Have you ever wanted to fly in a hot air balloon? Albuquerque, New Mexico has a festival every year that many people travel from all over the world to watch. They have balloons in shapes of cars, houses, animals, cartoon characters, plants and anything else you can think of. What a fun way to spend your afternoon! Watch the video and then learn how you can make your own balloon at home.

Here is how you can create your very own hot air balloon at home:

(This balloon will not hold your weight so please do not use it to lift you!)

• The Materials Needed:

• large lawn garbage bags
• dry cleaning bags
• straws
• coat hangers
• string
• scotch tape
• hairdryer

Instructions:

1. Can you make a hot air balloon? It doesn’t have to carry people, but it has to go high.

2. You can use garbage bags, dry cleaning or shopping bags, straws, coat hangers, string, and scotch tape. Use a hairdryer to create hot air. Before you start, make sure to get permission from an adult to use the hairdryer.

• 
  We would love to hear about your experience making the balloon:

  How did you use your materials to build your balloon? Did you get it to float? How high? Why do you think hot air balloons rise? What do you think would happen to your balloon if you put more or less hot air into it?

  Activity taken from: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/hotairballoon.html