Coming up this month is the annual Carolina BalloonFest. I
am super excited about catching it this year! Last year, by the time I
remembered it, the festival had already passed. So I wrote it down on my
calendar way ahead of time and I’ve been highly anticipating that weekend!
What is the Carolina BalloonFest?
The website says: “Join us for a fun-filled weekend of
family entertainment with outstanding attractions. Bring lawn chairs and
blankets (pets &
coolers are not permitted) to bask in the beautiful Carolina
autumn weather as the backdrop to all the sights & sounds of colorful hot
air balloons.” The BalloonFest even made the Weather Channel’s Top 10 FantasticFall Festivals list!
Over the course of the weekend, they will have: 50 Hot Air
Balloons, Mass Ascensions, a stage with live entertainment, a Balloon Glow, a
competition, Hot Air Balloon Rides, Tethered Balloon Rides, All-Day
Festivities, a Kids Zone, a history about hot air balloons, Tastes of NC Wines
& Brews, Artisan Village & MarketPlace, Fine Arts & Crafts, an Eat
Street, and a Beer Tent.
Sounds like a lot of fun right? I really think the girls
would love seeing all of the hot air balloons and that’s why I’m doing my best
to make sure we don’t miss it this year!
But I can’t have something this awesome come up without
doing a craft or activity to accompany it. I’ve been scouring the Google and
Pinterest looking for age-appropriate activities and crafts to go along with
the weekend. My Internet has been acting up (as always) and it’s taking me a
little while to gather everything.
With all that said, I know that for Friday I want to check
out some books from the library about hot air balloons. Thing 1 has an early release
that day so I know I would actually be able to introduce them to hot air
balloons before heading out early Saturday morning. (It’s a little bit of a
drive for us, but I’m thinking it will be well worth the effort to get there!)
I searched the online catalogue for the library and could only come up with
fiction books with hot air balloons in them. I think some of these will work,
but I’m also hoping to find a non-fiction book or two. (As part of the curriculum
for first grade, Thing 1 has had to start reading non-fiction books for her
reading log.)
Also on Friday, I’d like to do a craft or two. Or maybe do
an edible craft. J I
have found a couple sites that I was able to pin to one of my boards onPinterest so that I can go back when the Internet is working better and print
some of the worksheets off. Some of the pages have a hot air balloon maze while
others have coloring pages and another has a great cut and paste activity for
my little preschooler to do. I’m sure my first grader will have fun with it too.
J
We will have to leave early Saturday morning (my husband isn’t
going to be too happy about thatL)
and we will probably be gone all day and return later in the evening. But on
Sunday I know the hubby will be kicking back, watching some football, and
enjoying some well needed – and well earned – relaxation. While he is doing
that, I have a fun idea for the kids. I want to do an experiment with them. I
found one that I may be able to do with my girls even though it was designed
for grades four to six. The ideas of it would still be the same; there just
wouldn’t be as complex a discussion about what we did. And I’m thinking that
aside from the hair dryer (which is the heat source behind the whole thing and
something I have already) I can buy the needed supplies from the dollar store. You
can check the page out here: Make a Hot Air Balloon.
Here are some more cool ideas I have found....now my problem will be choosing which ONE to do with the girls. :) 
Warm Air Needs More Room 
Hot Air Balloon
Thanks for the info. After going through the blog I realize that I must do a hot air balloon festival. Thanks for all the useful ideas. I enjoyed reading the blog.
ReplyDeleteHot Air Balloon Ride
On the nineteenth Sept 1783 Pilatre First State Rozier, a mortal, launched the primary hot air balloon known as 'Aerostat Reveillon'. The passengers were a sheep, a duck and a chicken and also the balloon stayed within the air for a grand total of quarter-hour before bloody back to the bottom.!
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