Bubble Games

Through exploring bubbles Children Learn

• About cause and effect
• Visual tracking and reading skills
• Hand-eye co-ordination
• Shapes
• Imagination and creativity
• Science facts and skills.

Introduce the concept of bubbles through movement and music

Wear flowing clothes and move lightly to enhance the central concept of floating. Children will also need light clothing. Gather them in front of you – and any pictures, explaining that you’re going to float like bubbles today. Show your bubble bottle and blow some bubbles for them to watch. Let them stand and try catching some, stopping before frustration builds. Make bubble shapes together, first with one hand, then two, then with arms for giant bubbles. Will they pop? Drift, bob and twirl around like bubbles.

Explore bubble movements using this link to calming music

Active Learning

• Children concentrate on blowing bubbles
• They lead and guide enactments of these and similar items.
• They practise control in their fluid, flowing movements.
• They engage in games with bubbles

First, Bubble Mixture

You can buy bubble mixture really cheaply these days.

However, you can also make your own. I use:

1 part washing up liquid

4 parts water

(Optional) Some glycerine

The glycerine is very much an optional extra, but it does apparently help the bubbles to get a lot bigger. To be honest, though, I never really use it.

 To make the perfect bubble mixture here are some pointers:

1. Make is a couple of days before. This allows it to settle.
2. Make sure everything you use to make it is clean – i.e. the bowls, spoons and everything else. Any dirt will effect the quality of the bubbles
3. Use a washing up liquid that doesn’t smell too fruity, to discourage any children that may want to drink it. Some washing up liquid smells delicious, and this is best avoided.

Suggestions for additional demonstration:

• Feathers (shop-bought, washed). Try: www.tts-group.co.uk/brightly-coloured-feathers-14g/1004315.html. Cut off stems before handing out.
• Leaves
• Balloons
• Tissue paper (cut shapes from sheets)
• Paper darts (hand-make)

Suggestions for play items:

• Toy birds, angels, fairies, glider planes, butterflies, dressing-up clothes representing winged creatures, tissue shapes, paper darts

Making different bubbles

Bubble snake

Video link of how to make a bubble snake

Straws Stuck Together

This is a really super simple one!

Get a few straws, probably about ten, and simply tape them together. Some kind of simple tape like Sellotape would work fine.

The top tip for this one, is the ends of the straws need to be level at both ends.

Dip the straws into the bubble mixture and blow through!

You get a kind of foam, with lots of bubbles stuck together. Hours of fun once again.

Cones

I’m talking here about the kind of cone you might have in your kitchen for pouring things like gravy into a jug!

These make awesome bubble blowers!

Bottles

Another super simple one!

Get a plastic bottle and cut the bottom off. Try not to get any jagged bits if you can.

Then dip this into some bubble mixture and try blowing some bubbles.

Sticks Bubble Wands

This is another one that you really must try!

This is a great natural forest school activity. It is excellent for their fine motor skills.

Find some sticks from somewhere, and the only other thing you need are some pipe-cleaners.

Twist the pipe-cleaners into a circle shape with a bit sticking out. Then you twist the bit sticking out round the stick.

Dip into water and use as a DIY bubble wand!

Top tip – the wands work better when they get a little bit wet, so you will get better bubbles after a few minutes of use.

Natural DIY bubble wands

Bubble Machine

There are quite a few bubble machines you can get these days, and they are pretty cheap as well.

These are fantastic for really young children, who find it quite hard actually blowing bubbles.

You simply put the bubble machine on, and watch your children running round popping bubbles.

4 Paper Cones

All you need for this is some pieces of A4 paper (or similar). Pieces of scrap paper are totally fine.

Roll the pieces of paper into a cone shape, and then trim the larger end so that it is flat.

Dip the flat wider end into bubble mixture and blow through the other end to create bubbles.

This fun to do with some paint added to the bubble mixture.

I tried this with some grey paint, and the children blew grey bubbles onto some huge pieces of paper. They looked like craters on some kind of alien planet. Hours of fun.

