Bubble magic

Oliver and Pearl use the solution they concocted to blow amazing bubbles! photo credits:  Seth Chrisman

Have a little chemistry experiment by mixing up your own bubble solution:

Here's What You Need:

1 gallon water

2/3 cup hand dishwashing liquid, such as Joy or Dawn

2 to 3 tablespoons of glycerin (look in the laxative section of a drug store)

     

Here's What You Do:

Mix together in a large bowl or bucket.  Use pipe-cleaners twisted into shapes as your bubble wand, and try other implements such as cookie cutters, or yogurt lids with the center cut out. Show your child how to blow very gently, or waft the wand through the air to release the bubbles. The solution tends to become stronger by the next day, so try the bubbles two days in a row and see if they are easier to create the second time.

Leah Stevenson gazes at the perfect bubble she created--in the palm of her hand!

Bubble solution II:

1 cup dawn dishwashing liquid

3 cups water

a little less than 1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 gallon container with a tight-fitting lid

     

Mix the above ingredients in a container with a lid.  Shake and let settle for four hours.  

Basic Science Vocabulary Words:

Matter:  anything that has weight and takes up space.  Air is matter, even though we can't see it--the bubbles float in the air.

Liquid:  a substance that flows, like water  (molecules are moving freely about)

Mix:  combining substances together.

Solution:  the end product when more than one substance is mixed together, such as the bubble solution.

Float: to rest or move on the liquid or the air--the bubbles will float in the air.