Here is everything you need to know to make a marshmallow shooter (or marshmallow gun). What a blast! Do you often wonder how to keep the kids entertained? Well, you don’t need to look any further than your sprinkler supply box (or hardware store) for some super fun.
Grab some extra PVC pipe, because you will want to also make this cool bow and arrow. And here are some other fun PVC toys to make.
Marshmallow Shooter
Split, splat, splodge…
It’s a marshmallow shooter to the rescue!
Marshmallow shooters are a riot for the entire family. They are great backyard fun and perfect for a birthday party or any outdoor summer party. Have a distance shooting contest – we’ve seen them go 20 feet or more. Or a see who can hit a target with the most accuracy.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to eat a few!
Marshmallow Shooter Supplies
Here’s what you need to make these easy marshmallow shooters:
- PVC pipe cutter or a hacksaw
- 1/2″ wide PVC pipe cut as follows
2 x 2″ length of pipe
2 x 3″ length of pipe
1 x 4″ length of pipe
- 1/2″ wide connectors as follows (make sure to buy smooth not threaded connectors)
1 x “T” joint
2 x elbow joints
1 x end cap
1 x straight connector
- sandpaper
- mini marshmallows
How to make a marshmallow shooter
Making a Marshmallow Shooter couldn’t be easier. In fact, once an adult cuts the sprinkler pipe, the kids can assemble the shooters themselves. My kids love to play with the pieces, creating new configurations.
Carefully sand the end of one of your 2″ lengths of pipe. Make it nice and smooth as this will be your mouth piece.
To put your shooter together working from left to right:
- Connect the other end of your 2″ length of pipe into an elbow joint.
- Slide the 2″ section of pipe into the other side to connect.
- Next comes the other elbow.
- Then connect a 3″ section.
- Connect the “T”.
- At the bottom of the “T,” connect the next 3″ section and then the end cap. That will be your handle.
- Connect the 4″ section of pipe to the “T”.
- Then connect the straight section to the end of the Shooter.
You’re all done. Your shooter should look like this:
Marshmallow Gun
To play with the marshmallow gun, simply place a mini marshmallow into the mouth end of the Shooter. Yes, I said mouth end. The marshmallow will travel all the way through the pipe and shoot out the other end!
Once you’ve got it loaded, take aim.
Now blow.
And shoot to your heart’s content.
You might want to watch for a sale on mini marshmallows….
If you’re lucky, there’s no clean up necessary.
I hope you love this PVC Marshmallow gun. If you’re looking for more play ideas, we’ve got you covered!
Here are a few more ways that we have fun at our house. Have you ever made oobleck? Your kids will squeal with delight at this weird concoction. We also know just about all there is to know about how to make slime at our house. And you might also like this how to make Gak recipe, it’s a borax free slime.
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A word to the wise: Please supervise your children with this activity. No shooting at people or animals! Don’t worry, there still plenty of fun to aim for! Try setting up targets or a bucket to shoot toward, or have a contest to see who can shoot their marshmallow gun the farthest.
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Thank you to the ever resourceful and sweet Calli from Make It Do for this awesome Marshmallow Gun tutorial! For more wonderful ideas please be sure to visit her site.
Yay Nicole!
I thought PVC pipes are toxic — that’s why they’re not used for clean water systems. I love that you’ve made this creative and cute way to keep the little ones entertained — but putting PVC pipes into their mouths seems like a bad idea. Sorry — love everything else I have seen!
Is there any risk of sucking the marshmallow (or in one case mentioned, a pompom) back into the child’s throat and choking?
Thanks, we are having a *blast*!!
I’ll have my 10 year old grandson this summer, so this should
be a fun project for us. Thanks so much for the idea!
Made these today! Took them outside to play with and the neighbor kids loved them too! Super easy to make, especially since I picked up a pair of PVC pipe cutters…done in minutes!
Seriously? No shooting at people? What fun is that? (With eye protection on, of course.)
We bought three 10′ pieces of PVC pipe one year to make these for all the neighbor boys…but we had so much fun taking the pieces apart and making new things that they never made it to the neighbors! That was over 2 years ago–my kids (and husband–and any male friend that happens over) still LOVE to make creations with the pieces!
I also didn’t want the mess (or sugar high) of marshmallows, so I bought little pom-poms from the craft store and they work great!
We did these at my son’s birthday one year. We had a scavenger hunt and along they way they picked up pieces and assembled them at the end for a war. So much fun!!
This is awesome! I so need to have my husband make these for the kids and one for me, how fun!
Additional Info: Resist the urge to glue the pieces together. You’ll want them to easily come apart later for cleaning. : )
Oh, and we (spray) painted ours. Desert camo for the guys, Hello Kitty camo for the gals, cuz ya we’re cool like that.
We made these for last Christmas, 14 adults, and yes, there was aiming at people! The neighbors must have had a great time watching us play, scream, run, scream, laugh, scream, and generally have the best time ever! Seriously, these are well worth the five minutes it takes to make them!
The only caution I offer is to try not to laugh as you are aiming or you suck in a mallow or two, which causes others watching you to mock and then laugh at you…chain reaction of adults laughing and hocking marshmallows and trying to not to end up in the neighbor’s hedge like a drunken sailor. Enormous fun!
(Our little people were still too small to use the marshmallow shooters, so they got foam swords to defend themselves, or generally poke us as we tried to dodge flying puffs of doom. Seriously, MAKE THESE TODAY!)
This is AWESOME!
These look FUN!!! I have a few kids that would love to play with these. Okay, they would rather just eat the marshmallows, but the shooters would be enjoyed as well. Thanks!
What fun! I bet my teenagers would like those too!