Chalk Bombs: Water Balloon Fun

Last year we painted with water balloons, and I wanted to do it again this year, but filling up the water balloons was a pain. This time I had a new trick up my sleeve though. Also, instead of regular paint, we swapped out sidewalk chalk paint to make "chalk bombs". With our new method of filling them up, we were smashing chalk-filled water balloons in no time. (I'm sorry. I just lied to you. It was still a pain to fill up all those balloons, but slightly less work than usual and totally worth it.)

A fun twist on ordinary water balloons and a trick for filling them.
 
To make the chalk bombs, I mixed a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch and a few drops of food coloring into each cup of water.  Using an idea from Find It, Make It, Love It, I filled an empty pump bottle with the homemade chalk paint and used the pump to fill the balloons. The bigger the pump the better it works.

A fun twist on ordinary water balloons and a trick for filling them.

When we had a respectable number of balloons filled with chalk paint, we headed out to the driveway.

A fun twist on ordinary water balloons and a trick for filling them.

My five year old son loved them.

A fun twist on ordinary water balloons and a trick for filling them.

A fun twist on ordinary water balloons and a trick for filling them.
 
A fun twist on ordinary water balloons and a trick for filling them.

Definitely more fun than regular water balloons. You can turn this into a learning activity using the same ideas as our water balloon letter learning or just draw chalk targets of whatever skill you want to practice: numbers, letters, shapes, math facts, sight words ...

Chalk Bombs: A fun twist on ordinary water balloons and a trick for filling them.

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see what else we did with our chalk bombs.

Do you have a trick for filling water balloons quickly and easily? I hate filling them up.




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16 comments:

  1. Jackie HigginsJuly 22, 2013 at 10:19 PM

    We filled them up with these long squirter things from dollar tree. (Not sure what the technical name is, it's like a squirt gun, kinda). The boys sucked water up into them and then I put the balloon on the tip and they pushed the water in. Now I just need a faster way to tie them!!
    I love these chalk bombs. We are going to give them a try!

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    Replies
    1. LorieJuly 22, 2013 at 10:31 PM

      Jackie, I thought you were smart before but now I think you're a GENIUS!

      Delete
  2. UnknownJuly 24, 2013 at 1:11 PM

    Did you use water balloons or regular balloons?

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  3. UnknownJuly 24, 2013 at 1:13 PM

    Did you use water balloons or regular balloons?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Learn with Play at HomeJuly 29, 2013 at 11:13 PM

    Thanks for linking this fun activity to Tuesday Tots. I've featured it on Learn with Play at Home this week. Love the captions on the pictures, they look great! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. JeanJuly 31, 2013 at 3:45 PM

    Now I know what to do with my leftover water balloons. We had a water balloon party last Saturday and after 900 of them, I'm sorry to say that there is no trick. We just used the little plastic thing that came in the bag attached to the water spout outside.

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    Replies
    1. LorieJuly 31, 2013 at 10:17 PM

      900?! You are officially the Queen of Water Balloons Forevermore! :)

      Delete
  6. AnonymousJuly 31, 2013 at 10:04 PM

    Just read your "Chalk Bomb Water Balloon" post & thought it a great variation on water balloon bombs. On the 4th of July our kids came over w/the grandkids & we had a great water balloon free-for-all, filling AND tying the balloons using a "portable pumping station" that comes w/an attached Tie Not Stick for quick and easy tying. I it found on Amazon.com(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007R1Z80W/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Until I found this I was really struggling to fill those tiny balloons & tying them off was an even bigger chore. This made it really easy by comparison. One of the reviewers posted a video showing how to use the Tie Not Stick, which was a helpful tool to use w/the written instructions. Also, we've used the pump simply as a hand-washing station when doing messy play outside. See what you think.

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    1. LorieJuly 31, 2013 at 10:19 PM

      Thanks, Barbara! I've never heard of this before - especially the Tie Not Stick! Love that you use it to wash hands too!

      Delete
  7. UnknownAugust 1, 2013 at 4:50 PM

    Very cool. Here is an easy way to tie waterballoons.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjcwv6FUaWo

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  8. UnknownAugust 2, 2013 at 5:49 AM

    I LOVE this! This looks like so much fun! I G+, pinned, and stumbled it =)

    I also featured this at TGIF this week (http://www.123homeschool4me.com/2013/08/tgif-linky-party-87.html), pinned, and stumbled it!

    Thanks for sharing your creativity with the rest of us! I hope you'll pop over and link up again today!

    Have a GREAT weekend,
    Beth =)

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  9. UnknownMay 4, 2014 at 7:18 PM

    Hi, are these safe if they come in contact with the body? Does it wash out of clothes easily?

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    Replies
    1. LorieMay 4, 2014 at 9:36 PM

      It's just water, cornstarch, and food coloring so it should be safe. It might stain clothing though.

      Delete
  10. #beingmeJuly 17, 2014 at 10:36 PM

    I am having an activity day for my kids and this is going to be in it. #thankyou :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!