My daughter is really enjoying her Saige American Girl of the Year doll. She’s been reading the second book, Saige Paints the Sky. So, we decided to make a hot air balloon craft, inspired by Saige!
Materials:
- inflated balloon
- glue, diluted with a few drops of water
- tissue paper
- yarn
- fishing wire
- plastic container
- raffia
Directions:
1. Tear or cut your tissue paper in strips.
2. Coat the balloon with the slightly diluted glue mixture.
3. Cover the balloon (except a small circle at the bottom) in the strips of tissue paper.
4. As you go along, add glue on top of the tissue paper, too. Make sure your entire balloon is covered in tissue paper, except a small circle at the bottom you should leave empty, and paint with an extra coat of glue. Let dry overnight.
5. While it is drying, glue raffia around your plastic container. My daughter wants a bigger one next time so she can fit her American Girl Marie-Grace mini in the basket.
6. After your balloon dries over night, pop the balloon. Remove the deflated balloon and fix the tissue paper if it collapsed a little.
7. The adult can poke two holes on either side of the plastic container, tie yarn on one side, thread the yarn through the bottom of the balloon, and then down to the other side of the container.
8. Thread fishing wire through the top part of the balloon so you can hang it up in the child’s room. My daughter keeps hers over her bed.
Drift off on imaginary adventures!
Educational Connections:
- Science: How do hot air balloons work? (Check out this video and hot air balloon experiment from PBS Kids.)
- Technology: Hot air balloons were the first successful human means of flight. Make a timeline of human flight.
- Language Arts: If you could go anywhere in a hot air balloon, where would you travel?
Neat idea – thanks for posting it!