If you believe children should learn about scientific principles at first hand, you will enjoy the Montgolfier Balloon. The kit lets you build and fly a replica hot-air balloon using the same principles the Montgolfier brothers used in 1783.

The pack contains enough tissue paper, pre-cut into eight gores, to form a two-metre-tall replica (you provide the glue). It also has templates for decorating the tissue paper with a replica of the original design. These are printed on high-quality paper and, with care, the enterprising teacher could use them to make further hot-air balloons of a similar design and size once the inevitable has happened to the original. Fine thread is supplied to tether the balloon so it can undertake more than a maiden voyage. The designs on the template, when traced in gold pen, look spectacular. Limit decoration to the use of coloured pens to keep the weight down.

A booklet of instructions and a leaflet of modified instructions make assembly straightforward, if slow. I was glad to see that the original idea of glueing sheets of tissue together before tracing and cutting out each of the gores has been superseded by a pre-cut supply.

Putting the balloon skin together is tricky. You have to allow plenty of time for each of the seams to dry without coming into contact with other areas. A small quantity of PVA adhesive works better than glue sticks, which require too much pressure to apply and can tear the tissue. Fixing the wire to keep the base open is daunting but optional.

We used two hairdryers to supply hot air for the launch; the instructions suggest a popcorn machine. In about five minutes the balloon rises, dropping again as the air cools.

The booklet offers plenty of additional information to make the experience more fruitful. It includes a detailed but easy to understand history of flight from Archimedes’s principles of buoyancy to Torricelli’s proof that air has weight, which led to the Montgolfier brothers’ experiments in filling paper balloons with hot smoke. In addition, there is a straightforward explanation of how the expanding hot air is less dense than the cooler air outside the balloon and how this causes the balloon to rise.

The kit is an excellent practical introduction to the principles of aerostatics and the early history of manned flight.

Gillian Blatherwick is ICT co-ordinator and Year 34 team leader at Rushey Mead primary school in Leicester