History of the Hot Air Balloon

Today marks the history of the very first hot air balloon flight, which isn’t exactly what we celebrated. The first flight containing “passengers” actually takes place in September, which is what we discussed. But it’s a fun history lesson all the same.

Our summer activity for today included the following printout: I discussed with Cooper how a hot air balloon works and explained that to test whether or not the concept was safe, the inventors sent up a sheep, a duck and a rooster for its first flight. How silly, huh? We attached the printout to a helium balloon (yes, we also discussed the difference between a heat-powered source and a gas-powered (helium) source.).

**Thank you Raley’s/Bel-Air for the free balloon!** We then went outside and let the balloon fly, hoping we will pass on a fun tidbit of historical information to whomever finds the deflated balloon. It was fun to see how long we could maintain visual on the balloon. It got incredibly high! We then went inside and enjoyed the movie Up (which again, I realize has nothing to do with a hot air balloon, but is fun all the same) and some delicious Chocolate Butterscotch Popcorn. You’ll find the recipe here, only I replaced the peanut butter chips with butterscotch. Equally as tasty! Have fun creating moments with your little one! =)

June 5th, 2010 – Richard Scarry’s Birthday