Friday, March 8, 2013

One balloon dreidel


Materials: a balloon; an air pump; a permanent marker and scissors.

Buy balloons on Amazon (paid link): 
 Buy an air pump on Amazon (paid link): 

We are going to make a dreidel. It is a national Jewish spinning toy. And then we transform it in a pyramid with a square base. It was my personal challenge to make a pyramid using just one balloon. While I was making a pyramid I realized that I made a spinning toy that looks pretty much as a dreidel. Pyramids have a polygonal base, and triangular sides that meet in a point. Inflate a balloon leaving a three—inch flat tail (Pic 1).

Twist the first three—inch bubble (Pic 2).

Twist the second three—inch bubble (Pic 3).

Twist the third three—inch bubble (Pic 4).

Lock both ends of the chain of the first three (the first through the third) bubbles in one lock twist (Pic 5).

Twist the fourth three—inch bubble (Pic 6).

Twist the fifth three—inch bubble (Pic 7).

Twist the sixth three—inch bubble (Pic 8).

Lock both ends of the chain of the last three (the fourth through the sixth) bubbles in one lock twist (Pic 9).

Twist the seventh one—inch bubble (Pic 10).

Twist the eighth two—inch bubble (Pic 11).

Lock the free end of the eighth bubble between the second and the third bubbles (Pic 12). You have to force the balloon through the loop of three (the first through the third) bubbles.

Twist the ninth three—inch bubble (Pic 13).

Lock the free end of the ninth bubble between the fourth and the fifth bubble (Pic 14). You have to force the balloon through the loop of three (the fourth through the sixth) bubbles.

Twist the tenth two—inch bubble (Pic 15).

Lock the free end of the tenth bubble between the seventh and the eighth bubble (Pic 16).

Twist the eleventh two—inch bubble (Pic 17).

Lock the free end of the eleventh bubble between the fifth and the sixth bubble (Pic 18).

Twist the twelfth three—inch bubble (Pic 19).

Lock the free end of the twelfth bubble between the first and the second bubble (Pic 20). We just made the pyramid as it is from outside look. We have to make and connect one more bubble inside of the pyramid.

So far there are four (the seventh, the eighth, the tenth and the eleventh) bubbles connected inside of our pyramid. Twist the thirteenth two—inch bubble (Pic 21).

Lock the free end of the thirteenth bubble with the four inner bubbles. The rest of the balloon  is the fourteenth bubble (Pic 22).


We can cut off the fourteenth bubble or hide it between bubbles of the sculpture to make a pyramid. Congratulations, you have made the pyramid with square base (Pic 23 through 26).




I think there are only two type of pyramids possible to make using just one balloon. We have made just one. The other one is pyramid with a triangular base (Pic 27). I am going to show how it is done in my next post.

Also, we can use the fourteenth bubble as a handle to spin the toy. Use a permanent marker to draw letters to make the Dreidel. Congratulations, you have made the Dreidel (Pic 28 and 29). Have fun and happy twisting :)

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