What could be more appealing than bubbles?? Why not plan a bubble party with your favorite children? Here are some bubble facts, activities, and projects for you to include.
Start your party off with this great bubble mix: use one gallon of water, a half cup of dish soap (Dawn works best!), and forty drops of glycerin (check the drug store). Stir it slowly, and if you can, mix it up a day ahead of when you want to use it.
Make a large bubble maker by threading string through two drinking straws (use the straws for handles) or bend a metal hanger into whatever shape you would like. You can also try bending pipe cleaners into shapes to blow through. Other supplies to have on hand include extra straws, rubber bands, pie pans, bubble wands, and paper. You may need a few additional supplies for some of these projects, as well.
Make some bubble art by putting bubble mix into several shallow containers. Add a few drops of food coloring or tempera paint to each. Blow through a straw to make colorful bubbles, then gently brush a piece of white paper over the top to put bubble prints on paper. Try this several times with colored bubbles that look nice together. Another method of capturing the bubble prints is to slice the paper through the pile of bubbles so that bubbles are sitting on the page. Let them pop naturally for a unique work of art.
The kids may notice that bubbles are iridescent (sparkling with lots of colors). The reason for this is that light reflects off of many surfaces, both inside and outside of the bubble. It breaks into many colors, just like a rainbow! Another interesting fact is that bubbles are always round, no matter what shape of blower is used. This is because the soap film shrinks to the smallest amount possible that can close in the air. The shape with the least surface area compared to volume is - you guessed it - a sphere.
Here's a fun bubble experiment. Mix one cup of water with one tablespoon of salt to make a salt solution. Give the kids equal-sized cups of fresh water and salt water. Put one tablespoon of dish soap in each container and blow with straws. Which makes better bubbles, the salt water or the fresh water? You can also try warm, cool, and ice water in the same way, as well as other mixtures (what happens if you add a small amount of cooking oil to the water?).
