Water Rocket Party
Getting tired of pin the tail on the donkey? Bowling alley booked? Well, we’ve found that newly-minted 5 year olds and friends like nothing more than to spend an hour decorating and launching their own water rockets.
We’ve thrown this party twice now, and it was blast both times.
Make The Rockets
Making the rocket blanks for the little X-Prize hopefuls is pretty easy if somewhat tedious. I made 10 rockets in about 3 hours. The first thing you need to do is collect some 1 litre bottles. You want to use bottles that once held carbonated drinks. This type of bottle is built to withstand pressures of around 90psi. If you use plain water bottles, they will burst on the launch pad (more on the launcher later).
I used hot glue to attach 3 cardboard fins to each bottle. I tried to emulate the fin design of the famous V2 rocket that the Nazis used to terrorize Europe during WWII, but feel free to succumb to the influence of your own favorite weapon of mass destruction.
Be sure to rough-up the surface of the bottle with some sandpaper where you attach the fins, that way the glue will stick.
Next, I gave the rockets a quick shot of flat white spray paint. This will provide a nice blank canvas for your little Werner Von Braun’s to work with.
I topped the rockets with nosecones made from some light card stock hot-glued into place.
Decorate
Turn the little rocketeers loose with pens, tape, stickers, paint, etc. for as long as they remain interested, then head outside and launch some rockets!
The Launcher
Yeah, you’ll need a launcher. There are numerous launcher designs out there. A search will turn up many simple designs. I really liked the design of the Martinet Launcher, so I built one of those, but there are many other designs out there.
Launch ‘em
Whatever style of launcher you devise, the principal is the same. It’s just like a bigger and way better version of those little red plastic water rocket toys that you had as a kid. You’ll fill the bottle about 1/3 full with water, pressurize it with air, then realease it from the launcher. The air forces the water out through the nozzle, generating thrust and sending the rocket skyward.
See Make magazine vol. 5 for detailed instructions on building the launcher.
Trust me, this is on par with renting a bouncy-house, but a hell of a lot cheaper and more memorable.
This looks like the best party EVAR!!!
Very cool, I like the healthy snacks as well! :)
The witty young men and ladies in the photos went for far less deadly and more imaginative space ships instead of “V2 rocket that the Nazis used to terrorize Europe during WWII” or ” [their] your own favorite weapon of mass destruction”…
Good job as of the party, though.
Thanks for sharing the idea – I can’t wait for my little boy to get a little older.
http://szerk.tiszaradioszeged.hu
dude you spelled evir wrong
I’ve done a similar party for my son. His five friends were over and I helped them make a bunch of water rockets. They loved it and were sad to head home.
Also I make launchers for any one interested at http://bee-eee.com/lz702 and check out my blog at http://blog.bee-eee.com
i want to know how to make a water rocket not pictures
im doing this as a class project in tecnology. we make our wings different. so ours are better. BOO-YAHH!
tis looks cool im a freshman and i hav t do one of these for
tech ed class tanks a lot man ill try t see if tis helps meh out
this is a great idea!!
this is a great idea!!
i went up in one it was very very fun :)
Thanks, great idea and very helpful. The link for the launcher did not work but I found all the info you mentioned at :: http://www.martinet.nl/articles/20050101