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Supported by Rolls-Royce

Make a mini bow and arrow

First suggested by Scout Adventures
Explore the science behind archery, by making a mini bow and arrow.
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Lolly sticks (soaked in water for 1 hour)
  • Cotton buds
  • Dental floss
  • Targets, such as cones, markers or hoops
  • Curved or spherical object, such as a tennis ball, mug or bowl
  • Scissors
  • Desk fan (optional)
  • Colouring pens/pencils (optional)

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers. 

Planning and setting up this activity 

  • It’s best to soak the lolly sticks in water for at least one hour before the session, so that they become soft and flexible. 
  • This could be a good activity to plan in for during a longer session or camp.  
  • You’ll need at least one lolly stick per person, and you may want some spares in case any snap. 
  • You could also do this activity using a flexible twig/stick.  
  • You can find information about the science behind how a bow and arrow works on this page. You could explore this at any point during or after the activity, in a way that works best for your group. Encouraging people to question why something works or doesn’t work, or why they think something will work, is a way to explore this in an active and engaging way. 

There’s lots of forces that act on the bow and arrow that affect the way the arrow flies.  These include energy transfers, gravity and air resistance.

Energy transfers 

  • The bow bends when the archer pulls back on the bowstring. The bow can bend because it is made of an elastic material.
  • This transfers energy to the bow.  The energy stored in the bow is called elastic potential energy.
  • When the bowstring is released, the stored energy is transferred to the arrow. The shape of the bow helps make this energy go straight to the arrow.
  • In technical terms, the elastic potential energy of the bow is converted to the kinetic energy of the arrow. Kinetic energy is the name for energy stored in a moving object. 

Gravity and air resistance 

  • As the arrow flies, it will be affected by the force of gravity, pulling it towards the ground, and air resistance, slowing it down. 
  • Gravity means that the arrow will end up falling to the ground, rather than flying forever. 
  • You have to compensate for the effect of gravity, when you’re choosing what angle to fire your arrow from. If you’re trying to make your arrow go the furthest distance, you have to find the perfect balance – firing it not too high, but not too low. 
  • Air resistance is a type of friction between air and another material, in this case, the arrow. Friction is a force that slows objects down and it happens when an object moves through water or air.
  • Long and thin objects, like arrows, can move through the air more easily. They’ve got an aerodynamic shape. Objects with a larger surface area create more air resistance. 

 

Running this activity

Make your mini bow and arrow

  1. Gather everyone together and ask if anyone’s used a bow and arrow before. Explain that you’re making a mini version using a lolly stick. 
  2. Everyone should take a pre-soaked lolly stick to make your bow. It should be soft and flexible.  
  3. Using scissors, cut a small notch on the edge of the lolly stick, near to one of the ends. This should be around half an inch (about 1.3cm) from the end of the stick. You should repeat this on the other side of the stick. There should be two notches on one end of the stick, but on opposite sides. 
  4. When you’re ready, repeat this on other end of the stick. You should have a total of 4 small notches.  
  5. Now, wrap and tie dental floss onto one end of the stick, securing it in place using the notches you made. You may want to wrap it around a few times and tie a knot.  
  6. Bend the lollipop stick gently to form a bow shape. You could bend it over a curved surface, such as a bowl, mug or tennis ball. 
  7. Keeping the bow curved, carefully wrap and tie the other end of the dental floss around the other end of the bow. The dental floss should be tight and help hold the bow shape.  
  8. If you want to, you could use colouring pens or pencils to decorate or help identify your bow.
  9. To make your arrows, carefully cut off one end of a cotton bud. You could use scissors to make a small notch in the cut end of the cotton bud. This’ll help it stay against the bowstring (dental floss) when you use your bow.  

Try out your mini bow and arrow 

  1. When everyone’s ready, set up some small targets, such as cones, hoops, paper plates or other markers.  You could have different markers, with each one worth a different number of points. People could write down their scores or just play for fun.
  2. With adult supervision, everyone should take it in turns to carefully have a go with your mini bow and arrow. Remember not to point the bow and arrow at humans or animals.  
  3. See who can get their arrow to hit the target, or go the furthest. People can experiment with their bow to see what helps. They could change their technique, the angle they fire it at, the height they launch it from, the bend in the bow, the amount of dental floss and so on.  People can talk about what they're changing and why they think it will help.
  4. Gather everyone back together. What did people change? What helped and what didn’t?  Why do people think that was?
  5. Here's some more questions to get everyone thinking about the science behind how a bow and arrow works. You can talk about the power of the bow; the effect of gravity pulling the arrow down to the ground; and the effect of air resistance slowing the arrow as it flies. 
    • Did anything slow the arrow down or change it’s course?
    • What may have determined how far the arrow went? What are the forces involved?
    • How did the angle you fired at affect how the arrow flew and whether you hit your target?
    • What would happen if you just threw the arrow? What does the bow do?

Reflection

This activity was a way to have fun and explore the science behind an activity you might do at Scouts. 

Did you find anything difficult, or have any problems? How did you resolve them, or what would you do differently next time? 

How is your mini bow and arrow different or the same as the real thing?  What worked best for you? How did you get your arrow to fly further or higher?  Did anything make it worse? 

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Sharp objects

Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

  • To make this activity easier, you could prepare the lolly sticks and cotton buds beforehand.  
  • To make this activity harder, you could experiment with using other materials to make your bow. For example, you could try using yarn, wool or an elastic band for your bowstring. You could also use a desk fan to alter the air resistance or to introduce side winds. How does this affect the flight of your arrow? For example, you may need to aim left to compensate for the wind, or aiming higher because the target is further away. 
  • This might be tricky for people who struggle with fine motor skills. People could work in pairs and support each other to make their mini bow and arrows. 
  • Larger materials could be used, such as larger craft sticks or twigs instead of lolly sticks, and yawn/wool instead of floss.    
  • The mini bow and arrows could be made before the session, so people just need to decorate them and have a go. 

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Cubs Scientist Activity Badge
Scouts Scientist Activity Badge

If you enjoyed this activity, you could try another science activity or try soft archery.

Young people can take the lead with making any adjustments to their mini bows and arrows.  They can decide on targets to set up, and they could also create any extra challenges, such as hoops.