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Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere!
By Robin DeRosa Lundgren
Summer is a great time to get outside with your kids and blow some
bubbles.
Bubbles have a magical quality that captivates kids and adults. To
really have some fun, have your kids roll up their sleeves and whip
up a batch of homemade bubbles. Kids of all ages will enjoy mixing
bubble recipes and creating bubble wands.
Bubble blowing is fun and it also actually provides some very
important developmental benefits. “The mouth is a complex system of
muscles and bones and by blowing bubbles, you are working on lip
closure and cheek strength,” says Stephanie Rice, a teacher
specializing in early childhood development and education. “Kids are
constantly working on refining their speech, and on their eating and
dining skills, so any activity that works on the muscles of the
mouth could be beneficial.”
When engaging your child in bubble play, emphasize the scientific
aspects of making bubble potions and wands, and encourage your child
to conduct experiments. Have your child try creating wands from
different materials, like pipe cleaners, coat hangers (with sharp
edges taped), or a plastic lid with a hole cut out and taped to a
chopstick. Let them search for other items around the house that
could be used to blow bubbles, such as a fly swatter, a Styrofoam
cup with the bottom cut out or one of the green baskets that
strawberries come in. Ask your children to guess which of the bubble
wands they’ve collected will make the best bubbles, the biggest
bubbles, and the smallest bubbles. Then have them test their
hypotheses by experimenting with their different wands.
When blowing bubbles together, point out to your child how the
bubbles float away in the direction of the wind. Encourage them to
discover the rainbow of colors present in the clear bubbles that
they blow. You’ll find that making and blowing bubbles can be a
great way to wile away a summer afternoon!
Bubble Potion
Here’s What You Need:
4 ½ cups water
½ cup dishwashing liquid (grease cutters like Joy and Dawn work
best)
½ cup light corn syrup
Directions:
Have your child measure and combine the ingredients in a large bowl
or bucket. Have them try blowing bubbles using different items as
wands.
Bubble Art
The food coloring in this activity can stain, so this project should
only be done outdoors.
Here’s What You Need:
Bubble wand of your choice
Bubble solution
2 or 3 different containers
Food coloring
Large sheets of plain, white paper
Directions:
1. Have your child divide the bubble solution between the different
containers.
2. Instruct your child to add 5 or 6 drops of food coloring to each
container of bubble solution. The more food coloring you use, the
more vibrant the colors.
3. Using the bubble wand of choice, blow bubbles of different colors
for your child. Have your child catch the bubbles on the sheet of
paper, pointing out the patterns the popped bubbles make on the
paper.
4. When the bubbles dry, your child can display his or her “Bubble
Art.”
Variation: To give your child more control over the color and
placement of their design, place white paper on the sidewalk or
driveway and have your child blow the different colored bubbles
directly onto their paper.
This Helps Develop:
This activity can aid in a stimulating a child’s cognitive skills.
This is the mental process of knowing through developing awareness,
perception and reasoning. These abilities are strengthened by
following multi-step directions, counting the number of food
coloring drops and bubbles blown, and also by focusing on the
concepts of color and size.
Fine motor skills, the use of small muscle movements in the hands
that occur in coordination with eyes, are targeted in this activity.
These skills are practiced when preparing the bubble solutions,
exploring the bubble wands and bringing the wands to their mouths to
blow. Gross motor skills, the movements of the large muscles of the
body are engaged when running, jumping and stretching to catch the
bubbles on paper.
Language, the expressive ability to communicate ideas and needs, and
the receptive ability to understand what is said or written, is
enhanced conversations throughout this activity. Parents can
encourage language skills by guiding an ongoing narrative during the
activity, for example “You ran and jumped to catch that bubble!” or
“What colors to you see in the bubble?”
Social emotional development involves a child’s feelings of self
worth and confidence. This activity is sure to instill pride of
accomplishment when making the bubble solutions and experimenting
with bubble wands. Even an adult cannot escape the sheer joy of
chasing and catching bubbles.
This monthly family activity series, “Hands-on-Kids!” is brought to
you by a partnership between the Children’s Museum of Northern
Virginia (CMNOVA) and FAMILIES Magazine. For more activities you can
do with your children to spark their love of learning, visit the
CMNOVA web site, www.cmnova.org.
On their web site you will also find information about the
Children’s Museum of Northern Virginia and how you can become
involved. CMNOVA is committed to building a place where our children
can freely explore and develop a lifelong love of learning. Robin
DeRosa Lundgren, a CMNOVA volunteer, is Vice President of Aquarian
Entertainment and creator of the kids' cooking show "Culinary Kids."
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