Sunday, September 5, 2010

balloon bean balls

I have awesome friends who send me tons of links and ideas for sewing projects, lapbooks, and misc child crafts. Love you, guys, and keep 'em coming!
There's a special folder in my inbox just for the kid crafts links, and I've been scrolling back through them, for fall weekend fun activities.
These balloon bean balls made it to the top of the list when I realized they could also be used quite easily for bowling balls and stress balls! And, for the ultimate cheap game, let the kids raid the recycle bins.

The idea was found at Homemade Mamas. If I remember correctly, I can thank DM for sending it. :-)
Homemade Mama's Instructions
What you need:

•3 balloons (about 11")
•about 3/4 cup of small dried beans (we used back beans)
First, blow up your balloons, then let the air out. This stretches them out so that it's easier to fill them. Then take your first balloon (any color, since this one won't be seen once the ball is finished) and attach it to the small end of a funnel. Then slowly start adding your beans, working them down the neck of the balloon as you go. We found that as the balloon became more and more full it was harder to add more beans because they got stuck in the neck of the balloon. If this happens, just take the balloon off the funnel carefully and blow it up a little. The beans will fall to the bottom of the balloon and you can put the balloon back on the funnel and continue filling.

Once your balloon is full of beans, snip the ribbed part of the neck. Then snip the necks in the same way off the other two. Take your second balloon and stretch it over the first one, covering the first one's neck. Repeat with the third balloon, snipping more off it's neck as needed so that you can see the color of the second balloon underneath.

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