The Stomp Rocket!

On Tuesday during nap time we received a package in the mail. I wasn't aware that anything was coming to us, so it was very mysterious (turns out my husband knew about it, though). As soon as the kids woke up, they were all over it. I mean, who doesn't love a good surprise present every now and then?

The package had come from their grandma and there were some pretty cool things inside. 

Have you ever heard of this thing?

Amazon

Oh my goodness, you guys. It's amazing. Seriously, a huge hit. 

It's so simple. In three steps, you have the launcher set up and ready to go. 

 I had no idea Daniel was making this face when I took this picture. I guess he was pretty excited ;)

Then get one of your foam rockets into position...

And blast off!

At first the kids were tentative, but they soon discovered that the harder they stomped, the higher the rocket would fly. 

And height was the goal.

Eventually they stopped stomping altogether and began jumping. Then there was an unspoken competition about who could jump from the furthest away. 

In short, they loved it. So much so that today Daniel announced that he wanted to be an astronaut when he grows up. 

After listening to them ask all morning if they could play with it again, I agreed to let them take it to the park with us. And at least 4 other kids came up and asked if they could have a turn. ...then we all had a lesson in sharing ;)

This toy is so totally worth every penny. It's super fun, and with all kinds of possibilities for science lessons we'll definitely be keeping it around for awhile.  

Two cautions: Make sure no one's face is in the line of fire. We had a few close calls, especially when the kids realized that they could shoot the rocket in any direction by repositioning the launcher. The rockets are so lightweight that if they fall down on you from above it's no big deal...but you don't want to get shot with one in the face. That could be bad. 

Also, it would be better to play with this toy in an open field or playground. Our rockets kept getting caught in the trees above, and at one point one landed on our roof. We were able to retrieve all of them, but we had a much easier time at the playground today. 

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