Happy Birthday Matt! I was trying to think of a popular cartoon character from my childhood to make and thought of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! I watched this cartoon every Saturday morning, as well as played the video games.
To make this balloon, check out this balloonmodels.com blog post for step-by-step instructions. I mostly followed the instructions, but not exactly. I used one 260 green for the legs, one 260 green for the arms, part of a 260 green for the head, a purple 160 scrap for the mask, part of a yellow (golden rod) 260 for the chest, a brown 260 for the shell, and a brown 160 for the staff. If I make this one again, I’ll change the design slightly.
Someone recently asked me about making a teddy bear, and here’s a one-balloon version. I followed these directions from balloondesigns.net (UPDATE: no longer exists.) The purple teddy bear is what you’ll end up with if you follow the instructions above exactly.
Tips: You’ll want to leave almost a 5″ tail when pumping the balloon. When twisting the series of seven bubbles to form the head, twist the 4th and 6th bubbles a little smaller than the others, so that the ears will not be so large. You can draw two different faces – one on each side!
The pink teddy bear is another version. This one has a neck, a tail, and uses only one balloon for the body. I left about a 4″ tail to make this one.
D and I met up with some friends visiting from out of town today, and they have two kids. What balloon can you make when aren’t sure what to make? Penguins! Everyone loves penguins!
This penguin design is a pretty good design for beginners. You don’t need to worry about making sure you inflate/twist the balloons exactly the right length because you won’t use the entire balloon.
You will need three balloons – a black 260, a white 260, and an orange 260. I also used a blue 160 scrap for a bow-tie.
Check out this video from the Twister Sisters to learn how to make this penguin!
Fish balloon animalFish balloon animal (front view)
Here’s yet another fish I made. I came up with this one – it’s similar to the previous fish I blogged about, but it’s a little larger and has a little more detail (stripes.)
To make this balloon, you use a 260 balloon to make the lips and body. This is similar to how you’d start making the last fish, except this time don’t make fins with the 260 balloon. Thus, the body will be a little larger.
Then use one 160 balloon to add the top two stripes and two back fins (top and bottom). Afterward, use a second 160 balloon to add the bottom two stripes, two side fins, and middle back fin. (To attach each 160 balloon to the fish body you’ve already made, wrap the knot around the back of the fish body (where the bubbles intersect each other.))
Use a small white round balloon to make two eyes. Lastly, add a scrap 260 white (or whatever color) balloon to fill in the final middle back fin.
Wow, another year with the 4-5 year olds class has passed by. Last year, for the last day of class, I made birds. This year, I made fish!
Fish balloon bodies
I chose this balloon to make for my class because they don’t take that much time to make, but are still quite detailed. The birds I made last year are were a bit too detailed and took more time than I originally planned. Also, these fish are a bit more sturdy – probably less likely to come undone and will last a little longer.
Fish balloons ready for transport
Tips: As shown in the picture, I made all the fish bodies first. The fish body is made up of one 260 balloon. I found leaving 3 inches uninflated was just right for me. The new neon-colored balloons I just bought looked quite nice.
After making the bodies, I added the fins and the eyes. You can position the eyes to be in the middle, closer to the front, or right in front. You can also mix and match different colors for the body and fins.
I have made this fish balloon before.
I originally saw this balloon on a youtube video (by BusterBalloon.)
To transport the balloons, I used a pop-up laundry hamper, which worked quite well. In the past I’ve used bags for transport. But this way, you can have more assurance the balloons won’t get squished. The laundry hamper also can fit a lot.
This hummingbird has a very similar design to the butterfly. I saw this design in Marvin Hardy’s Advanced 260 Balloon Magic book.
The hummingbird is easier to make than the butterfly. There is one less twist for the wings. You’ll leave a couple inches of uninflated balloon for the beak.
In the picture is a blue hummingbird made with a 260 balloon and a second smaller pink one made using half of a 160 balloon.
I got my first real close up view of a butterfly of this year this past Sunday. It landed on the bright green shirt of someone sitting a few feet away. So beautiful!
The pink butterfly shown here was made using a single 260. The other one was made using one yellow 260 balloon and a scrap black 260 balloon.
Butterflies (back)
Twisting the one-balloon butterfly is a little more difficult than twisting a “dog” balloon – the butterfly consists of a number of twists that all go around the same joint, which makes things a little tight.
As you can see, the wings are twisted similarly to how you would twist flower petals; they are just different sizes – two are smaller and two are bigger. (When twisting flower petals, you normally locate the midpoint and twist the balloon there. With these wings, you locate a point a few inches from the midpoint and twist the balloon there.)
Next time, I’ll try using a 160 balloon for the body, and will draw some spots/designs on the butterfly wings using markers! Decorating the butterfly might be a fun activity for kids too!
