Rubberband car

Use household materials to create a car that can actually go.

What you need:

  • paper towel tube
  • metal skewer
  • 2x wooden skewers
  • scissors
  • 4x old CDs
  • glue
  • 4x wooden spools
  • 4x buttons or small pieces of card/paper
  • ~15x rubberbands
  • 2x straws
  • paperclip

What to do:

  1. Use the metal skewer to put a hole through the paper towel tube close to each end. The holes should line up.
  2. Cut one of the wooden skewers so it is about two-thirds its original length.
  3. Put the two wooden skewers through the holes in the tube.
  4. Glue a wooden spool onto the centre of each CD.
  5. Glue a button or piece or card/paper onto the other side of the CDs.
  6. Put two rubber bands cross-ways around each CD.
  7. Cut pieces of straw and thread them onto each end of the skewers.
  8. Thread the ends of the skewers through the wooden spools on the CDs and glue them into place.
  9. Make a chain of rubber bands by looping them and tying them to each other. The chain should be slightly shorter than the length of the paper towel tube.
  10. Loop the first rubber band around a skewer on the inside of the tube and tie it off. Then push the rubber band chain down through the tube and secure it at the end with a paperclip. Your car is finished!
  11. Twist the wheels that have the rubber band attached to them until it is very tight.
  12. Put the car down and watch it run by itself.

Troubleshooting – if your wheels just turn and the rubber bands aren’t twisting around the axle, try removing a rubber band so they are nice and tight.

Back to  Home Science activities.