Did most of the stuff on the list, early 60’s to early 70’s. Also made gunpowder, smoke bombs and fireworks, some of which went BOOM :). 5 pounds of saltpeter/sugar makes one helluva smoke cloud.
Carried my .22 rifle & ammo on a plane as an unaccompanied minor. We kids were free to roam my grandpa’s 90 acre farm and shoot when we got there.
At home, I made a target in the basement from a bunch of old phone books. Shoot, then look up the bullets in the Yellow Pages.
One favorite was putting a polyethylene bottle on a stick and lighting it. It would burn and the drips make the most unusual sound, VOOP, VOOP. We would set up army men in the sandbox and simulate napalm attacks.
A 50 gallon trash burning barrel full of cattail catkin fluff really goes up in flame fast.
Now.. those bought me back to childhood...one day, my friend made a hot air balloon with a trash bag...(with no warning label that says may cause suffocation if put on head.), wax, gasoline and fire. It hit the roof of my friend’s house, but then it landed 5 miles away...we followed it on our bikes.