Balloons

A friend suggested that we get our kids together to do some experiments. She had three in mind that all used balloons. We stayed with the balloon theme and ended up with seven fun experiments. Nothing serious, just some fun experimenting!

We started by creating static electricity. They had a lot of fun with this one.



Next we tried the "skewer through the balloon" experiment. This was cool! The kids predicted the best locations for the skewer to enter and exit the balloon. Unfortunately I didn't have any of the thin wooden ones so, we had to make do with a metal shish kebab skewer which proved to be a little more challenging. It took a few tries, but finally worked. The kids figured out that it was best to put the skewer through the area with the least amount of stress on it.



Here's a good one to demonstrate the difference between expansion and contraction. Since I didn't always have my camera at the ready, my pictures aren't the best, but you get the idea!



Check out this video for demonstrating centripetal force. The kids enjoyed this one and it could be expanded on in a variety of ways; different sized balloons, different objects, etc...







All kids love a chemical reaction. Try this simple one for blowing up a balloon.






And my personal favourite, the balloon hovercraft. It definitely helped to have another set of hands available to help stretch the balloon over the top. Very neat.



Next theme....lemons!