Eco friendly balloon alternatives | crafts and activities for kids

Why are balloons bad and what are some better alternatives?

First, here are some facts regarding how damaging balloons can be and some eco-friendly alternatives to balloons:

So, while kids and adults alike may be entertained by balloons, they can be really damaging to wildlife. Particularly when released outdoors, balloons are litter! They can unfortunately cause many animals to become sick and die.

It’s clear to see that the bad side of balloons outweighs the good.

However, as you can see in our infographic above, there are tons of awesome alternatives to balloons, which are in our opinion more fun to make and play with anyways!

Read on below and we'll explain how to do these crafts and activities.

Eco-friendly balloon alternative crafts

There are heaps of balloon alternatives you can create without needing heaps of materials!

All of our crafts and activities below need only 3 materials, most of them you can even make with only paper, string, and tape!

Here are the crafts we'll cover today:

• Homemade Paper Kite Craft
• Custom Paper Bunting
• Paper Pinwheel Craft
• Bubble Solution and Bubble Wand

Create your own bubble mixture and bubble wand with just a few materials

Bubbles are an awesome alternative to balloons! They're just as fun to play with and watch float around, with much less of an environmental impact when they float away and eventually pop.

Of course, you can buy bubble blowing kits with solution, they're pretty commonly sold. But, it's just as easy (and definitely a pinch more fun) to make your own.

You can make a bubble solution simply by mixing the following ingredients: 1 tbsp Green/Eco Friendly Dish detergent, 4 tbsp Water, 2 tbsp light corn syrup, honey, or sugar.

Once you've mixed this, you can just let it sit overnight (or at least a couple hours), and then your bubble solution is ready to go! If you'd like to make more or less bubbles, you can use less or more ingredients just keeping the ratios the same.

You may have some bubble wands or bubble blowers ready to use with your new bubble solution if you've ever bought a bubble blowing kit before. If you haven't, don't worry! You can create your own bubble blower or bubble wand with just two sticks and some string.

Step 1. Cut two lengths of string, one piece should be longer than the other. In any case, the length will depend on the size of bubbles you want to make. Want to make bigger bubbles? Cut longer pieces of string.

Step 2. Tie the ends of both pieces of string to both sticks. One piece of string, the longer, should hang below the other. This creates a loop that will form your bubbles. (If you're not sure, take a look at the picture above to see how this should look).

Step 3. Finally, with your strings tied your ready to make some bubbles! You can dip the string into the bubble solution and swing it through the air or blow through it to create your own bubbles.

Homemade Paper Kite Craft

With just paper, string, and some tape, you can take to the skies in a sustainable way with this homemade diy kite! And, you can use the kite again and again, or reuse the paper for a different diy.

It's easy to make in just a few steps, you can follow along with the images below:

• Fold a piece of paper in half.
• Fold over the corners on both sides, without creasing them. Tape them to the side of the paper to create a funnel-like shape on either side.
• Create a small hole in front of where the corners are taped down (you can do this with a pen or hole punch), then tie your string through the hole.

That's it! Find yourself a nice windy spot and you're ready to fly your very own kite!

Paper Buntings

Using only paper, string, and tape (or glue), you can also make a really cute, customised bunting! This can be an awesome balloon alternative for decoration, and you can use them over and over again.

To create a very simple bunting, you can just cut different shapes out of paper, colour them, and then tape or glue them to a string.

Take a look at our example here:

You can make more complex buntings or customise your bunting even more to match whatever the occasion may be. For example, our Easter bunny and carrot bunting! (You can see all the steps to make this here)

Paper Pinwheel DIY

Creating a pinwheel thst spins in the wind is a piece of cake with this simple paper pinwheel diy. All you need is paper and a pushpin and you're good to go!

Steps

• Roll or fold a piece of paper to create the stick or handle for your pinwheel.
• Take a square piece of paper. Draw diagonal lines from each corner towards the centre, stopping just before the centre.
• Using scissors, cut along these lines. Make sure you don't cut all the way through the centre.
• Then, fold every other point of the the pinwheel to the centre and push the pushpin through the centre to join them. Then, push the pushpin through the rolled/folded paper from the first step in order to finish up your pinwheel!

In the mood for some adventure? You can also create a pinwheel bunting! You can do this by threading a string through the centre of the pinwheel instead of a pushpin. If you do this through several pinwheels you'll have this super cool pinwheel bunting!

Hopefully you loved our eco-friendly balloon alternative crafts! If you made any of them, we'd love to see them! So, feel free to share with us on social media @Babysits

In the mood for more crafts? Be sure to check out our other diys for kids here.

Curious to know what else you can do to solve the environmental problems balloons cause?

There are plenty of organisations taking a stand, such as Boomerang Alliance, and there has been success in getting legislation passed banning the release of helium balloons in Victoria!

One simple way to take action is to inform yourself further and take a look into the petitions and other activities that Boomerang Alliance and others organise!