Make a Balloon Animal

This penguin was created by Jim Batten, from Rochester, New York. Jim is a computer systems analyst who enjoys sharing his hobbies of magic and balloon sculpting with the kids in his area. He posted a description on the Balloon HQ page and has graciously granted his permission to use it here. The following is basically his description with a few explanations added.

Begin by inflating a white and a black balloon about half way and tie them off. (The pictures show white and blue for better clarity). With the white: Make two 1.5 inch bubbles, tie the mouth piece to the base of the second bubble so you have two side by side. With the black: Make a half inch bubble, follow with a 1.5 inch. Twist the mouth piece together with the base of the two bubbles on the white balloon.

Now pull the 0.5 inch black bubble over the longer white ones to form a teardrop shape, making the beak. Twist the base of the 1.5 inch black bubble to the base of the white ones.

In the black balloon twist three equal 6-8 inch bubbles to make a Bird Body.

With the white portion left over, push a big section through the black bird body so it becomes part of the body. Position this so it faces the front of the bird. With the rest of the white balloon, make two large Loop Twists. Each loop begins as a 4-6 inch bubble and is then folded back on itself and the two ends twisted together. These become the feet. If you have any white balloon left, tie it and break it off.

With the rest of the black balloon, make another loop twist which becomes the tail. Tie and break off the rest of the balloon if necessary. It really was not needed, but I used a Sharpie to draw in eyes on the white bubbles to either side of the beak.

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• Basic Balloon Twists.