This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SnackPackMixins #CollectiveBias. Here I’ll share a fun craft to create Hot Air Balloons at home and a 50 page Hot Air Balloon Activity Pack for Kids with Hot Air Balloon Party Decorations.

Some stories are so inspiring they are worthy of our greatest creativity.  The boys and I recently read “The Amazing Air Ballon” by Jean Van Leeuwen. It’s based upon a true story of the first American to fly in a hot air balloon. The historic flight took place in Baltimore on June 24, 1784 and the balloon passenger was not the inventor of the balloon, but a 13-year old boy named Edward Warren.

Now how did a 13 year-old boy sail into the history books? Well, you’ll have to read the story to find out. 😉 In the meantime, you can explore the majesty and magic of hot air ballooning with my hot air ballon craft tutorial and a Hot Air Balloon Activity Pack for kids. It includes 50 pages of hot air balloon party decorations, puzzles, matching and coloring for kids, and cut-outs for you to create your own city and trees at home.

In the story, “The Amazing Air Ballon,” the first test flights of Mr. Peter Carnes, the creator of the first balloon flown by a man in the US, included hot air balloons that floated over buildings and trees.  

Hot Air Balloon Activity Pack for Kids and Fun Hot Air Balloon Recipe

With this printable pack you can recreate this marvelous story and hot air balloon party at home. I’ve included everything you’ll need to create a town, a landscape with trees, and the children to attend the balloon launch.

This tutorial to create hot air balloons is also perfect for a child’s birthday party, or fun play date with other children. You can use the hot air balloons to denote a significant milestone.  Once attached to the baskets, the balloons will not float away. You can launch them from a high point outside to denote a graduation from one school year to another (they will sink and not float away), or use  them to teach kids about gravity. The possibilities are endless and are limited only by one’s imagination.

Hot Air Balloon Party Snack

These hot air balloons also make an adorable party snack. I filled the hot air balloon baskets with Snack Pack Juicy Gels and Sour Patch Kids. In the story, “The Amazing Air Ballon”, the baskets were designed only for single passenger flight. So, our hot air balloon baskets carried only a single passenger per balloon.

I created the cute expressions on the faces of the Sour Patch Kids with candy eyes and white cookie icing – it dries quickly and creates a firm bond with the candy.

Party guests can also eat the Snack Pack Pudding Bars I used for anchors on the trees. They taste a little like brownies but with half the calories. They have a rich, chocolate pudding taste. Yummy!

Materials needed to create a fantasy Hot Air Balloon Recipe

I found just about everything you see here at Walmart. Supplies that are harder to find are linked with affiliate links for your convenience.

• 1 6 Pack of Super Snack Pack Juicy Gels: use the Super Juicy Gel coupon until July 19, 2015 (you can also use Snack Pack Juicy Gels 4 pack for the baskets)
• 1 Box of Snack Pack Puddling Bars: use this New Snack Pack Pudding Bar coupon until July 19, 2015
• 1 Box of Sour Patch Kids – I used the larger ones for this post
• 6 Rolls of thin curling ribbon in various colors
• 6 Latex balloons (it doesn’t hurt to have a few extra in case they pop)
• 1 12′ long Paper Lantern Garland in rainbow colors
• 1 Helium Tank for inflating balloons
• 1 pair of Scissors
• 1 Stapler
• 1 Roll of tape
• 1 Tube of cookie icing in white
• 1 Container of candy eyes
• 1 Paper cutter (optional)
• 1 Empty cardboard box
• Card stock paper for printables
• Home Printer with color ink, I use an EPSON
• Laminator (optional)

Tutorial: Directions to Create Hot Air Balloon Craft

Step 1: Print and cut out the Printables. I like to use a heavy card stock when I create a virtual world with paper. It holds up better.  Sometimes I laminate these creations to help them last longer. In this case I left them unlamented to reduce shine in the photos. But if you’re a teacher or homeschooler, I highly recommend laminating projects like this one. To get this project underway, cut out the city buildings and hot air balloons for this hot air balloon party scene.

As you can see here. I’ve cut the printables and I’ve used the corners from a cardboard box to set them up to a standing position. I just taped the buildings to the cardboard box corners to stand them up. I hung the hot air ballon cut-outs from the eat-in breakfast area chandelier and from ribbon hung from the ceiling. It created a hot air balloon backdrop for my inflated creations.

