It’s time for LEGO® Fun Friday! LEGO® Fun Friday is a twice-a-month feature on Frugal Fun for Boys. Each time, I share a LEGO® building challenge for kids and give you the opportunity to link up your LEGO® posts. If you don’t have a blog (or don’t blog about LEGO®’s) and your kids want to share photos of their LEGO® challenge creations, you can share photos on the Frugal Fun for Boys Facebook page.

The challenge for this week was to build a balloon powered LEGO® car. Thank you to The Crafty Mummy for the inspiration for this building challenge!

Lego Fun Friday: Balloon Powered Car Challenge

We did our challenge this week as a playdate with friends, and it worked very well. We invited another family of four boys to join us, so that made EIGHT boys at our house! (It was really not that loud, in case you’re wondering! Just a lot of burping 🙂 )

Before our friends came, we separated out our wheels and flat pieces so that it would be easy to find parts without everyone having to dig through the same tub.

This was the basic design that the boys used:

Lego Fun Friday: Balloon Powered Car Challenge We had a little trouble with the cars getting rolling on our bumpy tile, so we put down a Thomas the train playboard to start them on. Then most cars rolled off the board and onto the floor!

It was hilarious watching them blow up the balloon attached to the car!

Lego Fun Friday: Balloon Powered Car Challenge And racing the cars was fun!

Lego Fun Friday: Balloon Powered Car Challenge We had boys age 4 years old through 11 years old at our house, and everyone had fun building cars. Our four year old friend was very focused on getting his car just right!

Lego Fun Friday: Balloon Powered Car Challenge

What we learned:

The farthest distance traveled by a balloon powered car was 12 feet 3 inches!

The boys discovered that the design of the car needed to hold the balloon up high enough that it did not touch the wheels. Otherwise, the balloon rubbing against the wheels created too much friction.

The best designs had a good balance of stability and light weight, as the heavier cars had a harder time getting started.

Some of the cars did hilarious tricks – like driving on the back two wheels or going in a circle. By the end, the boys said their cheeks hurt – from so much laughing and so much blowing up balloons!

Now it’s your turn!

Link up your LEGO® post, or share your kid’s LEGO® photos on the Frugal Fun for Boys Facebook page.

But first, the next LEGO® Fun Friday will be April 26th, and the challenge will be to build a sea creature. Since we’ve done a few “engineering” type challenges lately, my imaginative child requested a chance to build animals. So sea creatures it is!

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO® group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this site.

13 Comments

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  1. Hannah @ Making BoysMen Apr 12, 2013

    Awesome! We don't have enough wheels to do this yet, but I know my boys would love this! I feel an eBay hunt for more lego coming on! Off to pin

    Reply
  2. Karyn Apr 13, 2013

    Man! You have so many good ideas on your site. I love every post I look at.i need to remember to stop by more often! I have a linky party going on & would love for you to stop by & share some of your ideas if you have the chance. Thanks :)
    Http://teachbesideme.com

    Reply
  3. Josephine Apr 13, 2013

    I had found the idea randomly on Pinterest and my kindergarten son chose this as his project for the "Learrning Fair"! My husband, son and I spent hours Friday night experimenting, building, & documenting our observations. We ended our crazy Friday night with 5 cars, and now my son wants to experiment with various balloon sizes/shapes! I think we have "learned" a ton, so mission accomplished ;) thanks for sharing your results!!!

    Reply
    1. Sarah Apr 13, 2013

      That's awesome! I'm so glad he had fun and learned so much! Experimenting with different balloons is a great idea.

      Reply
  4. Meggen Apr 19, 2013

    What fun!

    Reply
  5. Gail Apr 20, 2013

    What Lego sets did you purchase that allowed you enough blocks and wheels?

    Reply
    1. Sarah Apr 20, 2013

      Gail, We have several sets. We bought a couple of basic bricks sets, but where the boys got a bunch of their wheels was from a "brick wall" at a Lego store in our area. They paid a set price for a tub of bricks from the brick wall, and Aidan loaded up on wheels!

      Reply
      1. MARY Beth STAUFFER Feb 1, 2019

        I also buy brick "lots" on Ebay. I have purchased random bricks and just wheels. I usually pay around $10.00 lb for random bricks. The only downside is you do get random stuff, not just basic Legos, but the kids love using the parts to create from their imagination.

        Reply
  6. The Monko Mar 28, 2014

    genius, we are so doing this. Goblin loves making lego vehicles and this extra twist will make him ecstatic

    Reply
  7. tata Apr 10, 2014

    cool

    Reply
  8. tata Apr 10, 2014

    love it

    Reply
  9. Renee Jan 10, 2015

    Thank you for the idea! My son just had a Lego themed party and the kids all made Lego balloon cars. It kept them busy for about an hour! Actually more since they went back to designing and testing cars after we had cake! Age range of kids was 4 to 17! All of them had fun!

    Reply
  10. Lol Mar 14, 2015

    Sexy

    Reply
  11. https://www.playmotupatlugames.org May 26, 2017

    I tried everything and with the haxks the game says failed to detect location and without the haxks it works fine

    Reply
  12. Jodi Nov 15, 2017

    could you please tell me haw to make a technic LEGO cross bow because my friend is in a LEGO creation contest

    Reply
  13. Lakshmana Kumar Grandhi Apr 9, 2020

    Its amazing, my 4yr old loved it and did this immediately

    Reply

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