The original plan with this project was to make art, but the kids were way more into the process than the final product. Which was just fine with me, since they were having fun!

To make bubble paints, pour a little liquid food coloring (or liquid watercolor) into the bottom of plastic cups, and add a little dish soap to each.

Blow into the cups through a straw to produce lots of bubbles. Travis made a face and was worried he would get bubble solution in his mouth, but I showed him how to huff out of the straw over a piece of watercolor paper, splattering the “paint” down.

We tried a few rounds of this, but then truly the kids lost interest in any painting and just wanted more bubbles!

They thought it was so fun to watch them rise to the top, or to see how high the pile of bubbles could go before they bubbled over.

Hint: they can go very high.

The sticky soap substance was so neat to pop with fingers. Veronika loved scrubbing it all over her hands!

If we pressed the bubbles from two different cups together, they would stick! This got big laughs.

Eventually we did stop all that bubble play long enough to fill our square of watercolor paper with the paints. I had originally planned to give the kids fish stickers (in keeping with a bubbles-and-ocean theme), but Veronika preferred bug stickers. Alternatively, you could cut fish shapes from black construction paper and glue down.

These are lovely pieces of artwork in their own right, but would also make pretty gift cards or stationary.