Balloons Over Broadway STEM Challenge Thanksgiving Parade Puppet Activity
Balloons Over Broadway STEM Challenge Thanksgiving Parade Puppet Activity
Digital file
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Bring a Thanksgiving parade to life with moving puppets! Connect STEM and literacy with this hands-on activity inspired by Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet.
Students color and cut out puppet pieces, connect movable joints with brads, and add craft sticks to control the movement. As they test their puppets, they explore how rods and joints work together, make improvements, and try different ways to move and gesture.
Ready for another challenge? Students can plan and build an original puppet, choosing which parts will move and where the joints and rods should go.
What's included
- Teacher instructions and an original-puppet extension
- A link to Canva lesson slides
- Cat, hummingbird, tiger, and elephant puppet templates
- Vocabulary cards for joint, articulate, puppet, and rod
- A reading passage about Tony Sarg's first giant balloons
- A student challenge letter, planning page, and writing pages
- Engineering design process posters and teacher sample pages
Materials
- Printed puppet templates
- Coloring supplies
- Scissors
- A hole punch
- Brass fasteners (brads)
- Craft sticks
- Tape
Balloons Over Broadway is an optional read-aloud companion and is not included.
Designed for elementary STEM and classroom learning. This is a digital resource; no physical materials are shipped.