Balloon Animal Crea ons Re ec on
Re ect though ully on each of the following considera ons a er having created
your Balloon crea on. Remember that this ac vity is for your re ec on on your
process in learning a skill that could lead to crea ve products. It’s not about “how
to make a balloon dog.”
1. Fear: Ini ally, fear might have come from the uncertainty of working with
a new material—balloons, which could pop or be tricky to twist.
Overcoming this fear was a key step, as crea vity o en involves venturing
into the unknown, dealing with the possibility of failure, and pushing
through to discover what works.
2. Belief in “can I do it?”: At rst, there may have been doubt about the
ability to create something with balloons, especially if it seemed
challenging or unfamiliar. However, as the process unfolded and successes
occurred—whether a simple twist or the nal form—the belief in being
able to do it likely grew. Con dence is built through each small success.
3. Materials (how was this di erent than using another material like paper…
how did the material a ect what you created?): Balloons are vastly
di erent from tradi onal materials like paper. They are three-dimensional,
elas c, and fragile, which made the process more tac le and required a
di erent kind of control. The exibility of balloons introduces an element
of unpredictability, forcing you to adapt and respond to what the material
allows. With paper, precision is more predictable, while balloons demand
responsiveness to tension and shape, in uencing the nal crea on.
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4. Colors (how did the colors you got in uence what you created? How
would this in uence a child?): The colors I had access to could have
steered my crea on in certain direc ons. For example, bright colors might
inspire more playful designs, whereas muted tones could evoke
something more elegant. For a child, colors can signi cantly impact
engagement and imagina on, making them more excited or even more
expressive in their crea ons.
5. Components of crea vity re ected (from crea vity lecture… uency,
exibility, etc.): exibility was demonstrated in how I adjusted to the
nature of the material, especially when it didn’t behave as expected.
6. Stages of crea vity re ected (explain how they were shown in your
balloon crea on process): I started with an idea of what I wanted to make
with the balloon, maybe thinking about something simple, like a basic
shape or animal. As I worked on it, I had to pause and rethink things when
the balloon didn’t twist the way I expected or when I ran into challenges.
There was a moment where things clicked, and I gured out how to make
the balloon do what I wanted, and it started to look like the shape I had in
mind. Once I was done, I stepped back and looked at the nal product,
checking if it matched my original idea or if I needed to tweak it.
7. Learning curve: The learning curve was pre y steep at rst. Balloons can
be tricky—they might pop or not twist the way I wanted. But with each
try, I got be er at controlling the material, and over me, it got easier to
shape them into what I wanted.
8. Learning a skill vs. Learning to make a product: There’s a di erence
between just learning to make one speci c balloon shape and learning the
overall skill of balloon twis ng. Once I got the hang of the skill, I could
make di erent things, not just the one design. It’s like yoga, where
learning the poses (the skill) gives me the tools to do more with my
prac ce beyond just copying moves.
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9. How did this experience relate to the instruc ons you reviewed for your
Personal Expression Project?
IMPORTANT…dig deep and explore the rela onship between this ac vity
and it’s crea vity steps…and your idea for your project. Just because it’s
not the same skill (like kni ng) doesn’t mean it’s not related…..think
PROCESS
In my Personal Expression Project, I'm focusing on yoga, which is about
learning the poses (the technical part) and then using them to express
myself. The balloon ac vity is similar because both involve learning basic
skills rst, like twis ng balloons or doing yoga poses, before you can get
crea ve. Both ac vi es show that you need a mix of structure and
crea vity, and the balloon experience could help me see how exible
and open the crea ve process can be.r
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