Tag: Bubbles

Bubble Fun

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Veronika loves the end of her toddler gym class when the teacher pulls out a bubble machine, sending multiple bubbles out at once. We made this low-tech version for fun on the patio this morning!

Cut two straws in half so you have four pieces, and secure in the middle with masking tape. Trim the edges so they line up to the exact same length. That’s it!

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Pour a little bubble solution into a plate or dish, and dip in one end of the straws. You’ll get not one but lots of little bubbles at once.

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Veronika was so proud that she could make bubbles appear all by herself, huffing into the straws!

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In sum, this made for quick and fun bubble play on a morning just warm enough to feel like spring.

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Unpoppable Frozen Bubbles

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Unpopable Bubbles (4)

My philosophy about really cold weather with kids has become not to shy away from it, but to embrace it. That’s exactly what we did today with frozen bubbles; this is the kind of trick that can only work once the weather dips down low.

The secret to making this activity a success is to leave a bottle of bubble solution outside overnight so that it’s chilled and ready to go when your bundled-up kids get outside.

The second trick is to wave the bubble wand, instead of blowing through it. With those two modifications, the bubbles will act differently, freezing in kids’ hands or in the air (if it’s cold enough!) instead of popping.

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The first time we tried this, our solution wasn’t quite cold enough.That meant the kids could still pop the bubbles on their fingers.

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But they lasted and froze over if they landed on cold surfaces, like our plastic slide. This was mesmerizing to watch!

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Travis wondered if this particular bubble might just last forever.

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The next night was even colder, so we headed outside for more everlasting bubble play.

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And this time they were so cold that sure enough we could poke at them without making them pop!

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Is it cold enough for frozen bubbles in your area? Please share in the comments!

Bubble Prints

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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Hint: they can go very high.

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

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

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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.

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

Can You Find Your Knee?

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Veronika can readily touch the obvious features on her face (eyes, and ears, and mouth and nose!) but it can be helpful to talk about less common body parts with toddlers, too. To make the game extra fun, just add bubbles!

We headed out to the patio in gorgeous sunshine and I asked her, “Where do you want your bubbles?” At first, she requested them on her hair!

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Then I started naming other parts of her body, and gently blowing the bubbles in that direction. In this way, the bubbles tickled at her ankles and knees…

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…wrists…

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…and neck!

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Take the time to point out other new vocab too. Setting the bubbles aside for a moment we found our fingernails and our nostrils.

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And eyelashes! Just don’t blow bubbles at those.

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Then, we turned back to more familiar body parts (like hands and feet), but got thinking about how to use them in new ways. I encouraged her to clap in order to pop a bubble, instead of simply poking it.

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Or she could stomp them with her feet.

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Maybe your toddler can pop them with a nose or a chin!

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Note: This is also a fun game to take to the bath, especially because bubbles behave differently if you try to clap them while they’re wet.

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Plus in the bath all those body parts are easily visible! Have fun with it and see what new words your toddler picks up.

Wind Direction

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Here’s a quick STEM experiment to teach kids how to observe wind direction… with some bubble fun thrown in!

First Travis helped make a bubble solution. The recipe was for an enormous batch (6 cups of water!) and I knew we would never use that much. Instead, I decided to make one-third of the recipe, using the following:

  • 2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup
  • 1/2 cup dish detergent

My proportions weren’t exact, but we ended up with great bubbles so I guess it worked! Combine the ingredients in a jar and shake to combine, then let the mixture settle for at least half an hour.

Then it was time to head outside with the bubbles and a compass. I taught Travis how to locate north. He proudly then pointed to east, south, and west. So how could we tell which way the wind was blowing?

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Dip a wand into the bubble solution and see which way your bubbles go. Ours headed west, nice and lazily.

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So if our bubbles were floating west, I asked Travis where the wind was coming from. “East!” he correctly answered.

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This led to almost an hour of play on the patio, blowing bubbles, popping them against our screen door, and otherwise having a blast.

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Which means this is the perfect STEM activity for a summer day.

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Dish Soap Tub Bubbles

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Blowing bubbles in dish soap is always fun, whether your kids are old enough to blow into the mixture themselves, or young enough that you do it for them. Tonight, I took dish soap bubbles to Veronika’s bath for some great soapy play!

To start, I tinted the tub blue with a little food coloring.

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(Side note: This was purely for extra entertainment, and not necessary at all. We always love a colored bath around here whether red, yellow, green, or something in between.

