Hot Air Balloon Craft Ideas for Kids: 3 Super Cute & Simple Activities
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These hot air balloon craft ideas for kids are fantastic and frugal ways to enjoy hands-on fun activities.
You'll have a blast with these super cute craft projects that feature hot air balloons. Using common craft materials, you can use these step-by-step instructions to make it easy to create crafts you'll love.
Oh, and you can totally tweak these ideas to customize the hot air balloon projects!
Easily Elevate Your Craft Time with Kids
Looking for super fun yet easy crafts to enjoy with your kids? Maybe you need a fun balloon craft for a learning theme?
You'll love these hot air balloon craft ideas!
These uplifting and easy paper crafts are adorable and easy to customize. Featuring common craft materials, your kids will be able to make special hot air balloons.
Plus, you can use the symbol of a hot air balloon to chat about positive thinking, growth mindset skills, kindness, and more. Take that conversation to the next level with writing prompts and activities, too.
You can use these crafts for:
- rainy day fun
- brain breaks
- boredom busters
- fun day (June 5th is Hot Air Balloon Day)
- summer camp
- library (for example, story time)
3 Hot Air Balloon Craft Ideas You'll Love
My boys and I have loved working on crafts together over the years. There's something special about using our hands to create something that we can share and enjoy. My favorite part is talking about our crafts, sharing ideas and tips.
From all of our craft experiences, I've discovered that the boys like to stick with a theme. When we find a particular craft to create, we challenge each other to think of different ways to make the theme using materials that we have. It's so much fun and awesome for sparking creativity!
After our Dr. Seuss Day celebration this year, the boys and I decided that we'd like to work on a craft to go with Great Day for Up! We've enjoyed that book so much over the years and wanted a new way to extend the learning fun 🎉
We dug through our craft supplies and found materials to make:
- Hot Air Balloon Suncatcher
- Hot Air Balloon Yarn Weave (fantastic for building fine motor skills)
- Hot Air Balloon Tissue Paper Craft (cool for kids of all ages)
Here are the supplies that we used and step-by-step instructions on how we make each craft. I highly encourage you to use what you have at home and customize your projects to reflect your favorite colors, textures, patterns, and more.
1. How to Make This Hot Air Balloon Suncatcher Craft
Hot air balloon
Suncatcher Craft Supplies
- Paper plates
- Tissue paper - assorted colors
- Black acrylic paint
- Paint brush
- Clear contact paper
- Glue
- Scissors
Directions for Making Hot Air Balloon Suncatcher
Step 1
- Begin by painting a paper plate black. Let the paint dry completely.
- While the paint is drying, cut a bunch of squares from different colors of tissue paper.
- Now, with the paint dry, have an adult carefully cut out the center of the paper plate. Keep the cut out in a circle.
Step 2
- Use the circle you cut out to trace the size on a piece of clear contact paper. You will want to use the circle as a guide, but be sure to make the lines at least an inch or so larger than the circle.
- Cut out the circle of contact paper. You will need 2 circles of contact paper the same size.
- Adhere one sheet of contact paper to the front of the paper plate.
Step 3
- Then, start sticking pieces of tissue paper around the contact paper.
- Continue sticking contact paper until the contact paper is full.
- Once full, stick the other circle of contact paper to the back of the paper plate.
Step 4
- Next, cut the black cut-out piece in half. Have an adult carefully cut out the inside of this piece, too. Use this piece as a template to get the right size contact paper. You will need 2 of these pieces of contact paper, too.
- Stick the contact paper to the front and begin adding pieces of tissue paper until the contact paper is full. Add the other piece of contact paper to the back.
Step 5
- Finally, cut two strips from the remaining piece of paper plate.
- Glue one end of the strips to either side of the basket.
- Then. glue to the back of the paper plate.
