How to Make a Clay Cannon

Kids enjoy playing with clay. Crafting with polymer clay allows children to bake and keep projects that they are particularly proud of. A cannon that is made of clay can be used to supplement history lessons or can be created just for fun.

Things You'll Need

• 1 oz packages of Polymer clay in these colors: brown, black, blue, and white
• 1" Pipe cleaner
• Utility scissors
• Oven

Instructions

1. 

   Create wheels by rolling two 1/2" balls of blue clay and two 1/4" balls of white clay. Roll out a thin coil of blue clay to make the spokes on the wheel. Flatten both the white and blue clay balls to make a wheel and wheel center that are about 1/4" thick.

2. 

   Finish wheels by placing the white circle in the center of the blue wheel and adding spokes from the coiled clay as pictured.

3. 

   Roll brown clay into a 3" log and add flattened 1/2" squares of brown clay on either side. This will make the cannon support.

4. 

   Push pipe cleaner through the center of the support as shown.

5. 

   Attach wheels to cannon support by pressing backs of wheels into pipe cleaners.

6. 

   Create a flattened square of black clay that is roughly 2 1/2" square. Use utility scissors to create clean edges. Roll this square into a cylinder and trim away surplus clay with scissors.

7. 

   Roll black clay into a 1/2" ball and attach to back of cannon. Finish off with a much smaller ball of clay that is attached to 1/2" ball. Place cannon into cannon support. Add small clay balls to represent cannonballs. Bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

Tips & Warnings

• Add detail and texture by etching a wood grain effect in the cannon support.

• Allow cannon to cool completely before handling.

Resources

• Information on Civil War cannons