Balloon Fun with a Bicycle Pump

Here is part two of activities with the bicycle pump (see here for Part One - Straw Rockets). After making the straw rockets, the kids realized that you could pump up balloons using the bicycle pump. Not just any balloons, the kinds that you can twist into objects (as you know these are impossible to do with your mouth). So it started out blowing up the few balloons we had around to twist into what they hoped to be amazing animals. All their small hands could handle was some hats but they were proud.



Then they just started blowing up more balloons.



But someone's very special balloon popped and of course they were a little sad. Then I remembered what I saw on Pinterest. Put glow sticks inside balloons! Since it was dark out this was amazing. The kids played with the glowing balloons forever.



This super activity encourages:

• upper extremity strengthening with all that pumping
• eye hand coordination
• bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body together)
• FUN!