2. How to Make This Hot Air Balloon Yarn Weave Craft
Hot air balloon
Yarn Weave Craft Supplies
- Paper plate
- Acrylic paint
- Multi-color yarn
- Single hole punch
- Tape
- Brown cardstock
- Brown marker
- Scissors
Directions for Making Hot Air Balloon Yarn Weave Craft
Step 1
- Begin by painting a paper plate in your color of choice. We chose magenta for our hot air balloon. Let the paint dry completely.
- When the paint is dry, use a hole punch to form holes around the paper plate. Space the holes roughly 1” or so apart.
Step 2
- Now, cut a long strand of yarn. Take the end of your yarn, we used a rainbow multi-color skein, bring it through a hole. Tape the end to the back of the paper plate.
- Then, start weaving the yarn through the holes randomly.
- Continue weaving until you feel your hot air balloon is complete.
- When finished, tape the end of the yarn to the back of the plate, as well.
Step 3
- Next, cut a rectangular shape from brown cardstock.
- Draw a simple weave pattern on the brown cardstock with a brown marker.
- Make a hole on both sides of the rectangle.
Step 4
- Cut two strands of yarn of similar length.
- Bring one strand of yarn through the hole on the basket, tie in place.
- Then, bring the end of the yarn through one of the holes in the paper plate and tie in place. Do the same for the other side.
3. How to Make This Hot Air Balloon Tissue Paper Craft
Hot air balloon
Tissue Paper Craft Supplies
- Paper plate
- Tissue paper -assorted colors
- Small craft sticks
- Glue or glue stick
- Scissors
- Pencil, crayon, or marker to add details plus name and date
Directions for Making Hot Air Balloon Tissue Paper Craft
Step 1
- Start by cutting long strips from assorted colors of tissue paper.
- Glue the strips to the bottom side of a paper plate. Overlap the strips as you go.
- Once the plate is covered, let the glue dry completely.
Step 2
- While the glue is drying, gather small craft sticks. You will need 10 total for the basket.
- Stack 6 of the sticks side by side. Then glue 2 more sticks vertically on either side.
- Let that dry completely, too.
- Once dry, add another two small craft sticks to the back of the back.
Step 3
- Then glue the basket to the bottom of the paper plate. Make sure all the glue dries completely.
- At this point, you could apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the paper plate to keep the tissue paper fully secure. (optional step)
Tips & Tricks for Enjoying These Hot Air Balloon Ideas with Kids
To make the most of your craft time with kids, I have a few suggestions for you:
- Have your supplies organized and ready.
- Use what materials you have. A few fun ideas include:
- construction paper
- cupcake liners
- watercolor paints
- googly eyes
- Kwik stix
- foam brushes
- cotton balls
- rubber bands
- toilet paper roll (fun DIY stamp)
- stamps
- stickers
- washi tape
- bubble wrap
- pom poms
- pipe cleaner
- pictures from magazines or catalogs
- picture of your child, family member, or friend
- Talk about your expectations. You can use these ideas and inspiration for setting and maintaining expectations for fun activities with kids (and free printable pack).
- Demonstrate how to take care of craft supplies and how to put them all away when done.
- Show how to make the crafts. Be willing to help if necessary - but know it's okay to let your kids struggle a bit to help them learn and grow.
- Chat about alternative ways to make the crafts - colors (this free color wheel activity pack can help!), different textures, patterns, etc.
Enjoy Easy Hot Air Balloon Crafts with Kids
Ready to have a blast this type of fun activity with your kids? Crafts are such excellent ways to boost your children's creativity!
And remember: The best way to enjoy crafts with younger kids (and older ones, too) is to relax and have fun 🎉
These hot air balloon craft ideas are amazing ways to create special memories. And don't just stop with these ideas! Brainstorm themes with your kids for future craft adventures and chat about how you can use your current supplies to enjoy more crafts together.
Wishing you tons of craft fun with your kids!
Which hot air balloon craft project will you do first? Please let me know if you have any questions about these crafts in the comments area at the bottom of this post 😊
