Playing outside, blowing bubbles with children and enjoying cost-free playtime are some ways to get the family outdoors.
Homemade bubble solution encourages kids to use the kitchen, measure ingredients, and perform a little easy math. Making bubbles at home also teaches lessons about reusing and repurposing materials, which can spark your child’s imagination. In this tips sheet you’ll see how you can make your own bubbles at home.
The Science of Making Bubbles
The process of creating bubble solution is carefully planned. Water on its own will be forced to produce small and quick popping bubbles.
Suppose that we have a liquid mixture, where the surface tension is lowered by adding either soap or detergent (1). Furthermore, when bubbles are formed—either large or small—they also last longer because of the additional components (2).
Before You Start
When making homemade bubbles, you want to make a large batch of them. You need to use a clean bucket or gallon-sized container. Store leftover bubble solution in the gallon jug, plastic pitcher, or the store-bought bubble bottle.
To make a bubble solution, pour it into an empty store-bought bottle, filled with melted liquid or one that works well with your wands.
Basic Homemade Bubble Solution
This recipe makes good bubbles. Some people just use water and dishwashing liquid, but adding corn syrup such as Karo Syrup or glycerin helps the solution stay together to create better bubbles.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons light Karo syrup or 2 tablespoons glycerin
- 4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid
Colored Bubbles
Adding a few drops of food coloring to the mixture creates bubbles that look like they are on their own, rather than in a bowl.
In order to avoid getting your hands stained, clean your bubble solution thoroughly on external surfaces. Make sure you use food coloring that wash away easily from objects and carpets/decks.
Use the bubbles to discuss how colors combine. For example, yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple.
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated soap or soap powder
- 1 quart warm water
- Liquid food coloring
Sugar Bubbles
With sugar in your solution, you can create bubbles that are larger and more difficult to pop. Sugar makes a big difference in the size of your bubbles and how long they last. If you’re going to make a bubble blowing contest, adding sugar to your solution could give you an advantage.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons liquid detergent
- 1 tablespoon glycerin
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Homemade Bubble Wands
Experimenting with different household items to blow bubbles is a lot of fun. Two things you might already have around the house are bubble wands and soap bubbles.
Look for things you’re getting rid of, or that could be used to make bubbles. Make your children look at objects outside the box to find holes to use as wands. Exercise their creativity by involving them in the process!
Bubble Games to Play
By turning blowing bubbles into an activity, you can turn a fun pastime into a competition as well. Challenge players to see who can blow the largest bubble or who can keep their bubble from popping the longest. You also can see who can blow the most bubbles in 30 seconds, which can be easily done with a bubble shooting gun.
Anybody can try this simple activity. The possibilities are endless! How about racing your bubbles? Who can catch the most and run to a designated point first like a dome before it pops?
Use your imagination and have fun. With balloons, there are tons of ways to play games such as Simon Says and bubble tag. There are even more games that can be made with a balloon.
A Word From Verywell
“Blow bubbles” is a way for children to spend time outside and exercise their imaginations by helping them blow out the ordinary to get in touch with their creativity.
Make games with your children like bubble catching, Simon Says, and tag. This can help provide them with a way to jump back into blowing bubbles and have slightly more time since this activity will take less time.