Marshmallow Guns - How to Make Them Part 2

I talked about how I liked home made marshmallow guns better than store bought yesterday and also about why I think it is almost more fun to let the kids make their own guns if the children are old enough.

The first gun I'll show you is the "Tommy" gun that I made. I sold these at my Christmas boutique years ago with a bag of marshmallows and still had a ton for our own use. This gut is nice because you have something to hold and the mouth piece is higher and easier to aim and blow. I like having the end piece on the plastic as it is smooth and does feel more like a mouth piece. The two handles make it easier to aim I think.

I laughed when I showed you the picture of Princess number 5 blowing on the pipe with it hanging down the wrong way. the glue came loose. To make this gun you need about 3 feet of PVC 1/2 inch pipe. You need 2 elbow connectors, 2 three way connectors and two stoppers end pieces. cut the pipe into lengths needed for the gun. Just make sure the handles coming down are the same size. The middle parts don't really matter what length you make them. Be creative, or better yet, let the kids make them as part of the fun.

This gun is a store bought marshmallow gun. I mentioned my likes and dislikes of this in yesterday's post.

The third gun option is letting them just use straight pipe. Many people just have this hanging around from sprinkler projects. The straight one's probably shoot with more power but aren't quite as much fun.

This gun is easy to make, saves on money and still gives you a gun feel with the handle. It only needs 1 three way connector and one stopper and about 2 1/2 feet of PVC sprinkler pipe. The three way stopper is a great mouth piece and I am this gun cuts down on work, parts and cost.

My nephew made this contraption out of parts from an old one and extra pipe I took. It needs 1 three way connector and 1 stopper plug as well but allows you to not have to put the gun so close to your mouth with your hand. It probably gives a bit more control but not as much as the "Tommy" type gun.

Just let you kids make their own. Buys lots of connection pieces and cut the pipe into different lengths and let them go to it.

You can make an obstacle course if you don't like the idea of them "shooting" each other with these guns. You can make or have the kids make a target out of cardboard and let them practice shooting at it. You can get cans and jars of different sizes and see who can shoot the most into them. If you have a bean bag toss game, you can use the holes for the bags as targets for the marshmallows or you can make one yourself using a large cardboard piece.

The ideas are endless with these fun "guns" made of plastic. It would be a great neighborhood party in the summer or a birthday "sheriff" party and each takes home a gun. You could make bandanna's and tye dye them as well. Or, you could do a military party, hand out dog tags, they "assemble" the guns and you could time them putting their gun together and have a prize for the fastest.

A "Hunger Games" party would be fun. You could even have little training booths set up. One for "camo" and let them paint the guns. One for training where they shoot targets. One for starting fires without matches etc. That could be really creative. Be creative and let the imagination wander.

I was glad to have the bag of these so that I could just grab it and go. I keep them in an old onion bag so that any dirt, sand or marshmallows have a way to escape without having a pile of sand in the bottom of the bag. I also keep around stale marshmallows because I think they make better bullets or ammo.

Any way you make these, they are fun. "Let the Games Begin." This is a war you can enjoy!