Aiming For The Stars With Stomp Rocket

Thank you Stomp Rocket for sponsoring this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love the January weather where we live. Living in Southern California we don’t really have much of a true winter. Its a warm 68 degrees outside today – perfect weather. I was gifted the Stomp Rocket Jr. Glow (ages 3+) from Stomp Rocket so we are heading to our local park for some science fun outdoors. Here is how our set up went and yes I did a countdown with the girls like any proper rocket launch should have.

• T-minus 1 minute to launch! Connect the air tube to the nozzle of the base.
• T-minus 30 seconds to launch! Attach the launch tube to the base.
• T-minus 15 seconds to launch! Place rocket onto launch tube and make sure the Launch Pad is ready.
• T-minus 5 seconds to lift off!!! Run. Jump.Stomp!

Ok, so what is a Stomp Rocket? Stomp Rocket is a 100% kid fueled outdoor rocket toy. There is no need for batteries or fuel to get the rockets airborne–just some old-fashioned stomping power. The assembly is so simple and the girls were able to reload their rockets without any assistance for me or dad. Even though this is a child’s toy, it did not stop us adults from getting in on some rocking launching fun. As an “old lady”, as Olivia would say, I felt like a kid again watching and making bets with the family on how high my rocket would fly.

I must admit that I did not look at the instructions during assembly and I absolutely under estimated how high the rocket would project into the sky even with light force. I first set up the Stomp Rocket in our driveway directly under a large tree in our front yard. Do not do this. Trust me. I had immediate regret as I ended up losing 1 of the 3 rockets that came with the toy to our tree’s branches. Thankfully the kids did not see this and it eventually fell out of the tree. After looking at the included instructions I learned that it did advise to keep away from: trees, rooftops, moving vehicles, people and animals. Oops. So that explains why we took off the park to play because our property has a lot of tall full trees.

I love that Stomp Rocket is a STEM toy. What does STEM stand for?

• Science
• Technology
• Engineering
• Mathematics

In other words, a homeschooling parents dream toy. The girls were able to experiment on a first hand account on the scientific concepts of trajectory, force, projection and motion. WOW. I know that might seem overwhelming for a 4 & 3 year old to understand, but I kept the teaching simple and here’s how.

The girls normally would not of cared to learn these scientific concepts in a standard indoor learning area, because again they are 4 & 3. With this being an outdoor lesson they were all eyes and ears and could not get enough. I just made a point to use the vocabulary of trajectory, force, projection and motion throughout the day. Our kids are only limited to what we expose them to. They completely understood the meaning of the words after I explained it to them in both words and in action. Sure they could not pronounce trajectory perfectly but they understood the word by the end of the day and that is what matters. If you have an older child and want to turn playtime into a learning experience, Stomp Rocket has a 72-page workbook called Stompin’ Science Book.

If you get a Stomp Rocket for your child, I made a fun counting worksheet to use along with it. It can also be used a standalone worksheet without the rockets. Click below to download for free.