Hi friends,

Today we have beautifully striped, 3D hot air balloons made from construction paper, colored pencils, and pipe cleaners.

Striped hot air balloons with clouds on a green background

My family and I attended our first hot air balloon festival in Reno, NV last month and loved it! We showed up early morning, witnessed most of the balloons being aired and lifted into the sky, and enjoyed the sights from the grassy hill. Those amazing balloons inspired our retro-colored vintage hot air balloons. Get the details below.

*Click photos for a closer look

What You'll Need

Construction Paper: (1)Light Brown
(1)Ivory/Tan, (1)Light/Dark Green, (1)Yellow
Aleene’s or Thick Glue
Pipe Cleaner
Scissors
Pencil
Colored Pencils

The Steps

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PREP

Turn your yellow paper horizontally, fold it in half, and cut.

BALLOON

Turn your half sheet horizontally, draw a wide rounded top and narrow bottom, and then cut it out.
In pencil draw slightly rounded stripes, as narrow or wide as you’d like, before coloring them in darkly with colored pencils.

BASKET

Fold your ivory/tan and light brown papers into fourths and cut out 1/4th of each.
Draw a basket on the 1/4th light brown sheet(or tan) and cut it out.
Cut your pipe cleaner into 4 equal lengths.

CLOUDS

Draw 2 different shaped clouds on your 1/4 sheet of ivory/tan paper and cut them out.

ASSEMBLE

Turn your green sheet horizontally and glue the basket to the bottom of the page, leaving the top edge unglued.
Slightly bend 2 of the pipe cleaners, then slide them under the edge of the basket(outer sides) with some glue and the 2 straight pipe cleaners next to them.
Glue the clouds on the top of the page with half overlapping the edge.
Add glue to the bottom half of the balloon, press down firmly over the pipe cleaners, and let dry for 10 -15 minutes.
That’s it!

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