Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Balloon Powered Boat

I have so many posts to catch up on in here, I'll do my best to get through them over the weekend! We've had two sick little girls with the flu bug so not as much craft action as usual, but these balloon powered boats were a big hit today while we (finally :-D) enjoyed some nice warm weather.

WE USED:

* rectangular plastic container
(we used a cornstarch food container, but an empty margarine/ice cream container would work well too)
* sharp knife/craft knife
* drinking straw
* balloon
* sticky tape
* small elastic band
* scissors
* blu tack/sticky tack


First use your knife to make a small hole in one end of your container just big enough for your straw to fit through.

Cut your straw in half and attach the balloon to one end using sticky tape and the elastic band. It should be secure enough that you can use the straw to blow up the balloon without it leaking around the sides.

Thread your straw through the hole in your 'boat' making sure the balloon end is on the inside.

Use your blu tack to secure the straw on each side so it is watertight. You could also use Plasticine for this.

One balloon powered boat ready for the water!

Using the straw blow up the balloon and then kink or put your finger over the end so the air doesn't escape.

Place your boat in the water, let go of the straw and off it goes :-)

The girls enjoyed racing their boats around the paddling pool.


9 comments:

  1. I love finding ideas to do with balloons! I think we should have them out all the time! I'm sharing this on facebook :) I hope you stop by It's Playtime tomorrow and link this up - it's great play!

    Jamie @ hands on : as we grow

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  2. This looks fantastic and fun. My girl is too small for this but I am not:-)

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  3. The boat was a great idea. I loved things like that when I was a kid. I've linked up to your post on my weekly favorites: http://play2grow.blogspot.com/2011/05/weekly-favorites-for-may-22-2011.html I hope you and the girls are having a great weekend!

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  4. I love this! I may borrow this idea in the future:)
    ~Jada roo can do~

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  5. Hi,
    I really liked this, and sent you an e-mail about using it in a magazine.
    Looking forward to hearing back from you soon!
    Jacqueline

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  6. Hi Jacqueline, thank you for your lovely email, I promise to get a reply to you tonight, sorry for the delay :)

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  7. I'm am doing this for a project at school

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  8. Let me know how it goes, hope you have fun :)

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  9. can it work with a small salad container to? I'm going to use it in a school project and it needs to go to the other side of the pool with 20 marbles in it with out sinking fingers crossed!

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