Young children love to play with bubbles! Bubble solution is inexpensive and readily available, and provides hours of good clean fun! Here then, are 10 quick, simple activities utilizing this effervescent amusement.
Catch and Pop!
This activity is basic, and almost doesn't need directions. You blow the bubbles, and encourage your child or children to catch them and pop them. This activity can be done anywhere, any time. Keep a small bottle of bubble solution in the diaper bag, or your purse, and entertain your young child whenever you find yourself waiting. It can be done in a doctor's waiting room, while waiting for a bus or friend, even waiting for a meal to be served in a restaurant. Catch and pop is great for the very young child, but then you can make the activity a bit more challenging with the following variations.
Catch and Pop – Following Directions
You can give specific directions: "Catch the biggest one. Catch the tiny one." This develops listening skills as the child learns to follow the directions. Then you can give several directions at once: "Catch two bubbles, then clap your hands and sit down". Now the child has to remember the directions, put them in order, and follow them – quite a complex activity, yet something every kindergartner is expected to do when the teacher tells him how to complete a worksheet.
Catch and Pop – Counting
You can encourage your child to count each bubble she pops, which builds counting skills. You can do simple math with her. "If you pop two bubbles and I pop two bubbles, how many bubbles did we pop together?" You can do subtraction as the bubbles pop. "There were four bubbles and two popped – now how many bubbles are left?" Keep directed bubble play short. Then trade places. Let your child blow the bubbles and give you directions to follow! While just being fun, it can also help your young child develop leadership skills and practice taking turns.
Science and Discovery
Try blowing bubbles using different objects. Blow through a slotted kitchen spoon, a canning jar ring, bubble wands of various sizes, the tines of a fork, toy teapot, set of keys, a comb, an old toothbrush, and more. If you make a square bubble wand (from pipe cleaners), can you blow a square bubble? Why not? When you blow a bubble on a calm day (or inside), does it float up or fall down? Now suck on an ice cube and do it again. Does it change? (Warm breath inside a bubble will make it float up, if it is warmer than the air outside the bubble, since warm air rises).
Bubble Race
Run the length of the room or yard, holding a bubble. If it pops, you must return to the beginning and start over. First one to cross the finish line with his or her bubble in tact wins the race!
Bubble Sculpture
Put bubble solution in the bottom of a cup and give child a straw. Remind children NOT to drink the bubble solution! It won't taste very good! Now blow through the straw to make lots of bubbles. How tall can you build your bubbles? Can you make it frothy all over? Add a drop or two of food coloring and repeat. Explore how the colors change with more drops of food coloring. This activity is best done OUTSIDE at the picnic table, as food coloring may stain clothing and carpets.
Bubble Art
Pour a bit of bubble solution into the bottom of a six-muffin muffin tin. Add different food colorings, and let child blow bubbles in each cup until frothy. Then gently lay a sheet of white paper on top of the bubbles and wait for the bubbles to pop. Turn paper over and wait for it to dry. What interesting designs did your bubbles make?
Teach the Scientific Method With Bubble Solutions
Step 1: Observe. Begin teaching your child the scientific method. The first step is to observe. As your child plays with bubbles, ask her questions to help her focus all of her senses. "How do bubbles smell? Can you hear them? What does a bubble taste like on your tongue?" Don't encourage the child to drink bubble solution – it doesn't taste very good. Its main ingredient is soap, but who knows what all gets put in commercial solutions! You can teach your young child the word "Observe" – which means to study carefully with all of your senses.
Step 2: Question. Kids are naturally very good at this step! You might not have to "teach" it at all, but do encourage your child's natural curiosity. Children should ask questions all the time! They should want to know more about everything. Why is the sky blue? Why do bubbles pop? What makes the sun go up? Were does bath water go when you pull the plug from the drain? With regard to bubble science, some natural questions might be: what makes bubbles pop, what is bubble solution made of, and why do bubbles sometimes rise, or sometimes fall? Which works better – water or soda – to make bubble solution? Why?
Step 3: Hypothesize. This fancy word means to make an educated guess. Even little children should know enough to guess that bubble solution is not just plain water. If not, let your child try to make bubbles from blowing in tap water. Your child knows that bar soap makes bubbles, and so does shampoo. Can he make a bubble solution from soap and water?
Step 4: Experiment. This step tests the hypothesis. This is where you and your child try to make bubble solutions, and see how they work out. Bar soap and water doesn't make a very good bubble solution. Maybe shampoo and water worked better. Dish soap and water works better, but bubbles still last longer if you add either glycerin or sugar to the solution. Do bubbles last longer if the solution is heated, refrigerated, or at room temperature? Usually refrigerated for a few hours makes the solution better. Also, using distilled water is better than tap water.
Step 5: Analysis or Final Conclusion. This step reviews the outcome of the experiment. If the results were successful, then a final conclusion is made. If the results weren't what was expected, then steps three and four are repeated again and again until a final conclusion can be made. And that's the scientific method!
Giant Jumbo Bubble Fun
Use your best bubble solution from your experiments. Pour it in the base of a small splash pool. Lay a hula hoop in the bubble mixture. Step into the pool (barefoot) and slowly lift the hula hoop over your head. You will be inside the bubble! You can do this outside, barefoot, in your swimsuit. Or, you can set a dry plastic tub inside the soap-filled splash pool for the child to stand in. Then he won't get wet as the bubble is pulled over his head.
Read a Good Bubble Book
- Bubble Trouble by Joy M. Hulme
- Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy
- Pop! A Book About Bubbles by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Bubble Bubble by Mercer Mayer
- Bubble Trouble by Mary Packard
Some Bubble Recipes:
Basic bubble recipe:
3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup dishwashing liquid (Joy or Dawn), and 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup.
Best Ever Super Bubble Recipe: 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon dishsoap (Dawn), 1 teaspoon glycerin. Mix gently and allow to sit overnight.
A Note About Glycerin
You can buy a small bottle of glycerin at the pharmacy. It is a neutral, sweet tasting, colorless liquid that absorbs moisture from the air. It is a by-product of the soap making industry. It makes bubbles last longer by keeping them moist. Bubbles pop when they dry out.
Source
Westerman, Kaila. "What is Glycerin?" PioneerThinking.com. Accessed April 3, 2010.
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