Animals – Page 4 – Khool Balloons

Birds

Yesterday was my last SS class with the 4-5 year olds – they’ll be moving on to the Kindergarten class next week! They have grown so much! I made the birds above as a little gift.

Last Day of SS
We didn’t have a formal lesson, so I made up some different activities. After a review game, I talked about God’s creation and showed some pictures I had taken recently of some plants and insects, as well as pictures of my family (they happened to be in the same pile and the kids were interested,) and ended with a picture of the class.

Afterward, I brought out the balloons and made a couple simple animals, which the kids enjoyed. (Some of the kids started repeating “I want a ….” so I put the balloons away. My funny assistant replied “I want a hamburger” making the kids laugh.) I asked if they thought these animals I just made were special, and they said yes, as expected. Then, I reminded them that God created each of them and they were all super special!

Bluebird and duck balloon animals — Bluebirds and duck

Making the birds
You’ll need one 160 and one 260. I followed the directions by Twistina. (Really nice instructions and photos!) It took longer than I expected. Adding detail, such as the legs and beak, adds more time, but they sure do look really nice and colorful. It ended up taking me about 15 minutes a bird after I got the hang of it (and some popped balloons.) I was excited to use my 160s for the first time.

I simplified the design of some of the birds: I didn’t add the pinch twist at the tail for some. Also, if I had just the right amount of air left after forming the head, I didn’t break off the last bit of the balloon. I would hide that last air bubble inside the body, or make it into a little chin under the beak, which also looks pretty cool.

Balloon animal birds packed up for transport — Birds packed up for transport

To make the eyes: I drew eyes with regular markers on the leftover white part of a sticker sheet and then cut them out. I added a little color to some of the eyes (although you probably can’t see it in the picture.) You can draw the eyes directly onto the balloon with a Sharpie, but I liked the look of having the white part of the eyes. You can also add eyebrows or eyelashes.

I made all the birds the day before, as I knew I wouldn’t have time to make them all during class (about 12-15 kids).

The birdies here are all packed up and ready to go, and they each survived the trip just fine.

[ Directions by Twistina on balloonhq.com ]

The basic dog

Four-legged animal balloons — Four-legged animals

The basic dog is a great balloon to start with if you’re new to twisting.. It is also just a great balloon to start with in general (an easy warm up.)

The basic dog is made up of ten bubbles – one for the head, two ears, neck, 2 front legs, body, 2 back legs, and a small bubble at the end to keep the back legs in place. And it only requires three lock twists – one for the ears, one for front legs, and one for the back legs.

The great thing about the basic dog is once you have it down, you can easily make variations – point the ears down to make a basset hound or make a long body for Dachshund, etc. If you make one with a really long neck and small ears, it’s a giraffe! Make a really small one with a long tail and it’s a mouse! Many other four-legged animals have the basic structure of the dog but just have slightly different legs, tail, or ears… Adjust the amount of air you pump into the balloon for a longer/shorter body.

Another great thing about the dog is that it is one of the most requested items from kids!

Balloons for D’s Doljanchi

I twisted these balloons for one of my good work friends for her son’s doljanchi, a great big Korean celebration for a baby’s one year old birthday (lots of fun!) I’ll eventually post instructions or links to instructions for these!