Step 2: Create your hot air balloon harnesses. You’ll use your curling ribbon for this task. Pictured below is a test harness. I blew up a 12″ balloon with plain air and calculated that I needed a 16″ – 17″ circle around the top of the outer rim of the ballon to hold it. You can also tape this piece in place if needed. I then made each strand from the rim of the circle harness 30″ long. So I cut and tied on five “ropes” to act as anchors for the balloon attaching it to the basket (a.k.a. paper lantern). I think you could create the harness with four “ropes” but you would need to tape the balloon in place. I created these harnesses well in advance of blowing up helium balloons. Since latex balloons deflate in only a few hours, you want to blow up and insert your balloons only an hour or so before your party. I used gift-wrap ribbon in a variety of colors to create my hot air balloon harnesses.

Balloons come in all shapes and sizes. I used 12″ balloons for this project. If you’re not sure of the exact measurements, do a test run with your harness on one of your balloons the way I’ve done here with an air-only balloon. If you’re using a helium inflated balloon for your party – make sure to inflate to full capacity so the balloon has enough floating-power to lift the ribbons. It doesn’t seem like they weigh very much, but a helium filled balloon will need all the helium you can fit in it.

Step 3: Prep your hot air balloon baskets and create passengers. The paper lanterns simply need to be trimmed to fit the Snack Pack Juicy Gels.  Just cut away some of the paper rim to fit the snack pack cups. Be careful not to trim all of it away -you’ll need something to staple your ribbon harness to. Pictured below you can also see that I’ve already attached candy eyes to my Sour Patch kids using cookie icing.

Step 4: Create the trees. The printable pack includes the trees you see pictured here. Just cut out the printables first.

The tree “stands” are made from the Snack Pack Pudding Bars. I simply cut each pudding bar in half long-ways and positioned it on a small rectangular piece of wax paper. I then inserted the paper tree and voila’ – virtual forrest. 

Get the books!

Here you can see the city and trees. You can also see our library books based on hot air balloons, the balloon baskets filled with snack cups, and the balloon harnesses. I based this hot air balloon party on “The Amazing Air Ballon”, but my two boys also loved “Sally’s Great Balloon Adventure” and “And Away We Go.” These are fun stories that feature animals flying hot air balloons. Click these affiliate links to explore the books on Amazon.

• And Away We Go
• The Amazing Air Balloon
• Sally’s Great Balloon Adventure

Step 5: Complete the Hot Air Balloon Baskets: To attach the harnesses you’ll need to staple and tie them to the baskets.

To “puff” up the baskets, I stretched them first – before I dropped in the Snack Pack Juicy Gels – I used the larger Juicy Gels inside of the baskets. They contain 60% more Juicy Gel in them.

Step 6: Inflate helium balloons and insert into harnesses. The helium balloons will slide right into the harnesses. If you want to ensure they don’t float away, you can secure them with a few pieces of tape.

As you can see here our little Sour Patch Kid is ready for takeoff. He wants to follow in Edward Warren’s footsteps.

Just like the real thing!

In case you were wondering what the view looked like from a “passenger” perspective.

Just like a hot air balloon classic – hot air balloons everywhere!

Our family loves being creative and we’re happy to share this fun hot air balloon activity pack for kids and hot air balloon party decorations with our readers & friends!

My two boys couldn’t wait to explore the little town I’d made and launch their own hot air balloons (I removed the Snack Pack Juicy Gels first to avoid spills). What a great way to teach them about Hot Air Ballooning via an animated story time!

Download your Hot Air Balloon Activity Pack for Kids

Have a fun party planned and want to incorporate some kid fun and learning with puzzles, coloring and matching? You’ll love this 50 Page Hot Air Balloon Activity Pack for kids with Hot Air Balloon Party decorations. Great for kid’s birthday parties or even a Hot Air Balloon launch. To download your copy, just click the “Buy Now” button.

27 Activities for Young Children

You can find the Strawberry SUPER Snack Pack Juicy Gels and all NEW Snack Pack Pudding Bars on the snack aisle at Walmart. I also found the helium tank and many of the other supplies featured here at Walmart. Find more fun recipes online at Snack Pack Recipe Fun or on the Snack Pack Website. You can also shop Walmart Online for your party decorations and party snacks.

How do you create Hot Air Balloon fun?

Have any tips for creating an animated story-time with balloons? Have any fun plans for the summer that include hot air balloons? Please leave a comment below and join the conversation. I love hearing from my readers.

Blog /  Facebook /  Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram

P.S. – I blog to encourage moms, offer free preschool tools, and share ideas for family fun. If you enjoy free recipes, printables, crafts and games for little ones, ideas for family fun and encouraging posts for moms, sign up and have Happy and Blessed Home delivered to your inbox. Simply enter your e-mail address here: 

Email*

First Name*

Thanks for being a fan! Do you have a board for party fun or snacks for kids on Pinterest? Help spread the word and PIN this post on Pinterest!

Another fun Pinnable Image!