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This videative illustrates the various goals, strategies, and theories that toddlers use in order to reach a helium balloon that has floated to the ceiling. The children try standing on wooden blocks, first one, then two. But adding blocks to the stack presents a new problem. The taller the stack the less stable the structure. Eventually a child solves the problem by standing on a chair, an unusual use for this familiar object. In this videative we see children thinking about size, position, distance, and new uses for familiar objects. We also see how the children applaud the original solution and how they quickly generalize this solution when the balloon floats away a second time. Teachers can easily stage these problems in order to include early science standards in an emergent curriculum.

Keywords: Twos, Balloon, Children-Object, Spatial Relations, Invention, Imitation, videative

Length of videative: 3 text pages, 10 video subclips
Length of stand-alone master video clip: 4 minutes, 14 seconds