I have been wanting to do this with the kids since I first saw it on Pinterest. The original lesson plan by Cassie Stephens: In the Art Room is for first grade and as you know Kate and I can modify any lesson to fit our unique classroom population of K-5. The project was broken up into 10 half or one hour sessions. It was very specific, such as spending a day on one stripe of the sky. Really?! Dylan would never sit still for art that long when he could be outside playing basketball. I never want to be that controlling of what our kids do, we get an idea, show the kids and you see the beautiful art they make.
First, we used giant paint brushes to do our skies, blending our colors. Then we made our hot air balloons using crayons, colored pencils and watercolor, after reading Hot Air by Marjorie Priceman and Hot-Air Henry by Mary Calhoun and learning about the first balloon flight in 1783 from Versailles, France. Isabella was our photographer.
The baskets are decorated paper towel rolls. We had a lot of fun putting it all together and accenting the balloon art with our best friends the Sharpies. Kira’s hot air balloon is even floating in deep space! And Cadence decided to send Liesl, her dog, up in her balloon. What a great adventure our hot air balloons and their riders are on!