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Just squirt in a few drops of all-natural food coloring and let your toddler swish the colors around!).

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Once the water this blue, I filled a Tupperware container with a few squirts of dish soap and added a little water.

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Blow into the mixture with a straw and honeycomb bubbles will begin to rise to the surface. Definitely only let your child use the straw if you are confident he or she can blow out, not in.

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Veronika loved it the moment the bubbles spilled over the top of the container! After watching a few times, she was brave enough to put her hands in. These dish soap bubbles won’t pop, making for endless fun dipping hands in and out of what feels like endless bubbles.

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We hid a few fish toys in the big bubbles and she loved feeling around for them!

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After holding the container for a while, I set it down to float in the tub and she continued to enjoy putting eager hands into the bubbles.

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This made them spill over into the water, so then she loved stirring at them with one of the straws I’d used!

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I think she wanted to stay in this bath forever.

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Flower-Power Pendants

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Kids will love this novel bubble-based painting method. The resulting pendant necklaces are perfect for class Valentines!

To create the bubble paint, fill a short cup with 3 tablespoons dish soap, 1 tablespoon water, and 2 tablespoons paint. In order to make our cups short enough, I snipped the top half from regular 8-ounce paper cups.

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Use a straw to blow into the mixture and you’ll create colored bubbles that rise to the surface. Press a piece of thick white paper firmly over the top. Repeat with more bubbles and more pressing until you’ve covered the sheet of paper, then let dry.

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Travis loved that the bubbles toppled over the edge of our cup each time; needless to say, this is a bit of a messy project! We repeated with three different paint colors.

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Once dry, cut the pages into flower shapes, repeating for the desired amount of Valentines.

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Punch a hole in each flower and thread with cord (available at craft stores), to complete each necklace.

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On the back, we wrote the sweet message, “You’re a great bud!”

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Bubble Fun

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My new favorite thing in the world is Veronika’s first full sentence: “Bubbles, please please.” As a result, I’m constantly trying to meet this adorable demand, with bubbles in the bath or during playtime. We quickly ran through a bottle of store-bought bubbles so I tried these two recipes at home. Both are so easy, and toddler-friendly to boot.

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Bubbles 1:

  • 1/3 cup baby shampoo
  • 1 and 1/4 cups water
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 drops blue food coloring

This nice mild formula blows great bubbles that you can also catch on the wand without popping them. The added bonus is that it will be tear-free if any solution gets in the eyes.

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Bubbles 2:

  • 1/4 cup dish soap
  • 1/4 cup glycerin
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

This version makes stronger bubbles, which float high up in the air, and they will leave behind little strands of popped sugar when popped just right (you may have noticed that the sugar-based bubbles at a Gymboree class act the same).

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Veronika was not content to watch me blow the bubbles; she wanted to take charge, dipping the wand in and out.

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Older toddlers will no doubt want to practice their blowing skills, too.

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Needless to say, you can’t go wrong with bubbles.

Bubbles on the Breeze

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Bubbles on Breeze (5)Don’t underestimate the magic of bubbles. Blowing bubbles is an activity I remind myself to return to at intervals, since children engage with them differently as they age. The last time we did bubbles, Veronika was sitting up and just starting to crawl. Now, she’s fast as can be, and wanted to scoot after them and pop them!

So the instructions for today’s activity: Open up a bottle of bubbles and blow!

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I pointed them out to Veronika, and how they shimmered and floated.

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This little girl wants to walk, so it was also fun to hold her at the waist and help her reach out for them.

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A perfect sunlit pause.

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Unpoppable Bubbles

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Unpobbable Bubbles (4)

There’s some serious “wow” factor to this little bubble experiment, the perfect way to turn a ho-hum morning into something special!

To make the bubble solution, pour 1/4 cup water into a container. Add a little blue food coloring just so it’s easier to see.

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Stir in 1 tablespoon dish soap and 2 tablespoons corn syrup.

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A straw will be your bubble blower, but the secret now is that you also need a pencil.Travis dipped the pencil tip in the solution, as I dipped in the straw and blew a bubble.

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He poked the saturated pencil tip into the bubble… and the bubble doesn’t break!

If you want a quick run-down of what’s happening here, basically the “skin” of the bubble merges with the soapy surface of the pencil tip, so that no air gets in and makes the bubble pop. If you try it with a dry pencil, you’ll get a pop right away! We had fun seeing how far in we could poke the pencil.

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And then had lots of extra bubble solution to blow out on the back patio!