Blowing Bubbles

Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  • ​Blow bubbles with a solution of 2 parts water, 1 part Joy dish soap, and a dollop of corn syrup. Use a pipe cleaner twisted into a bubble wand shape. Also use straws, plastic wands, juice cans with the ends pushed out, funnels, just about anything, really.
  • Soapy water play. Whip with wire whip or hand mixer. Blow bubbles through thumb and pointer finger circle shape. Experiment with sponges and bubbles.
  • Can you blow bubbles with plain water? With water mixed with salt? With sugar solution? Try it. Try different kinds of soap and water solutions, such as shampoo, bubble bath, bar soap, dish soap etc. Which solutions produce great bubbles, which do not?

Possible/Expected Discoveries

  • ​Questions to answer: What happens if you blow hard? If you blow softly? What color are bubbles? Are all bubbles the same shape? The same size? If you touch a bubble what happens? How long do bubbles last? Will it pop if you poke it with a wet (or dry) finger?
  • Check out the colors on the surface of a floating bubble, especially in sunlight. The water plus soap film acts as a prism, and separates the colors in the sunlight.
  • Bubbles are full of… air.   Air is real, even though most of the time it is invisible. Catch a bubble (with a little food coloring added) on a piece of paper to “see” the air in the center and the water/soap surrounding it.

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • ​​Try making giant bubbles with a hula-hoop in a wading pool of bubbles.
  • Wash dishes, dolls, dolls’ clothes etc. in a soapy sensory tub. Rinse with plain water. Hang the wet clothes up to dry in the sun (and in the shade). Which take longer to dry? Why do we rinse the soap off with plain water?
  • Whip cream and watch the bubbles form, get smaller and fill the cream with air.
  • Print a picture with bubble wrap dipped in tempera.   Make a tube by taping a piece of bubble wrap and slipping your hand through it, like a glove.
  • Count bubbles. Which bubble is flying the highest, furthest, fastest?
  • Use commercial spray foam paint – it is full of tiny little bubbles. Watch the foam deflate after it has been sprayed.

Activity Packs and Printables

Websites

Bubbles Theme activities and printables for preschool
​Air Theme Activities for Preschool

Books

​Pop! A Book About Bubbles (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1) by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
 I'm A Bubble Catcher! by Subbi P. Mathur    
I Wonder Why Soap Makes Bubbles and Other Questions About Science by Barbara Taylor