Last year our family took a trip to the Lake on a house boat with a couple other families. There were a lot of boys!!! I knew there would be a some down time in between water sports and at night so I wanted to make sure we had plenty of games and activities to keep the boys occupied. The range of boys was from about 3 to 11 years old. Having two boys myself I knew that one thing boys love is target practice. I had seen all kinds of  versions of mini crossbows on Pinterest, so I had some idea of how to make them, but I wanted a simpler version.  So during my last minute shopping  before the trip, I picked up some pencils, rubber bands, push pins, and binder clips.  That’s all it took to, first and foremost, make the boys think I was the coolest mom ever, and second, give them something to do for hours on end. Win-win right? Here’s what you do.

 

Easy Pencil Crossbow

 

What you Need: (for 1 crossbow)

4 unsharpened pencils

2 thick rubberbands

2 push pins

1 binder clip

 

Make sure the binder clip ends are folded down going along side of the body to the clip. Place 2 of the pencils along the flat side of the clip. Then using one of the rubber bands, secure the pencils to the clip by going around, twisting in between, about 4 times.  It should then look like this.

Next, Thread a pencil through the binder clip going perpendicular to the other pencils.

Cut the remaining rubber band on one side so you have a long flat piece.

Take a push pin and push it through the middle of the rubber band about 1/4 of an inch from the end. Then push the push pin into the middle of the eraser of the pencil you just threaded through the binder clip. Repeat on the other side of the same pencil only push it into the wood just to the side of the lead. (Some pencils use harder wood and it takes a little twisting.)

 

Make sure your rubber band is on the side of the binder clip and you are ready to load.  Take your one remaining pencil and wood side first so the eraser is the tip of your arrow,  load the pencil from the front of the cross bow through the binder clip.

Stretch the rubber band back, hold, aim and fire.