Hoola Hoop Bubbles

You need good quality bubble mixture to pull this one off.

A smaller hoop is easier to do it with. A larger one is really hard. There are different games you can do, but the one that really works is this…

Fill a paddling pool with a thin layer of bubble mixture. Then a child would stand in the paddling pool inside a hoola hoop. The adult lifts the hoop up and tries to create a huge bubble that the child is standing inside.

Some top tips to get it working are:

1. Move the hula hoop upwards quite quick
2. Get that mixture right!
3. Clean the pool first

Blowing Through Tubes

Bubble play in water trays is great for deep breathing, curiosity, and generating talk.

Give them a selection of straws, tubes, and pipes to blow through, with bubble mixture in a trough or water tray.

They blow through and see what kind of bubbles they can make!

 Bubble Games

1.Bubble Clap!

This is a really simple and fun game, that lots of younger children seem to play more or less instinctively.

Someone blows the bubbles, and the children go round trying to clap and pop them!

This is great for really young children, anywhere from walking age up to probably 4 or 5.

Ways to extend this could include:

1. Play as a team game, with one person blowing bubbles, and the others popping
2. Pop your friend’s bubbles and then swap
3. Use a bubble machine

2.Let Them Hit The Floor

This one takes self-discipline, and a bit of self restraint.

This is probably best done as a structured adult-led activity.

Basically one person blows a bubble, or some bubbles in the air. No one is allowed to touch them! You just watch as they gently float down to the floor and pop.

This teaches children:

1. Patience
2. Self restraint – curbing the urge to pop them
3. Observation
4. Curiosity

3.Trying To Catch A Bubble

This is quite a bit trickier than it sounds.

Basically you blow some bubbles, or you get your friends to do that.

Then you try to catch them in your hands without popping them.

This takes quite a lot of concentration, and critical thinking. There are definitely tactics involved in thinking the best way to catch them without them going pop.

You can extend this by trying:

1. To catch more than one at the same time
2. To catch your friend’s bubble and they catch yours
3. Bubble Painting

This is a classic bubble game. The big thing is just to be sure the children are going to blow and not suck. To an extent this is the case with all bubbles games.

Some top tips to check they blow rather than suck in any game include:

1. Use a small amount of bubble mixture. This helps so you can see if it goes down or not
2. Use the green washing up liquid if you make your own bubble mixture. This sounds a bit random, but some washing up liquids just smell far too nice! Some are cherry, or strawberry, or lemon, and they are just a bit too tasty smelling to young children. Go with the green one, which to most doesn’t smell as good
3. Have a practice before you blow! The easiest way of doing this is to blow onto your hand

Right, here’s how you do bubble painting.

Pour some paint into some bubble mixture and give it a good stir.

Then pour the mixture into a smallish pot. Get the children to blow using straws into the bubble mixture. Lots of bubbles will pop out!

Then you get a piece of paper and press it onto the bubbles. A beautiful bubble picture will be the result. Good luck!

4.Bubble Maths Games

The last eight ideas all link really well to maths 

Counting something that moves is quite a different skill to counting something that stays still. Also some objects are permanent and some only temporary – they last for a few seconds, then poof they are gone.

Bubbles are great for both of these concepts. They move about and they only have a short lifespan.

There are so many exciting bubble activities, and many of these can be linked to maths.

5. Blowing Bubbles In A Bowl

For this you need some bubble mixture (either bought or homemade), small bowls and straws. This can also be done in a larger format in a water tray or big trough (and forget the bowls).

The idea is that the children have a small amount of bubble mixture in a bowl, and one straw. They blow into the bubble mixture. This makes multiple bubbles mushroom up out of the bowl.

The idea is that you then pop and count. This is great for 1:1 counting, and cementing in your head that you point as you say one number. If you want to find out more about what one to one correspondence is, and how to teach it, then check this out.

Simply go ‘1,2,3…’ and keep popping and counting. An excellent strategy for lower ability children, or those struggling with 1:1. Pretty much any children will enjoy and benefit from this.