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How to Build a Mousetrap Car With Household Items

Mousetrap cars are simple, mechanical toys that teach the basics of physics and propulsion. You can create a mousetrap car with common, household objects. These are perfect projects for science classrooms, where the students can race the cars at the end of the assignment.

Things You'll Need

Mousetrap
4 plastic wheels
2 small nails
1 wire coat hanger
Epoxy or super glue
Stapler
String

Instructions

- 1
  Remove the latch and food holders from the mousetrap. You will only need the heavy spring arm.
- 2
  Attach two wheels to the one of the mousetrap with small nails. This will act as the front of the car. The front of the car is where the spring arm sits when the spring is not flexed.
- 3
  Cut a short piece of coat hanger the just a bit wider than the width of the mousetrap. This will act as your axle. Glue two wheels to the axle with epoxy.
- 4
  Attach the axle to the bottom of the mousetrap by stapling the axle to the underside of the trap, adjusting the staples so that the back wheels spin freely.
- 5
  Glue one end of a short length of string to the center of the axle. Attach the other end of the string to spring bar on the mousetrap.
- 6
  Pull the spring bar all the way back so that there is tension on the spring. Turn the back wheels so that the string is wound around the axle.
- 7
  Place the mousetrap car on the floor and let the spring go. The car should race across the floor.

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