Levitating Globe

Who's not amazed by satellite photos of the earth from space?

With a few simple materials, anyone can easily recreate their own, at-home planet earth. Not only is the end result fun to watch, but the actual creation process is also a blast, it's educational if done with kids, and the beach ball still functions as a beach ball! (it just looks cooler)

• Cheap plastic beach ball of any size (the dollar store sells perfect ones)
• Permanent marker
• Blue, white, brown, yellow, dark green, and light green acrylic paint (super cheap at Walmart)
• Paintbrush
• Paper plate
• Box fan

Inflate your beach ball as full as it will go. Then, place it on a paper plate for balance.

Paint as much of the exterior as you can with blue paint. Once it dries, paint another layer of blue to make sure none of the original plastic colors bleed through.

Once this 2nd layer dries, flip the ball over and repeat the painting process on the part that was resting on the plate (2-3 coats is best!)

Using a world map (or one of the many 3D globe apps) for reference, sketch the rough outline of the continents on the blue ball using a permanent marker. Don't worry if the continents aren't perfect, the final product will be spinning and will make any imperfections hard to see.

If you feel extra nervous, you can try drawing each continent on paper, cutting it out, then taping it on the beach ball and outlining it. However, sketching will probably be easiest and fastest, even for beginners.

Once you are finished outlining the continents in permanent marker, paint them with a mixture of dark green, light green, yellow, and white acrylic paint. You can use a world map online, or follow our pictures for choosing what colors go where.

Painting tips:

We found that a 3:1 mixture of white and yellow makes a good tan color for the deserts.

Use the light green to fade the dark green into the tan.

Use the white for the poles and the icy parts of Canada.

We only bothered with one layer of color on the continents. The permanent marker bled through the white and tan parts a little, but it wasn't enough that we bothered adding more layers. If you really want to hide it, 2-3 layers over the permanent marker should ensure it stays hidden.

Lay your fan on the floor and turn it on so that the air current is going straight up. Depending on the design of your fan, you might need to place something underneath it so that air can flow through from the bottom.

For the best results, place a lamp next to the spinning globe, use a dark blanket or sheet as a backdrop, and turn off the lights. This will give you a cool outer-space look.

Check out our video to see what the final product looks like.

That's all! We hope you enjoyed building your very own levitating globe.

Once you're done, simply deflate the beach ball (if you use acrylic paint, it will adhere to the plastic and shouldn't chip off - we were surprised with how flexible and non-flaky it was when we deflated the ball!) and store it wherever you did before this project. Whenever you want a levitating globe again, simply pull them out, reinstall the ball, and VOILA!!

Have fun!!