Hot Air Balloons

I am so excited to share with you what we did today.  It was so much fun and such a cool project.  We made hot air balloons!  Okay, not real hot air balloons but I think the ones we made are pretty cool.  First off, a little background information.  I think I have mentioned that we have been working on a unit on Transportation.  Today was actually the last day of this unit and we ended it with a bang. We are excited to start a new unit tomorrow but I wanted to share this project with you while it is so fresh on my mind.

Many of our units have one major project among many smaller lessons and projects and this one was no different.  We studied all sorts of transportation throughout this unit and so many of them were the ones you would expect to study such as trains, boats, cars, etc.  When I saw that a large part of the unit had to do with hot air balloons I was surprised.  It isn't one that normally comes to mind when you think about transportation.  I have to tell you, I actually learned as much as the kids did about hot air balloons and I really enjoyed it!  We read quite a bit about them and looked at a lot of pictures.  Landon has even decided he wants to fly one some day but I am not sure how we will make that happen.....  We definitely want to look into maybe going to the huge hot air balloon festival in New Mexico in the fall though, as it sounds so fun!

After reading about how the balloons work and about all the different parts to them, we actually sewed our own balloons.  I have to say, that this has been one of the most rewarding projects with home schooling thus far.  If the kids were in school outside of the home, this is a project that would have never, ever happened.  For one, it is one I wouldn't have thought of to do, and for two it is one we would have never had the time to do.  Being able to take the time to teach the kids how to sew and to watch them at such young ages of 8 and 9 be able to sew something so nicely and to see the pride they took in the finished product was truly rewarding.

Our goal wasn't to create a balloon that would actually float, but rather to create one that had all the parts and design we had learned about and then to have the opportunity to learn about sewing which even as young men is a skill that could serve them well in the future.  They each picked out the fabric they wanted for their balloons and they cut the patterns out and cut the fabric for the pieces.  Then I helped them with the sewing machine by helping them guide the fabric as they ran the machine and sewed all the sides together.  I sewed on the tops of the balloons which actually was a fairly difficult task, but it luckily ended up looking good.  The kids stuffed the balloons and then they hand sewed the bottoms of the balloons on.  Then I helped them attach the baskets and we had a finished product.  I think they came out cute and the kids did so well on them!  I hope this all doesn't come across as a bragging post but it was just such a neat project and one I will always remember.  I know this is a lot of pictures but I hope you like them!