Day 21
Build a LEGO balloon vase
Put together some loose LEGO Technic parts, wrap it in a balloon, fill it with water, and give it a flower to hold.
This is a very simple build, but it invites kids to use familiar materials in unfamiliar ways so it might inspire different projects if water, balloons, and LEGO, are things you've got in available your space.
Each child simply builds a skeleton, stretches a balloon around it, and fills it with water. The LEGO pieces I've used are one way to build this, but I recommend experimenting with different pieces - and different types of balloons - to see what your kids come up with.
Have plenty of extra materials available so kids can iterate their design and try out different ideas as they play with the materials.
Elements
←These are all the pieces used for the example vase.
The Small Steering Wheel (2819) is the most important piece, used for the mouth of the vase. Many other disk shaped LEGO pieces won't allow the stem of a flower into the vase.
It's also important to have a number of different sized axles and connectors available, but beyond that just have some loose Technic pieces for kids to experiment with.
Build the skeleton
Kids will have to experiment with different lengths of the skeleton to make sure there's the right amount of tension when you stretch on the balloon and add water.
This is something each kid should be able to figure out on their own.
add water
It's really fun when you add water and see how the weight of the water creates the shape of the vase.
If there isn't enough tension from stretching the balloon onto the skeleton, the sides of the vase will wrinkle - something your kids will likely discover, and might build for intentionally.
Experiment
You might find that the small steering wheel piece doesn't balance very well on the bottom, so try playing with different sized pieces for the top, the bottom, and for shaping the middle of the vase.
I've found Large Steering Wheel (2741) piece is a good base.
Check out these examples and their skeletons
This is really just the seed of a building activity. I'd be interested to see what you and your kids make of this.
Please let me know what you think of the activity! You can find me via @nilsenmusem on twitter. I'd love to see your creations - which I encourage you to tag #balloonvase and #LEGO.
If you're interested in more tinker-able LEGO activities, check out #LEGOtinkering on twitter and the Instructables below.
LEGO tinkering guides
You can find guides on Instructables for running open-ended learning through play activities that we design where I work at the LEGO Idea Studio.
This project was very much inspired by Evan Gant's project on Shapeways, which you can order for €12.10 here.