What kid doesn’t love a hot air balloon? I remember when my son was younger we had a chance to watch one blowing up in a field nearby, then floating off into the air. It’s something my son still remembers to this day. I even caught a photo of them inflating the balloon!
With Oz The Great and Powerful premiering in theaters this weekend, I thought it would be the perfect time to come up with a fun hot air balloon craft. This hot air balloon isn’t hard to make, and the materials don’t cost much. When it’s finished you can hang it on the wall, or in a window.
I made my balloon with blue tissue paper to look like the hot air balloon in Oz, but you could use any color, and even use a different color for each section of the balloon if you like. I’ve also attached the patterns I made, but you can create your own if you’d rather.
Hot Air Balloon Craft
Materials:
- Printable Balloon Pattern
- Printable Balloon Basket Pattern
- 1 piece black construction paper
- 1 piece yellow construction paper
- 1 sheet blue tissue paper
- 1 sheet yellow tissue paper
- yellow 1/4 inch ribbon (about 16 inches)
- craft glue
Instructions:
1. Print out the hot air balloon and basket pdf patterns and cut them out.
2. Fold the piece of black construction paper in half, and lay the pattern along the fold where indicated. Then trace an outline around the pattern onto the black construction paper.
3. Cut out the outline, then unfold your balloon.
4. Use the outline as your pattern to cut a circle out of the blue tissue paper. I had some blue tissue paper with glitter on it from another project, so I used that. Any tissue paper would work.
5. Put a little glue on the black balloon outline, and stick the tissue paper to the balloon frame.
6. Cut out the outline of the balloon basket from the yellow construction paper.
7. Use the basket outline as a pattern to cut out a piece of yellow tissue paper to fit.
8. Glue the yellow tissue paper to the construction paper frame with a thin line of glue all the way around.
9. Cut the ribbon into 2- 6 inch pieces, and one 4 inch piece. Glue the 6 inch pieces to each side of the balloon, and to each side of the basket. Glue the 4 inch ribbon to the center bottom of the balloon, and to the center top of the basket from behind.
10. Once the glue has dried you can display your hot air balloon craft on the wall or put it in a window to let the sun shine through the tissue paper.
It’s all gloom and doom outside today here. We have a big snow storm moving through later tonight so the sky is dark and cloudy. I’ll have to snap another photo in a day or two when it’s sunny again!