- Arts & Sciences
Balloon Blowout
Kids see regular balloons all the time, but hot air balloons are some of the biggest! Stretch their imagination and spark learning with this activity that will help them to understand how hot air balloons work. Your little learner will discover that hot air rises and can even power a giant balloon carrying people up high in the sky!
IMPORTANT NOTE TO GROWN-UPS
Please supervise young children when using balloons and hot water. An adult should always monitor a child’s activity with balloons so they do not swallow any of these items. Likewise, a grown-up should handle hot and/or boiling water. When finished with the activity, make sure to clean up balloons and hot water, removing them from children.
What They’ll Learn
Physics
What You'll Need
-
Balloons
- Please supervise young children when using balloons. An adult should always monitor a child’s activity with balloons so they do not swallow any of these items. When finished with the activity, make sure to clean up balloons, removing them from children.
- Empty plastic or glass bottle with a cap
-
2 pots for water
- One filled with ice cubes and water
- One filled with hot water (about half-and-half boiling water and hot tap water works great!) Please supervise young children when using hot and/or boiling water. An adult should always handle hot and/or boiling water. When finished with the activity, make sure to dispose of hot water.
Instructions
Put one balloon on top of a bottle, so it covers the opening.
Have an adult test the water to make sure it’s not too hot to touch. Then help your child put the bottle with the balloon on top into the hot water and hold it down, so the sides are underwater. The balloon should inflate! Congratulations, you’ve made your own hot air balloon.
Now, move the bottle into the cold water. What happens here?
Invite kids to try the hot water again and watch the difference in the balloon.
Put one balloon on top of a bottle, so it covers the opening.
Have an adult test the water to make sure it’s not too hot to touch. Then help your child put the bottle with the balloon on top into the hot water and hold it down, so the sides are underwater. The balloon should inflate! Congratulations, you’ve made your own hot air balloon.
Now, move the bottle into the cold water. What happens here?
Invite kids to try the hot water again and watch the difference in the balloon.
Parent Talking Tips
- Ask your child: Why do you think the balloon gets bigger in the hot water?
- The air starts to move faster and takes up more space, so the air in the bottle expands into the balloon.
- Ask your child: Why does the balloon get smaller in the cold water?
- The air moves more slowly in the cold water and takes up less space, so the air goes back into the bottle and the balloon gets smaller.
- Try a few more times with the cold and hot water. If you have different sizes of balloons, try each one out.
- After the hot water cools a bit, ask your child: Why does the balloon react differently now? What do you think will happen if we add more hot water to the pot? Make sure an adult tests the water again first to make sure it’s safe to touch!
- When there’s more hot water, the air starts to move faster again, taking up more space and expanding back into the balloon.
- The air starts to move faster and takes up more space, so the air in the bottle expands into the balloon.
- The air moves more slowly in the cold water and takes up less space, so the air goes back into the bottle and the balloon gets smaller.
- When there’s more hot water, the air starts to move faster again, taking up more space and expanding back into the balloon.
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New content added weekly
Accessible on multiple devices
Downloadable books & games for offline play