Bubble Fest

Sometimes I think bubbles must have some kind of magical power.  Just the sight of those glistening soapy bubbles floating through the air can stop a kid in his tracks.  They're mezmerising and the joy seems to increase with either :

a) REALLY BIG BUBBLES
b) LOTS OF BUBBLES or
c)A VARIETY OF RANDOM BUBBLE WANDS

So, over the weekend we had six kids running around the house and we decided to see just how much entertainment we could squeeze out of some soapy water. Since we were going BIG with our bubbles we decided to make our own bubble solution.  I used this recipe:

1 Gallon of distilled water (but who are we kidding?, I used tap water.)
1 small (14 oz)bottle of Dawn (Original-NOT ultra)
3 Tablespoons Glycerine

If you're like me you might be thinking "what the heck is glycerine and where would I get it?"  Well, I learned something new this week.  Glycerine is just something people use on their skin.  You can find it in the pharmacy at your local Wal-Mart next to things like Aloe Vera.  If you can't find it you can ask the pharmacist.  It only costs about $1.20 for a bottle and it helps keep the bubbles together. 

If you want to make bubbles right now and you don't have glycerine then I've heard you can try light corn syrup instead...but you may end up with some sticky bubbles.  In any case I guess something to gel the solution is helpful.

So, we mixed it all together in a big container (we used a drawer from a plastic storage chest, a storage bin or kiddie pool would work great too.  Just make it big enough that several kids can be dipping at the same time if you want it to be a happy experience) and then let it sit for a few minutes.

I found that the longer the solution sits the better the bubbles will be.  There must be some kind of science to that...but I don't know exactly what it is.  While the solution is doing its magic we searched for some homemade bubble makers.  We started out with hangers.  You can stretch them or leave them as they are. 

It's a little tricky to get the huge bubbles but we got some and they were followed by oohs and ahhhs all around.

Some kids didn't have the patience for trying to make the giant bubbles so they tried the tubes from paper towel and toilet paper rolls.  These were a HUGE success and they make pretty big bubbles too.

We also tried the tube from an empty roll of duct tape.

We tried straws and PVC pipe (pieces from our fort builders set). 

Note to user: Please warn your children to blow out...not suck in when using tubes full of bubble solution.  Now, I don't have a picture of this because I was trying to be nice mom (and my four year old was really not interested in posing at this moment)  But, let's just say that there were bubbles coming out of my son's mouth when he talked...and he didn't think it was very funny. At least he didn't find it as humorous as I did.

We caught bubbles in our hands and even the oldest kids were pretty into it.

Later I tried a kitchen wisk-very fun.  Pretty much anything with a hole in it is worth trying.  We also used some big store bought bubble wands that I had around from a few years ago.  They, of course, made great bubbles.
And, last of all breaking out the bubble machine is a sure fire winner.  I got this for a birthday party a while back and something about it transports kids to another world.  They get all starry eyed and start running and skipping in circles while flailing their arms in the air in an attempt catch those cute little bubbles.

 Try it out.  It's easy and cheap and darn right magical. Part of the fun is the challenge of making your own bubble solution and finding creative ways make the bubbles.  Even I get a little carried away when I see those beauiful rainbow colored spheres floating around the back yard....and I know that I can make as many of them as my not so grown up heart desires.