stre-e-e-e-e-e-tch

I guess we should blame our grandparents.  Or those among them who admitted to enjoying on occasion, the simple fun of a party balloon.  Stretchy rubbery stuff filled with puff.

Or we could blame Mick Inkpen, who wrote this…..

book.

This book in which Kipper the dog found a soggy blue balloon in the garden the day after a birthday party.  And gave it, as dogs will, to his owner.  Who (yuck!) blew it up.  And up.  And up.  And up.

And then let go.

Who stretched it…..

(sorry – what I should have said was stre-e-e-e-e-e-tched it).

Who squeezed it and squashed it and whacked it.  Whose dog pounced on it.

Who flew on it up, up, up…..

and away.  And fortunately back down again (in time for tea no doubt!)

Anyway.  Whoever’s fault it was (certainly not mine!) it led to a somewhat riotous investigation of the properties of a balloon.

Big breath.

Another.

One more.

         

Pfffff.

Aahhh.

Phew!

Yes.  Hold on tight.  And now; what happens when you let go?

How about trying to get it to make a different noise?  Yes…..

that’s…..

the…..

way!

Please though…..

no loud bangs!

After all that fun it was back down to earth and to a brainstorming of words and phrases to describe balloons.

What are balloons like?

Well they are round and rubbery, stre-e-e-e-e-e-tchy and bouncy, light and floaty.

And what does a balloon sound like?

‘Like someone blowing a raspberry!’

‘Like a volcano erupting!’

‘Like a baby screaming!’

And what do balloons do?

See them floating, flying, whizzing, bouncing, popping…..

In fact, why not come along to the classroom and see if you can answer our ‘What am I?’ riddles?

Thanks in no small part to our grandparents and to Mick Inkpen who wrote this…..

book.