DIY Walking Ballon Pet

Have you seen those walking mylar balloon animals in the grocery stores..everywhere!? I have! And oh boy have my kids! I dread running into those cute little oddly shaped pets because that is when the begging begins. Emma swears she has wanted one her entire life (I beg to differ) and Grayson doesn't really ask me, he's smarter than that. He just grabs his balloon pet of choice and runs!
After several run-ins like this I declared to the kids that I can make them their own walking balloon pets. With eyes wide open, they both cheered and then I hoped I could actually pull it off.

 We rummaged through the art drawers and grabbed some large latex balloons, construction paper, permanent markers, ribbon, googly eyes and glue dots.

 The kids chose their color of choice and decorated each balloon with markers. We used glue dots to attach the eyes and construction paper legs. Glue would shrink up and possibly cause the balloon to pop, so glue dots are a good alternative.

 She questioned the style of legs I suggested, but she trusted me in the end. Phew...

 With a ribbon leash we were walking our pets all over the place! Each pet got a name and eventually bowls of food and water were placed all over the house. It was a lot of fun for the kids.
The best part of this craft for Grayson was watching them shrink up a little each day, especially since the legs, ears and eyes stay the same size. They did look pretty funny. I wish I had taken a photo to share.

Wouldn't these make a great birthday party craft? I would love to see what a group of kids would create.
For full instructions, I shared this over at Kiwi Crate.