---
title: "How many helium balloons lift a stuffed animal?"
published: "2026-10-15"
updated: "2026-10-15"
author: "Dad Field Manual editors (drafted with AI help)"
time: "45 min"
cost: "About $15"
ages: "6 to 12"
where: "An indoor room with the doors and windows shut and the fan off, so drafts don't push the balloons around."
topics: ["indoor"]
print: "https://dadfieldmanual.com/print?p=helium-lift-experiment"
url: "https://dadfieldmanual.com/plans/helium-lift-experiment/"
---

# How many helium balloons lift a stuffed animal?

> Will five balloons lift a teddy bear? Measure one balloon's pull with paper clips, make a prediction, test it and graph what happened.


## What you need

- 8 to 12 helium latex balloons on ribbons, filled at the store the same day (about $15)
- A small, light stuffed animal (have)
- A box of paper clips and a paper cup (have)
- A kitchen scale, if you have one (have)
- Paper and a pencil for the chart (have)

## Before you start

- **Never breathe in helium,** from a balloon or a tank, not even for a funny voice. It can replace oxygen and cause fainting, and deaths have happened. If someone passes out, call 911.
- **Buy the balloons filled at the store.** If you use a home tank, only you touch it. Helium straight from a tank is much more dangerous than from a balloon.
- **Balloons are a choking risk for kids under 8.** You handle any balloon that goes soft or pops, and pick up every piece right away. Keep toddlers out of the room.
- **Don't let them go outside.** Released balloons come down as litter that animals eat or get tangled in. When you're done, you deflate them and throw them away.

## Steps

1. **Measure one balloon's pull** (Together) Tie one balloon's ribbon to the rim of a paper cup. Drop in paper clips one at a time until the cup stays sitting on the table. Write the number down: that's one balloon's lift, in clips.
2. **Add balloons and graph** (Kid) Tie on a second balloon and count clips again, then a third. Before each one, ask, "How many do you think it'll hold now?" After each, they put a dot on the chart: balloons along the bottom, clips up the side.
3. **Weigh the passenger and predict** (Together) Weigh the stuffed animal on the kitchen scale, then weigh the cup of clips one balloon held. Divide: if the animal weighs as much as five cups, predict about five balloons. They write the prediction in big numbers.
4. **Test it** (Kid) Tie the predicted number of ribbons around the animal's middle. Hold it over the carpet and let go. Does it rise, float or sit? Add or take off one balloon at a time until it just floats.
5. **Compare and explain** (Together) Write the real answer next to the prediction. Ask, "Were we close? Why might it take more?" Ribbons and knots weigh something too.
6. **Wrap up safely** (Dad) Untie the balloons from the animal. You deflate them over the trash can and throw them out with every piece, so nothing ends up outside or in a little one's mouth.

## If it stalls

- If counting clips one by one drags, drop them in five at a time, then go back one by one at the end.
- If the animal won't lift even with every balloon, try a lighter toy, like a finger puppet or a sock with eyes.
- If the balloons drift and tangle, shut the door and turn off any fans. Drafts push them around.
- If the numbers drop later in the day, that's real science: the balloons slowly lose helium. Redo step 1 and compare.


## Variations

- **Ages 6–8:** Skip the scale and the division. Guess, then add balloons to the animal one at a time with a tally mark for each until it floats. You handle every balloon.
- **Ages 9–12:** Redo step 1 a few hours later and draw a second line on the chart to see how much lift the balloons lost. Or compare one foil balloon with one latex balloon.
- **No kitchen scale:** Make a guess first, then add balloons to the animal one at a time. The answer is the count where it just floats.

## Sources

- **Helium inhalation.** The Missouri Poison Center says inhaling helium from balloons is not always safe and deaths have occurred, that helium can replace oxygen in the bloodstream and cause dizziness, fainting and falls, that a party balloon's helium may be dangerous to a young child, that inhaling straight from a tank is much more dangerous, and to call 911 if someone becomes unresponsive. Poison Help is 1-800-222-1222. <https://missouripoisoncenter.org/is-this-a-poison/helium/> (checked 2026-10-15)
- **Balloons and suffocation.** CPSC warns that children under 8 can choke or suffocate on uninflated or broken balloons, recommends that children under 8 not play with uninflated balloons without supervision, and says to collect the pieces of a broken balloon right away and throw them out of young children's reach. <https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/5087.pdf> (checked 2026-10-15)
- **Balloons and choking, up to age 8.** The AAP says balloons are among the small round objects that cause the most choking deaths and pose a choking risk to children up to 8 years of age. <https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx> (checked 2026-10-15)
- **Don't release balloons.** NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration says released balloons come back down, get snagged in trees and power lines or end up in waterways, that animals can eat balloon debris or get tangled in it, especially with ribbons attached, and asks people not to release balloons into the air. <https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/hold-those-balloons-they-could-end-ocean.html> (checked 2026-10-15)