Introduction: Build Your Own Rubber Band Car

By Design Squad Nation

Learn how to make a fast, two-wheeled car powered by a rubber band!

Watch the video and view step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Here's What You Need to Make Your Rubber Band Car:

  • 1 square piece of corrugated cardboard (the kind with open tubes inside), about 5 1/2 inches square 
  • 2 CDs
  • 1 wooden skewer (the thinner the better)
  • 1 rubber band
  • 2 pieces of Styrofoam, about 2 inches long and thick enough to fit tightly in the hole of a CD
  • Tape
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • TIP: If you don’t have any Styrofoam… Try out different materials in place of the Styrofoam. Get creative and use other things around the house to hold the wheels in place—old marshmallows, pieces of dry sponge, packing material, gummy candy, layered masking tape, etc. Try them all and see what makes your wheel work best!

Step 2: Make the Body

  • Hold your cardboard so the corrugations (tubes) run side to side, not up and down.

Step 3: Make the Body (cont'd )

  • Cutting across the corrugations, cut out a 2 inch-wide and 1 1/2 inch-deep rectangle, making a notch in the center of one side.
  • Throw away the piece you cut out.

Step 4: Make the Axle

  • Slide the skewer straight through one of the corrugations so it crosses the middle of the notch.

Step 5: Make the Axle (cont'd )

  • Make sure the axle sticks out the same amount on each side of the body.

Step 6: