However, rather than pursue the standard activities of tag, jump rope, or general gossip, my group of friends tried something a little more creative. We collected heavy-duty paper clips whenever they came our way, stretched them out, and hooked the ends of a broken rubber band to either side. This created a kind of make-shift bow, and we used the sharpened stubs of leftover pencils to shoot at one another. They didn't have much range, but it was easy to tell if you were hit with one of the projectiles - especially if one of the points punctured your skin. After thirty minutes of that, it's probably no surprise that our hands all smelled of rubber bands.
My family moved to another city while I was in fifth grade and I haven't shot any pencils since then. I did try a few other experiments after that, which resulted in paper clip "poppers" that fascinated