Bubble Tools

Please read the procedure before beginning! After reading, please watch the video. Some activities require more time and cleanup than others. You also have the choice of performing these activities in a way that suits your needs.

Not for children under 3 years. Adult supervision is required. Follow approved procedures.

Materials

Tiny Bubble Maker

· Plastic Container

· Dish Soap

· Water (not included)

· 15 Straws

· 2 Rubber Bands

· Liquid Glycerin

Giant Bubble Maker

· 2 Dowel Rods

· 2 Push Pins

· 2 Pieces of Yarn

Bubble Blower

· Straw

· Cup with Hole

· Flashlight

· Magnifying Glass

Procedure

Tiny Bubble Maker

1. To make the bubble solution, remove the lid from the large plastic container, and fill it halfway with water. Add the dish soap, and gently stir using the straw until the dish soap and water are evenly mixed.

2. Gather 15 of the straws (save one for the Bubble Blower) into a bundle, and secure each end using a rubber band.

3. Dip one end of the tiny bubble maker into the bubble solution, take it out again, and blow through the other end while holding it a few centimeters away from your face. Notice the amount of bubbles that come out.

4. Next, add the glycerin to the mixture. Do you think this will change the bubbles? Try it! What do you notice?

Giant Bubble Maker

1. Ask an adult for help with this step: Press a push pin into one end of one of each of the dowel rods. Leave some of the pin exposed.

2. Tie the ends of the longer piece of yarn to each pin. Do the same with the shorter piece of yarn.

3. Pick up the dowel rods and hold them parallel to one another. The yarn will hang down with a gap between the two pieces. Hold the rods together, and dip the yarn in the bubble solution.

4. Lift the dowel rods to remove the yarn from the solution, move them apart from one another, and move them through the air to make giant bubbles!

Bubble Blower

1. Place the straw through the hole in the bottom of the cup so that the end of the straw is in the middle of the cup.

2. Dip the end of the cup in the bubble solution. Take it out, and slowly blow through the end of the straw that is coming out of the bottom of the cup to make individual bubbles! Use the flashlight and the magnifying glass to examine the bubbles. What do you notice? Replace the lid to save the bubble solution for later!

Science Behind it!

Are you ready to have your mind blown by blowing bubbles? In this activity, we are making a soap sandwich. Each bubble consists of a layer of glycerin, water, and glycerin again. The glycerin is added to the bubble solution to make them last even longer so that you could have more fun!

While making your bubbles, blow into one of the bubbles from a straw, and see what shapes you can make. You can even make a carrousel and make it spin by blowing onto one side of the bubbles.

A bubble’s shape is determined by its surface tension. Surface tension is what the phenomenon is called when you fill a cup with water over the top and the water creates a dome and does not flow over the edge. The bubble is always a sphere in the air because there is unlimited surface tension in the air. What kind of shapes can you make? It might help to draw your bubbles onto your box as you create them.