One project that I had seen on Pinterest for ages but never tackled with the boys was marshmallow blow guns made out of PVC pipe. Well, I showed the idea to the boys, and they enthusiastically agreed that we should go for it!
Constructing a marshmallow blow gun from PVC is super easy, and you can rebuild them in all different ways. This would definitely make a great project for a scout group, church group, or after school club, or just as a family activity!
For each gun, we purchased:
- 1/2 inch diameter PVC pipe. You will need 27 inches for each gun, although this doesn’t need to be exact. A little more or less will be fine.
- Two t-shaped joins
- Two elbow joints
- Two caps
**Note: While you’re shopping, make sure that the joint pieces do not have threading inside the pipe!
I used a hand saw to cut the pipe to the lengths we wanted. We did five 3-inch pieces, one 5-inch pieces, and one 7-inch piece.
Then we assembled the pieces like this:
But you can switch them around, like this:
Or this:
Or this:
To shoot, simply stick a mini marshmallow in the end of the gun and blow! The amount of air power is important. Aidan thought that his gun wasn’t working too well, but Dad got it to shoot really far. After experimenting, Aidan was able to shoot much better.
Aidan decided that he wanted to keep the same design for his gun, and he wanted to decorate it with duct tape. So we added a little camo duct tape to the pipe pieces. We didn’t do anything with the joints, but you could easily spray paint those.
I would definitely recommend playing with these outside unless you don’t mind ants! The boys did a little shooting inside, but it was almost impossible to keep up with the mini marshmallows. I’m sure there are still some we missed… Outside at the park was a much better spot for playing!
It’s amazing how many homemade toys can be made with PVC pipe!
Grace says
November 24, 2014 at 11:10 amI bought some on Etsy and they are sooo much fun! I bought one for each of my kids and one for my husband too! I think my hubby has just as much fun with it as the kids do (if not more) lol. What a fun & unique christmas gift or birthday gift!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/204577606/camo-marshmallow-shooter-gun-launches?ref=shop_home_feat_1
Peggy says
November 28, 2014 at 10:45 amWhich style of gun works best? I’m making these for adults. You show two styles so I wanted to know which style you would recommend.
Thanks
Sarah says
November 29, 2014 at 8:07 amWe built both out of the same pieces, and I think they were pretty equal. My husband was able to shoot much farther than the kids, so I think adults will have fun with these! 🙂
Christian says
December 12, 2014 at 4:11 pmAbout how much does it cost to build each one?
Roberto Toffoletti says
December 22, 2014 at 11:12 pmI just bought the materials at Home Depot for 3 guns and spend about 9.50 so about 3 dollars a piece
Dylan says
July 14, 2015 at 5:25 pmthat’s about right…
heather M says
January 19, 2015 at 10:12 pmDid the duck tape interfere with the joints attaching or should we end the tape before the joint? thanks so much! making these for my son’s birthday party
Sarah says
January 19, 2015 at 10:18 pmWe ended the tape before the joint. I think it would get too sticky if you tried to attach the pieces with tape overlapping. I hope it goes well!
shwath says
January 8, 2017 at 11:06 amNice job. It’s nice to see that kids are finally getting into engineering. The blaster in the first picture is pretty good. What I would do is add a PVC barrel before pipe.
Ninh Nguyen says
July 10, 2017 at 4:54 amYou can refer to PVC tube models for your house here: https://cucphuong.com.vn/ong-pvc-va-phu-kien-pvc-dismy-s16
Janyce Miller says
August 6, 2017 at 4:26 pmThese look like such fun… For the camo duct taped one, did you apply the tape prior to or after putting the piping in the joins?
Akshat Gupta says
August 18, 2017 at 8:14 amThanks for sharing this is helpful 🙂