Classrooms are great but sometimes you can’t beat getting to pull the cord on a giant medieval trebuchet, push the button on a rocket or smash a teacher with a sledgehammer. I love showing people cool things and then letting them play.
Here is the trebuchet I built with the New Mexico Tech physics club back. We did school outreach events, parades and punkin-chunkin competitions but everyone’s favorite was the Post-Halloween Jackolantern toss. Fun for all ages! See the video below. It predates youtube!
NMT Trebuchet ca2002
http://youtu.be/F6MVfKNCZ0s&width=300