Lately, we’ve been checking out a lot of books from our local library. And just by chance, we were pretty inspired by one: The Berenstain Bears Fly-It! Up, Up, and Away. Along with telling simplified versions of the evolution of flight, it gives simple instructions on how to make your own balloon-powered flyers. We spent an entire afternoon experimenting with them until we found our favorite! And, since it is freezing cold outside, this activity was perfect for indoors, as balloons and paper are sure to please and are easy on your lamps.
First up: The Tiger Shark:
The shape of our cone before rolling/taping
This cylinder ended up way too long and top-heavy, as the balloon could only fit into the base/opening
… so we cut it.
The verdict? Cute, but not a great design. The balloon could not be inflated enough inside the capsule to make it fly well (or maybe our paper was too heavy?).
Next up: Balloon-powered paper plane:
Verdict: Better, but my paper plane skills are lacking. If we had used sturdier paper and a better plane design, I think this would have worked well.
Next and final experiment: Balloon-powered balloon!
Verdict: Hilarious, easy success! The boys enjoyed blowing up the power-balloon and watching it buzz around and around the room. All in all, all of the experiments were fun, we laughed a lot, and we learned a good deal about the difficulties of flight! Plus, it is a bonus if you hit your brother in the head with one.
I love this!
If you’re ever near the Iowa Children’s Museum, they have an entire permanent exhibit dedicated to things that fly. We got to make all sorts of paper airplanes and rockets and the kids had an absolute blast. The Museum also had an airplane simulator where the kids got to take flying lessons. It was awesome.
What a cute experiment, I’d like to try that out with our little girl since she has some fascination for flying things 🙂
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Awesome! I love that Emil is just drinking away, barely noticing. James is a champion paper airplane engineer… so maybe he can make that one work 🙂
Are those your drawings for the directions, or straight from the book? Because if it’s yours, your drawing skills are rather impressive, even if it is just for diagrams. High five.
And that video was fantastic.
Lauren!! I love this! Especially your hand drawn instructions. So cool! THIS is something I can do to fight that soggy ground stuck inside blues.
What a perfect indoor activity! I fear that our little guy would take one look at anything paper and rip it to shreds, but maybe next year. That video definitely gave Ezra and I a good laugh. “Babies…BALLOONS!” Exactly. Ha!