Balloon Rockets, part 1

This is a great way to get the kids to giggle (and exercise your lungs).

Take a balloon blow it up (you'll probably be doing this over and over and over again since your small child won't have the lung capacity to do it on his/her own)***.

Before you demonstrate the awesomeness of our crazy balloon, ask your child if he/she knows what will happen if you let go of the balloon.  Wait for an answer.  It gets them hypothesizing (making educational guesses).

Let go of the balloon and see what happens.

Things to try:

• Different size balloons (you can do this also without different balloons, just blow up half way, full, etc).
• Different shaped balloons (round, oval, long balloons used for making animals).
• Different colors of the same type of balloon (trust me, colors are important to little kids).

Discuss:  What happened?  How do the balloons react each time?

Then try:

• Can you put something on the balloon to slow down the reaction?
• Can you aim the balloon to try to hit a target?

***This might be a good time to invest in a balloon pump too because inevitably your child will try to blow up the balloon, give up, and pass it over to you to blow up.

Also, please be careful of balloons with really small kids.  They are a choking hazard, especially popped balloon pieces.

And, if you noticed this is Part 1 of Balloon Rockets, you'll just have to stay tuned for part 2 which is known and on tap for experimentation later in the month.