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Welcome to our “Soaring High – Flight Week” an at home week filled with days of relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to things that can fly as well as some famous flight pioneers!
For this day, we learned all about a rare but fascinating flying machine – a blimp! There are so few blimps today that we couldn’t resist adding this as the focus for one of our days in our Flying Week! It truly is a sight to see! Read on to check out the fun!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 Our relaxed & learning fun day kicks off with an introduction to the day’s theme. Then, we move onto videos and themed activities (reading, writing – or story telling – time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments). Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
There are so few blimps today that it’s very possible your little one has not seen or even heard of a blimp! But, they definitely have their place in aviation history! If you’re looking for some quick facts, check out these great sites:
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- It’s a Gas: Math and Science of the Blimp — The History of Lighter Than Air by PBS Western Reserve (9m)
- How do Blimps Work? By Concerning Reality (6m)
- What It Takes To Fly The $21 Million Goodyear Blimp by Business Insider (9m)
- What Happened To Blimps? By CNBC (6m)
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
For our snack of the day, we created a blimp with oval shaped fruit & some rectangular crackers!
READING
It’s no secret that reading is an important part of learning, which is why we pick out a handful of books that are fun and filled with some learning tidbits. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned! These are a few we picked from for the day:
- A Blimp in the Blue by J. Jean Robertson
- Blimps & Whales by by Bethany Argisle
- How Does It Fly? Blimp by Sharon Nittinger
- A Dream of Flight: Alberto Santos-Dumont’s Race Around the Eiffel Tower
- What Was the Hindenburg? by Janet B. Pascal
- Blimps by Roxie Munro
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing is a great way to keep kids learning by both encouraging their creativity and thought process as well as helping them practice their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: FLIGHT, BLIMP
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- Imagine you lived on a blimp. Describe a day in your life.
- Write a short story about a blimp/airship race. Be sure to include who is your hero and why are they racing?
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning!
- Vintage Blimp Coloring Page from Super Coloring
- Blimp Coloring Page from Education.com
- Balloon Blimps: similar to a hot air balloon craft, set the balloon vertically and you’ve got yourself a blimp that can carry snacks or other small trinkets!
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
- Make a Balloon Blimp by the Friday Zone
THANK YOU
Thank you for checking out our at home learning fun article! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest.
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our other Soaring High -Flight Week Days or our other DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
