Our grandson Ripley sat with me at the kitchen table. At 4 years old, he has a lot of energy. He had already played with toy cowboys, Indians, and the cowboy town. He wanted to draw on construction paper.
I asked if he wanted to cut out one of his creations. Of course he did. I retrieved the little plastic bins with pencils, markers, and scissors. He chose the green-handled scissors. A glue stick and some large metallic confetti rounds added to his creativity.
After explaining how to hold the scissors and repeating, “thumb up, fingers down, pinky out,” multiple times, he finally got it and became a cutting wizard.
One of his cut shapes reminded me of the ears on a balloon pig I had seen on Pinterest. So I made one. He was intrigued as I blew up the balloon. He asked what I was making. I answered, “You’ll see.”
As I glued the pieces to the balloon, he figured it out pretty quickly. When I handed it over to him, he threw it up in the air, and it landed upright on its feet. He threw it up multiple times, and each time, it landed on its feet. This amazed him!
Learn how to make a balloon pig with this easy step-by-step tutorial. Perfect for beginners, this fun balloon animal uses simple paper cutouts and folds to create an adorable pig.
How to Make a Balloon Pig Easily
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Supplies You’ll Need:
- Linking Balloons
- Construction paper
- Tacky Glue
- Paper cutter
- Scissors
- Black Permanent Marker
- Metallic confetti rounds (optional)
*You can use double-sided tape instead of the Tacky Glue, but I am a fan of Tacky Glue.
Directions:
The Best Balloon for Making a Pig
The best balloon for making a pig is called a linking balloon. These balloons have a ‘tail’ that doesn’t inflate and is useful for tying balloons together. In this case, we use it as a pig tail. While pigs typically have curly tails, this detail is not crucial in this context.
Ripley commented, “He even has a tail!”
Step 1: Make The Legs
First, cut eight 1-inch strips from construction paper. Lay one strip on a hard surface. Then, lay another strip at a 90° angle across one end, matching the cut edges at the top and side.
Fold the bottom strip over the top strip, then fold the other strip over that one. Repeat folding one strip over the other until you reach the ends of the paper strips.
Glue the ends together so the springy legs don’t come apart. We’ve all made these springy paper pieces in grade school, right?
Cut four rounds for the pig feet. Glue one to each springy leg. Set aside.
Step 2: Inflate the Balloon
Inflate the balloon and tie it with an overhand knot. These balloons are 10-inch balloons. I inflated them to about 9 inches. Then tie the opening with an overhand knot.
Step 3: Create and Attach the Pig’s Snout
Draw a circle and two dots for nostrils on the leftover construction paper. Cut out the snout. Attach the snout to the knotted balloon opening.
I recommend doing this before attaching the legs. In the first one I made, I attached the legs first. The knotted balloon opening faced downward. The snout faced downward. You can see this in the picture above.
You can see in the picture above that the tied opening faces upward. That’s what you want. I applied glue to that rolled ring around the opening. Then attach the pig snout.
Step 4: Glue on the Legs
Use Tacky Glue to attach the two front springy legs to the balloon. It takes a little longer than usual for the Tacky Glue to dry because of the slick balloon surface. This is good because you have a few minutes to slide them into position.
Once you have the front legs in position, glue the back legs in place.
Step 5: Draw the Pig’s Eyes
Now that you have the legs and snout on the pig, use a black felt-tip marker to draw eyes on the balloon.
After I finished the pigs, Ripley picked up a metallic confetti round and suggested we use them for eyes. I told him that was a great idea. We glued them over the eyes on his pigs.
Step 6: Create the Pig’s Ears
Cut two ears from the leftover piece of construction paper. I lightly sketched one ear with a pencil, then folded the paper in half and cut out both ears at once.
The little triangle cutout at the bottom of the ear allows the ear to fold in slightly on both sides. You can see in one of the pictures above that I glued the bottom underside of each ear on either side of that triangular cutout. This helps the ears take shape and stand upright.
Well, Ripley took the two pigs we made home with him. We had a great time creating these balloon pigs, and he has more fond memories of staying with Grammy.
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