Recommend a toy shooter for a 3 year old

[Aletheia]

DS2 has requested a "toy gun that shoots whole pillows" for Christmas.    I've finally gotten to the point where I am comfortable with gun play, and this post is not about revisiting those issues.  I'm sure there are lots of other posts on MDC that will allow you to present your own views on the appropriateness of giving a toy gun to a small child... but this is not the one!

This is what I would like to find for him:

Something that doesn't LOOK too realistic-- in fact perhaps a slingshot or something not at all gun-related, but that still can be held and launch things.

Something with no batteries.

Something that launches SOFT objects (though not necessarily "whole pillows.")

Something-- AND THIS IS A BIG ONE-- that a 3 year old will not get frustrated operating.

So far, I've found this, the "Boom Ball Slingshot", which seems like a good bet, but has no customer reviews save one very unhelpful one.

And these, which are pretty hilarious.  They have a wide variety of animals.

Nerf makes a foam ball gun, but a couple of the reviewers on amazon said specifically that it was hard for little guys to operate.

Can anyone speak to the quality of either of these toys, or recommend another one?

[K1329]

Not sure about the recommended age, but, there are marshmallow shooters/guns available. They shoot actual marshmallows, which sounds close to a white pillow, to me!

[hildare]

:)  dd at two would loooove the same thing.  however, b/c of her motor skills (and the fact that she is a two-year-old) what we got her instead is this:

a toy bow and arrow set with suction cups

we ordered extra arrows, too, and dh really liked this company for whatever reason.

i know that's not what you specified, but we are/were in the same situation and showed dd these online and she's stoked. 

for the record, dh is biting his nails until the day we can get the nerf big gun stuff.  *eyeroll*

[Aletheia]

I thought about the marshmallow guns... but I think eating the marshmallows would be too important.  :)

The archery set looks awesome!  I'm ordering one!  Thanks!

And I did find the poppers at an actual store.  If you buy the models of animals who don't have "shirts" on, they aren't too hard to squeeze.  And the noise is hilarious.  :)  So I bought two. 

[tbone_kneegrabber]

what about a stomp rocket?    They are popular with every kid I've ever seen use one and everyone from 18month to 45years old has been able to get the rocket to launch.

[SunRise]

I was going to suggest the marshmallow shooter too. We found one at a pumpkin patch...the guy made it out of pvc plumbing stuff. Kind a cool, kind of works. Oh look, instructions, they are not so unique after all

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-an-AUG-PVC-marshmallow-shooter/

Another kind of simple playful gun is a wooden gun that has a cork which pops out (makes a nice pop noise) with some kind of pump action. We got ours at Gander a few years ago. Ok, I found it at a different place.

http://www.cabelas.com/shooting-toys-pop-gun-1.shtml?WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=nextag&WT.z_mc_id1=716635&rid=40&mr:referralID=e589afa3-274d-11e1-8423-001b2166becc

[Aletheia]

I agree that the stomp rockets are wonderful!  We have two different kinds.  :)

Thanks for the two links and suggestions, SunRise!.

[34me]

When boys were that age hitting me or the rest of the family was way more funny than eating the marshmallows.  We made our own and had so much fun.