkler pipe, the kids can assemble the shooters themselves. My kids love to play with the pieces, creating new configurations.
Here’s what you need to make these easy marshmallow shooters:
With a PVC pipe cutter or a hacksaw, cut 1/2″ wide PVC pipe as follows:
- 2 x 2″ length of pipe
- 2 x 3″ length of pipe
- 1 x 4″ length of pipe
You will also need 1/2″ wide connectors as follows (make sure to buy smooth not threaded connectors):
- 2 x elbow joints
- 1 x “T” joint
- 1 x end cap
- 1 x straight connector
You will also need sand paper.
And mini marshmallows of course.
To fit your shooter together working from left to right:
- Carefully sand the end of one of your 2″ lengths of pipe. Make it nice and smooth as this will be your mouth piece.
- Connect the other end of your 2″ length of pipe into an elbow joint.
- Connect the other 2″ section of pipe to other side.
- Next comes the other elbow.
- Then connect a 3″ section.
- Connect the “T”.
- At the bottom of the “T” connect the next 3″ section and then the end cap. That will be your handle.
- Connect the 4″ section of pipe to the “T”.
- Connect the straight section to the end of the Shooter.
You’re done. You shooter should look like this:
To play, simply place a mini marshmallow into the mouth end of the Shooter. Yes, I said mouth end. The marshmallow will travel all the way through the pipe and shoot out the other end.
Then aim.
And blow.
And shoot to your heart’s content.
You might want to watch for a sale on mini marshmallows….
If you’re lucky, there’s no clean up necessary.
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I feel obligated to state add a word of warning: Please supervise your children with this activity.
That’s funny you post this now as we just made 30 of these for a primary activity we are having tomorrow. It’s going to be a rip roaring time!
thanks for the inspiration! i have actually made these before with a little different design, but totally forgot about them…..i have a 10-year-old boy’s b-day to go to tomorrow and was stressing about what to get, and when i saw this i was like “OH YEAH!! i could make a marshmallow shooter for him!!” your timing could not have been more perfect!
I just found your website, and I am in love! From one seamstress/mom to another, I assure you that I will be back very often!
These little marshmallow shooters are the best! The kids love building them, not to mention they are occupied for hours.
The only trouble we’ve encountered? Some little boys add a little too much liquid propulsion (i.e. spit) to their marshmallows which can 1) gum up the works and 2) leave wet little lumps about the yard :)
Just stopped by to say Thanks for sharing this idea! I just completed 16 of them to use at our family Easter gathering. Also did a blog post to pass on the idea to others. I was amazed at how far the marshmallows go! Thinking about making a target for Easter.
If you’ve got older and maybe (or maybe not) more technical kids, you could even make a kick butt marshmallow gun that fires marshmallows at 80mph! The plans are on NXTutorials.com under projects. They even have this pretty cool video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLaOxtU0gBs&feature=feedwll&list=WL
Now THIS will show all the other kids what they have to contend with :)