Oh the Places You'll Go! Hot Air Balloon Craft

When my team started planning for Dr. Seuss week, I wanted something a little different. You can only make so many paper hats, right?!? I love, love, love rainbow colors and thought something colorful would be so pretty to carry into spring. I suggested hot air balloons to pair with Oh the Places You'll Go, and it was a hit! They look beautiful in our hallway!

Get your materials ready:
-balloon tracer
-4 pieces of colored paper
-length of yarn, about 24 inches long
-paper cup or cupcake liner
-photo of student

Start by tracing a balloon pattern on four pieces of paper. You could do five or three, but four was perfect for my second graders. We used Astrobright paper, and it was so, so pretty! Astrobright > construction paper!

Fold each balloon shape in half. Line up the folds of two balloon shapes, and glue them together.

Meaning, you'll glue the right side of one balloon shape to the left side of another balloon.

Loop your yarn in half, leaving enough at the top to hang it from the ceiling (about 3-4 inches). The tails of the yarn will hang out the bottom of the balloon. I found it worked best to tape the yarn in place.

Glue another balloon on top. Tape down the other half of the yarn.

Add your last balloon. You should have a 3-D balloon now!

Now, it's time to add your basket. I used these adorable little ice cream cups that I found in the Dollar Spot at Target. My teammates used Dixie cups. I think black cups with white polka dots would be adorable, though! Punch two holes in the cups, opposite of one another. Tie the tails of the yarn through the holes.

Last of all, add pictures of your students. I had mine pose like they were actually in a hot air balloon. They came up with the cutest poses! We glued the pictures on card stock, and that helped them to stand up in the baskets. It worked really well to tape the kids inside of the baskets.

Hang your balloons! We hung the entire grade level's balloons in our hallway, and it is seriously so pretty! They look awesome all hanging together, especially when the breeze blows through.