Here’s a mommy turtle with two little baby turtle hatchlings. I’m currently running low on green 260 balloons, so I used a 350 to make the shell using a three-bubble roll through, and a 160 for the flippers and feet. This design is based on another design I saw a few years ago (the owner has taken that youtube video down since then.)
I made this one for a baby shower. The larger fish above is supposed to be a mommy fish, and the smaller fish a baby fish. Trivia question: What is a baby fish called? (Answer below.)
I’ve shown you the larger fish before. (See this previous post.) The smaller fish design (along with the coral and seaweed) I saw on a youtube video by BusterBalloon. I really like that design as well – it uses an entire 260 balloon, a 160 scrap for the fins, and a small white round for the eyes.
To (loosely) attach the fish to the coral, take a small piece of uninflated balloon and find some place to secure one end on the fish. Then find some place to secure the other end on the coral. (You can first tie knots at the ends of the balloon if that helps.) If you look closely at the picture above, you can see where I slid in one end of the uninflated balloon at the bottom of the mommy fish in between the 260 balloon and the round balloon.
What is a baby fish called? A newly hatched fish is called a fry. A baby fish that is a bit older is called a fingerling (and is about the size of one’s finger or larger.)
Here’s my version of a simple elephant balloon animal. I’ve seen other simple one-balloon elephants, but in this design I use a second 160 balloon so that the trunk is more in proportion compared to the rest of the body.
This design requires two balloons: one full 260 balloon and a 160 scrap for the trunk.
Inflate the balloon leaving about four inches uninflated. Make a loop twist for the ear, a pinch twist for the head, and another loop twist for the other ear. Then make the rest of the body the way you would for a dog.
For the trunk, inflate the 160 balloon to however long you want the trunk to be, then tie off both ends (and cut off any remaining balloon if necessary.) Wrap one end around the head/ears to attach it to the rest of the elephant. Twist a small pinch twist for the mouth and position the trunk so that it is between the mouth and the head. (You can wrap the trunk around the head again if you’d like.)
The above penguin and cake were made for a special birthday boy whose party I attended. (So many spring birthdays!) I’ve blogged about each of these balloons before (penguin, cake), but thought I’d show this picture as the colors are a bit different. One day, I may get to posting instructions for the penguin balloon, if enough people are interested. (Everyone seems to love penguins!)
This is a monkey made for another special birthday girl. I had an interesting time making this balloon – I was down to my last three 260 brown balloons, I needed all three, and one of the arms popped!
I tied up the balloon that popped so that it wouldn’t lose any more air. I unraveled the other (still intact) arm and used it to form the back of the monkey and the tail. I had plenty of 160 browns, so I used one of those to form the arms. The end result turned out better than the original design I had planned!
You’ll need five balloons – three brown 260s, one blush 260, and one brown 160. Use one brown and part of one blush 260s for the head. You’ll use one brown 260 for one leg and the tail, one brown 260 for the other leg and the body, one 160 for the arm, and the remaining part of the blush 260 for the body. The body and the head are made separately. To attach the two, simply stuff the neck into the head. The hands and feet are just simple loop twists. Push the small bubble formed on the ends of the arms through the loop to secure them, and then position them so they look like thumbs.
Khool Dog
So you’ve got the basic dog balloon down. How can you make it a bit more fancy? “Khool dog” here offers three quick ideas.
Make the balloon animal bigger. I used a 350 instead of the usual 260 balloon. A 350 balloon is three inches wide and 50 inches long, whereas a 260 balloon is two inches wide and 60 inches long. You’ll have to adjust the amount of air that you pump into the balloon. Some animals that usually require the entire 260 balloon may not work as well with the 350 balloon.
Add eyes. I used a small 5″ white round balloon twisted in half to make the eyes.
Add a bow tie. With a small 160 scrap, I made a bow tie and added it around the neck. You could also attach it to the ear using a raisin twist, but that will take a little more time.
This year, Atlanta experienced its first white Christmas since 1882! I remember always wishing for a white Christmas as a child (but now I get tons of snow living in the Northeast.) We got maybe almost 2 inches of snow, and many churches were closed due to the icy roads.
During our family Christmas Eve dinner, some of my cousins suggested I make a penguin balloon. So, being “snowed in” this morning, I took some black, white, and orange balloons and decided to give it a try. I designed this penguin balloon off the top of my head. Below is the resulting Mr. Penguin, playing in the historic Atlanta snow!
To make this penguin, I used two small white 5″ round balloons, two black 260s, an orange 160 (scrap), an orange 260 (scrap), and a red 160 (scrap).
First, I used one (entire) black 260 (inflated with a 4″ tail) to make the head and the first loop for the body. The eyes are made from a white round not fully inflated, twisted in half. The white part of the body is a white round. I then used the second black 260 for the back of the penguin body and tail (you don’t need to use the whole balloon.) The beak is a very small scrap of orange balloon, and the feet and bow tie from 160 scraps. I’m pleased with my first try at a penguin.
