Bubble Stuff

Today's Storytime theme was bubbles - and we had fun with a craft and an activity! First, we read about a baby who floated in a bubble in Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, and about pretend-pirates taking a bath in bubbles in Bubble Bath Pirates by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. We also heard Strega Nona Takes a Vacation by Tomie DePaola and laughed when Big Anthony flooded the village with bubble bath suds!

For a craft, we all placed several foam stickers on some paper and printed a "bubble" over them, so they looked a bit like the baby in the story. Stars, basketballs, flowers, ladybugs, all floating across our papers inside painted bubbles! We used different sized cups as stamps to make the bubbles. Our watercolors quickly ran together so we're not sure what color those bubbles are!

But outside, the bubbles were rainbow-swirled as we used cups, straws, the tops of bottles, paper tubes, and other objects to make giant bubbles on the lawn. What fun!

Here's the recipe for the bubble solution: 6 cups water
1/2 cup blue Dawn dish soap
1/2 cup corn starch
1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp glycerine (available at pharmacies)

Our biggest bubbles came from wands we quickly made with the help of parents: Use two equal pieces of drinking straw, and a piece of cotton string or yarn about six times longer than the length of one straw. Thread the yarn through the straws and tie a knot. Dip the whole thing in the bubble stuff, then hold by the straws and blow!