Rubber Band Racer

How far will your rubber band racer go?

Using hot glue will work best for this project. If you don’t have a hot glue gun, then you could try tacky glue, but it will take a long time to dry strongly enough to hold. Hot glue guns are not expensive, but please be careful when crafting with kids and hot glue. Unsurprisingly, hot glue sticks very well to most things, including skin. It hurts a lot! I have learned from experience. Please be careful when crafting with hot glue.

Let’s get started

Let’s start by making the basic frame for your rubber band racer. Lay the 2 biggest lollipop sticks parallel to each other. Glue the smaller sticks between them so that they act as a brace.

Next, you will need to cut 3 lengths of straw. One as wide as your car, and 2 shorter lengths, about a third of the width of your car. Measure your base and cut the straws to the length that works for you. For my car, I needed one length at 8cm and 2 lengths at 3cm long. Glue these in place as pictured.

Your racer needs wheels

To make the wheels, careful pierce a hole in the centre of each bottle top.

Cut 2 lengths of skewers about 15cm in length (or a couple of cm wider than your car). Thread a bottle top on to one end of each of the skewers and glue in place. When these have dried, thread them through the straws on your car, and glue the other bottle tops on place.

Now let’s make it a racer

Cut a 1cm piece of skewer, and a 3cm piece of skewer. Glue the longer length to the front of your car (the end with the long straw) as pictured. The shorter end will go at the back of the car. Make sure the shorter skewer at the back of the car, doesn’t catch on the brace as it spins on the axel.

To give the car a bit of weight, glue a heavy bolt to each side of the back of the car (where the short straws are).

Wrap small rubber bands around the wheels of your car. This will help it to keep traction when it is racing across your floor. Hook a larger rubber band around the skewer at the front of the car. Loop this over the small skewer at the back of your racer. Roll it carefully back to wind the rubber band. When it is wound enough, let go and watch your rubber band racer go!