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If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you might have already heard my family’s exciting news: I’m pregnant with our 3rd baby!

We found out the gender for the first time (my first two pregnancies we kept the gender a surprise until the baby was born), and it’s a girl. We’re all so excited to welcome our second baby girl in just a few months.

The last few months have been busy for us. My pregnancy has lowered my energy level, so my blog was put on the back burner when school and sports started back up. I’ll try to post a few more times before the baby comes, and then you will probably notice another long break as we adjust to becoming family of 5. 🙂

Today I’m sharing the kind of activity that is right up my third-trimester-pregnant ally right now: simple, easy, fun. This activity requires one thing – a balloon. Believe it or not, there is science behind this simple and entertaining activity. Keep reading to learn all about it!

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Earlier this year I bought a big bag of balloons. My kids and I had fun doing STEAM activities using them over the summer. Have you tried our Inflate a Balloon with a Chemical Reaction or Rescue an Animal from an Ice Balloon activities yet? This activity is another great way to use our balloon stash for STEM fun.

One day my son was blowing up a balloon for fun when he accidentally released it and the balloon went flying across our living room!

My kids were both surprised and excited by this discovery, and they soon made it into a game. They each blew up a balloon, then I counted down from 10 to 1 and they released the balloon at the same time. We tested to see whose balloon flew the furthest, flew the highest, or did the coolest tricks.

We repeated the experiment over, and over, and over, and over, well you get the picture… I’m pretty sure we did this for at least half an hour the first day, and they continued to do this activity daily for a week. This is a great indoor activity for when the “I’m bored” whines start.

Materials:

• Balloons

Procedure:

1. Blow up two (or more) balloons. Don’t tie the balloons closed, just pinch the lips at the opening to prevent the air from leaking out.

2. Count down from 10 to 1 (make it dramatic like a rocket launch to make it more fun!), and then release the balloons!

3. Watch the balloons fly around your room! Can you make it fly further, higher, or make it do loops?

STEAM Concepts Learned:

• Science: The balloons fly through the air while deflating due to Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The action is air being released from the balloon. The reaction is the balloon flying across the room in the opposite direction.
  
  The balloon flies in different directions (maybe even doing loops) because the balloon opening is flexible, and moves as the air is released. This changes the direction of the flight path, which is always in the opposite direction.
  
  The balloon’s flight path can be stabilized by attaching the balloon to a fixed object. We made a fun balloon rocket that I shared last year.
  
• Math: Practice counting backwards when you do the countdown for the balloon release. My kids had so much fun with the countdown!

This activity doesn’t ever get old. Every time you try it the balloons will do something different or unexpected to make it fun all over again.

Let me know if you try this simple and fun activity to keep your kids busy and entertained!