Yarn Balloon Eggs

This is a very fun activity that uses a balloon, yarn, and a mixture of water and glue to create an "egg".  To begin, we each needed one inflated balloon.  For this lesson, we used small balloons, but larger balloons would be fun for older students.  The process we went through was to dip each piece of yarn (about 20 inches in length) into the mixture of glue and water.  To remove the excess, I ran my fingers down the length of the yarn before wrapping it around my balloon.  Then, we wrapped each piece around the balloon, as tightly as we could.  To make the pieces stronger, it is important to not have any loose ends.  Instead of leaving these out, tuck them into another string or the other end of the current string.  

While wrapping the yarn around the balloon, wrap in several different directions, and try not to leave too much open space.  Once the balloon is removed, the yarn won't hold its shape if they are large gaps present.  By having pieces go vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, the structure will be stronger.  Once all of the gaps are gone, place the balloon somewhere to dry.  We placed them on a cup, which kept them from rolling away.  Once the yarn is dry and hardened, carefully remove the balloon.  

An extension activity that could be done with this lesson is to have students use different sizes of balloons.  Also, students could try this activity using balloon animals as the surface to glue the yarn onto.  This will produce unique shapes and could feature different types of lines for each body part.