Pop! Bubbles are Fun

Dry spring days are good for playing with bubbles:

What you will need:

 The ingredients for the following bubble recipe which you will mix gently:

1/4 cup liquid dishwashing detergent

 3/4 cup cold water

5 drops of glycerin (available at most drugstores or cake supply stores) or light corn syrup. This helps the bubbles be stronger. The solution gets better with age!

You will also need some objects with holes (or create your own) and a container for mixing as well as a flat shallow container.

What to do:

  Using the recipe for making bubbles, Gracie and I poured the ingredients into a container and stirred gently. We let the solution sit while we hunted for objects that had holes in them. We found a fly swatter, a colander, a slotted spoon, an apple slicer, a straw, and a spatula with holes. I dug up some pipe cleaners that we bent as well as an old hanger.

   Gracie helped me pour some of the bubble solution into a cake pan so we could dip the objects into the solution. We covered the container with the extra bubble solution to save for another day. Together we carried everything outside to the back yard. We dipped and waved each object. It was fun to watch Gracie as she experimented with each object. We made guesses as we used each object as to what size bubble or how many bubbles we would see as we waved the objects in the air. Then we wondered if we twirled would we get different bubbles. So then we experimented with that idea.

  We discussed the idea of trying to catch a bubble on an object or our soapy hands. We studied it until it broke. Gracie and I talked about the colors we could see in some of the bubbles. That led Gracie to ask if we could add color to the solution and so we added some food coloring. Different colors appeared. We played until the solution in the cake pan was gone. Clean up was easy as everything just needed water to be clean again.

How will this help children?

Experimenting is a great way to explore the young child’s world. It allows for mistakes, as well as successes. Experimenting also allows for rich discussion on what might happen, what did happen and why did it happen? That is science, after all. It is a great way to problem solve as well.

What else can I do?

You can visit the local library and look for books about bubbles. A few suggestions are: “Bubble Trouble” by Margaret Mahy and Polly Dunbar, ‘Bubble Trouble “by Joy N. Hulme and Mike Cressy,” Benny’s Big Bubble” by Jane O’Connor and Tomie dePaola, and “Bubble Bath Pirates” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. 

For more great educational activities visit Grandparents Teach, Too web page and listen to WNMU Radio 90 Learning Through the Seasons Podcasts   

Photos:
Enright, John. 20121001_161951.jpg. 2012. Pics4Learning. 13 Jun 2013
Bonsall, Dawn. img_2127.jpg. June 25, 2007. Pics4Learning. 13 Jun 2013