Friday, January 31, 2014

Frozen Water Balloons!

We homeschool our children and it is a lot of work....and a lot of fun. One thing I wanted my children to learn......was to enjoy learning....to LOVE to learn. No, they do not LOVE to learn multiplication facts or grammar and for some of the things that aren't so "fun", I tell them that we just have to do it anyway. Even those can be interesting, but when we can....we have lots of fun learning.

One of our projects this year was quite spontaneous - one of those rather "blah" days where we were all caught up with schoolwork and staying on schedule, but losing that love of learning and feeling the drudgery of the schooldays. On days like that, I like to introduce some extra project or reading or something to stimulate interest again.

Our project this time was one I had seen online, but we hadn't done yet, so this was the day....Frozen Water Balloons.  It was cold and we were cooped up, so it seemed like a good time. The kids eagerly found the balloons - the bigger latex ones. We wanted to color our frozen balls, so we tried different ways of getting the coloring in the balloons and we did it, but not without messy color stained hands.






We put them out on the deck and separated them quite a bit so they would freeze faster. You can see we left air in some of the balloons - We're new at this. Hmmm... need to work on that....

They stayed on the deck overnight and we were careful not to touch them. When they were first checked in the morning, a couple of them were not frozen through completely and needed more time. When they were all pretty well done.....we gathered them up, a few at a time, in a dishpan and took them into the house.



   We sliced a part of the balloon and the kids had fun peeling the balloon off, exposing the frozen balls inside and the colors that they were.

We put the "unwrapped" frozen balloons back into the dishpan and took them back to the deck so they would stay frozen.













Some of these balloons appeared totally frozen, but when they were turned over, water still moved inside and one balloon had water (and the food coloring) leak out, so we put it back the other way and left it to freeze longer.


The balloons looked interesting - even with our air bubbles!











 We wished we had put stronger amounts of food coloring into the balloons, but even so, these were very interesting to look at with the frozen tiny air bubble trails inside and also the uneven freezing of the coloring. 

This one was interesting in that the clear portion formed a magnifying glass - you can see the upside down trees in the bottom of the ball.


 These were our favorites - with their variations of colored and clear ice.

We kept these out in the shaded areas of the deck and took them out to show the neighbor kids who also enjoyed them. They lasted for over a week until we had a warm up.



Well, our water balloon project was fun....and added some excitement to our week ....and added fun memories. 


Even this clear one was fun to look at - and the crack in the center reflected the sunlight nicely.

We do plan to do the project again sometime....and make the balloons even bigger. We were a bit timid with these, being concerned about if they broke in the house where we were filling them....and sent colored water all over, so we didn't fill them as full as we could have.

By the way, if you do this, the food coloring can stain your deck, stones, etc as the balls melt, so putting them in the grass is a good idea.


Another time, I would like to make these and hollow out a spot in the top to insert a little candle - it would be so pretty to see the candle light through the frozen colored ball and if these are place in the snow, there should be no chance of fire being a problem with them - just fun and pretty light.

With the cold weather keeping us inside more, these are great things to do.....and little projects like this can add a lot of interest - especially in these long days until spring. Thank you for stopping by and reading my post. Have a great day. :)





See a newer post on the subject:  

   How to Make Ice Marbles!   





29 comments:

  1. How fun! You are inspiring me to go buy balloons and try it! I think the kids would love it! enjoy your weekend

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    1. It is worth the trouble to do....I hope you and your kids love it. :)

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  2. So cool! We live in Miami so we can't do cool winter science experiments. My kids would've loved this. I might have to try this in the freezer. Stopping by from weird unsocialized homeschoolers.

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    1. If you have the room in your freezer, it should work just fine. I hope you have lots of fun with it. :)

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  3. Very Cool! looks like a lot of fun <3

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    1. Thank you.......it really was fun...........I'm thinking that maybe we should do it again before winter is over. :)

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  4. I've never seen that before either. Your ice "balloons" look so pretty! Good for you livening up a blah day with this sort of fun activity - it's what homeschooling's all about, isn't it? :-)
    Thanks for the tips, too. I can totally relate to your reticence about the mess inside!

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  5. That looks like so much fun. I think we will have to try that.
    Blessings, Dawn

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  6. What great way to add some unique fun to your week!

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  7. Thank you for the kind and fun comments. I am so glad that I homeschool my kids - what a blessing it is. I hope y'all are able to try the project - even with just one balloon instead of many at a time. :)

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  8. Oh my goodness! This looks like the best thing since Gak!
    We've been having super cold nights at least super cold for us.
    They should freeze without a problem. I wonder if I have food coloring.
    I've got to check. Thanks so much for sharing this awesome post.
    http://www.pinterest.com/pin/257690409902915711/

    Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage

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    1. This is a great project for those super cold days...........although the kids have trouble waiting HOURS for them to freeze. :)......even without food coloring, these are fun........I plan to experiment w/ cold water and warm water and see if I can have ice that is more clear rather than cloudy also..........maybe a little glitter? some "diamond dust"? so many possibilities. Have fun...thank you for stopping by............

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  9. I love this idea! It's starting to warm up a bit here in southern Indiana, but I will keep this idea in my bag of tricks for next winter. We are homeschoolers to and I know my five would love this activity. I found your blog through the Fellowship Friday link up. Thx for sharing!

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    1. I am so sorry to be late in responding to you... I am glad you visited though and I hope you are able to do this sometime... it is fun. :)

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  10. Okay, I think your pictures are really cool, and it looks like a totally fun activity, but what I actually said OUT LOUD was, "I'm SO glad I don't live somewhere where we can do that!" As I sit here in short sleeves and capris with the window open next to me.

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    1. I LOVE your comment and I laughed when I read it.... I don't blame you. :) I'm sorry I am so late in responding to this, but I really do appreciate your visit.... and your fun comment. :)

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  11. Neat idea. Especially in winter when outdoor fun isn't as fun for me :)

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    1. Thank you... I agree... and the nice thing about this is that it can be done inside.... then put them outside where they can be seen from the window and it can be quite comfy also. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  12. These look so cool! Lovely photos! I'm popping over from The Enchanted Rose (InkyDinkyDoodle #71)

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  13. Oh, I love this! And my young son would enjoy it too :) We homeschool as well so I am putting this on the "To Do" list :) So glad you shared this at Roses of Inspiration. Hugs!

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    1. It is a fun activity.... I wish I had known about it when the kids were still little, but we have had fun with it anyway. :) Thank you for stopping by.

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  14. What a fun idea! I'm going to have try this the next time we have a cold week. :-)

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    1. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! :) Thank you for visiting.

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  15. What a great idea and great fun, it would be great to have snow to freeze them outside, I wonder if it would work in the freezer. Thanks for sharing this at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings

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    1. Yes, it should work fine in the freezer.... I should do it for some kind of summer fun that way. :) Glad you stopped by.

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  16. This looks so fun! My inner kid would love it!

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    1. It is one of those things that is fun for adults and kids to do... so nice to have an excuse to do some of these projects for my kids. :) Thank you for visiting.

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