Mr. Penguin biking in the snow Mr. Penguin making snow angels
Last Saturday my church hosted a Children’s Christmas party. It was a lot of fun, with crafts, gifts, and also Koko the clown, who entertained the guests with magic tricks, juggling, balloons, and shared about the meaning of Christmas. At the end, we also gave each kid a balloon animal, with which I helped out.
Because we were expecting possibly 100 kids, I tried to think of simpler balloon animals. We gave out red flowers, camels (which the wise men rode), and sheep (who were present in the stable where baby Jesus slept.) I was out of green 260 balloons, so I cut the red (for the petals) and green (for the stem) 160 balloons into halves to make two smaller flowers.
Camel
Camel: The camel balloon was a pretty simple animal to make. I went with a one-balloon design based on this camel youtube video. I simplified the design a bit – I didn’t do the tulip twist, and because I wanted the knot to be at the tail and not on the head, I started by making the tail first (instead of the head.) You’ll want to leave a little bit less than a 4 inch tail when inflating the balloon. I like to use up the entire balloon, and it may take you a try or two to get the size of the legs and body of the camel just right so that you have just the right amount left for the neck and head. After you are done twisting, bend the neck of the camel upwards, and bend the head downwards.
Sheep
Sheep: The sheep is a little more complex than the camel, as it uses two balloons and requires more knot tying. I followed these instructions from Professor Wonder to make this balloon. I also simplified this balloon in that I didn’t use the tulip (apple) twist to attach the two balloons. Instead I just tied the ends together. (I’m not too good with the tulip twist and often end up popping the balloon.) In addition to white sheep, I also made a few that were blue, pink or purple, and used either black and blush for the head. (The kids preferred blush over black.) I try to use up the entire balloon here as well, so I don’t have do any additional cutting or tying.
This parrot (sitting on a perch) is one of my favorite one-balloon animals to make. It is fast (faster than the dog!) and easy – only requiring about 4 twists, and looks very much like a parrot. If the outside loop (perch) is too small, you can have a kid wear it so that it looks like the parrot is sitting on the kid’s arm/shoulder. Just twist the balloon so that the bird is not in the circle and have a kid put his or her arm through the loop (with the bird sitting on top.)
This fish balloon is always one of the favorites. It’s actually not too complicated to make – it’s the combination of color and shapes that makes this fish really cool.
This fish uses five balloons – two 260s, one large round balloon for the body, and two small ones for the eyes. (If you don’t have small round ones, you can use a 260 to make the eyes with a couple loops twists.) Choose colors that will go well together.
You’ll basically make two pinch twists (which might be the most difficult part) for the lips and two loop twists for the fins.
After making the balloon, I like to give a kid the chance to draw in the eyeballs/eyelashes, which they always enjoy.
This cute hippo design uses one 260 balloon and one pink heart balloon. I used a gray 260 balloon, but a silver, brown, or even light purple, light green, or light blue one would work well. This is another neat way to use a heart balloon. (I’ve seen a heart balloon used similarly in a cow balloon design as well.)
My comments: When inflating the balloon, you’ll want to leave about a 5 inch tail. (If you leave less of a tail, you’ll run of space for the balloon to expand.)
Near the end, if you find that you’ve run out of balloon or don’t have room to make any additional twists, you can settle for only using four belly balloons (instead of five). Just deflate the remaining bubble that you don’t need, tie a knot, cut off part of the end if it’s too long, and wrap the knot around the body to hide it. Your hippo body will only be made of four bubbles and won’t be as big, but will still look pretty good.
I’ve seen some different frog designs, and here’s a pretty simple one that I like. It uses a green 260 balloon for the frog body, and a bit of yellow or white (you can use a leftover scrap) for the eyes.
See the video here. (The person in the video has also made many other videos which are available from the same site, and are worth a look.)
Comments on the video instructions: You will want to leave about a 4.5 inch tail when blowing up the green balloon. I quickly ran out of “balloon” and had to make sure not to make any bubbles too large. If you do find that you’ve run out of balloon, you can just make the two legs from a second green balloon and then attach them.
To make a simple snake: just make the head of the frog. When blowing up the balloon, leave a smaller tail (around 1.5 inches), as you won’t be making as many twists. After making the head, bend the rest of the balloon into a zig-zag shape. Push the air into the uninflated part of the balloon. I also attached an uninflated piece of leftover red balloon for the snake tongue.
I twisted some simple balloons (heart wands, flower hats, and four-legged creatures) for two special birthday girls at IHOP after our softball game one night. I used to think balloons were just for little kids, but I’m starting to see adults can enjoy them too (to my surprise!) This past summer while visiting family, I twisted some balloons for my little cousins, and I think my grandpa enjoyed them just as much. 🙂
(D commented that my friends aren’t really adults, but I disagree!)
