You can print this activity, or assign it thorough a digital classroom!

  • Student activity guide (Doc | PDF)
  • Teacher guide (Doc | PDF)

###The challenge

Every Thanksgiving morning, millions of people gather in New York City and around the country to watch an amazing sight: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade®. Macy's Parade includes giant balloons that soar in mid-air above the street! The balloons don’t float away, and they don’t fall down. How does this work?

In this activity, students will explore the forces that act on a balloon. They’ll model how these forces can work together to prevent a balloon’s motion from changing. Finally, they’ll use what they know about forces and their art skills to design their own Macy's Parade balloons.

[[☃ image 1]]

###Overview

This activity is designed to be completed across three different class periods, with optional time for follow-up creative projects. We've organized the activity into sections so you can easily adapt it to your class schedule.

  • Setting the stage—Students review key ideas about forces and motion. They're introduced to the concepts of tension and buoyant force. Students make predictions about different balloons, observe their motions, and develop explanations. (Day 1—45 minutes)

  • Part 1: Investigate forces—Students conduct a hands-on investigation into the strength of the buoyant force on underwater balloons of different sizes. Students transfer what they learn to develop explanations about the number of strings and human handlers needed to keep giant parade balloons at rest in the air. (Day 2—60 minutes)

  • Part 2: Design a Macy's Parade® balloon—Students design their own parade balloon. They include both an artistic model showing what their balloon will look like, and a force diagram modeling the forces that will work together to keep their balloon at rest. (Day 3—45 minutes)

  • More creative activities!—Choose from additional, optional project ideas. Each project encourages students to combine scientific knowledge with creativity to produce something new.

###Share your Macy's Parade balloon designs

Join the fun for Macy’s 100th Thanksgiving Day Parade! Teachers and parents can submit photos of students' balloon designs on social media and tag #MacysParade to show off their creativity and join the celebration.

###Give us feedback!

Have you tried this activity? Tell us your thoughts in this short survey.

###Related Khan Academy content

[[☃ image 2]]