Bubbles,Bubbles, Blow the bubbles Theme - Thematic Learning

~Medha is 3 years 2 months old~

I have been absent from my this little space for a while.... and the reason is Office, dead lines, releases.... I was too tired and occupied last month. But we didn't missed Thematic Learning. We missed to post only. Will post from today one by one theme.

Today I am going to post about the activities we did 2 weeks back on Bubbles. I know some of you might be laughing already that "Is Bubbles a thematic Unit? ", the answer is YES. We did it. I couldn't believe myself that we were able to do such many activities around bubbles. We hope you and your children enjoy learning and playing with the suggestions below!

Here is what we did?

Introduce Bubble Play to Your Kids

Introduce bubbles to your kids if you haven't already. Right from Toddlers, every one loves bubbles. Isn't it?? 

Before blowing real bubbles, teach the children how to "blow out" and not suck in. This can be done by practicing blowing skills with a plastic straw and feeling the wind on their hands. Do the children know how to blow gently? Children will quickly learn that only gentle blowing will produce bubbles.

Blow bubbles from a commercial bubble solution for the children either indoors or outside. First, ask the children to simply OBSERVE what the bubbles do in the air or when they land on something. Next, have the children try to catch a bubble with some part of their body. You can explain science behind it if your kids are elder. 

Teach the following concepts : 

• Bubbles are formed by blowing air into a liquid. 
• A bubble has a round shape
• When the bubble expands too much (or expands big) or touches a surface, it POPS!!

Bubble Solution Making 

Mix 1 cup of dish wash liquid with 6 cups of water in a large bowl. Add 1 table spoon of Glycerin (Got mine from medical store) to the above solution which makes the bubbles stronger.  Tadaaa... Set!! Ready!! Play!!

Bubble Science Facts 

Ask the following questions to explain the facts behind the bubbles

• How far bubbles can go?
• How the rainbow colors coming in the bubbles? 
• Rainbow colors happen when light is broken into different colors when it passes through water.
• Where do you think bubbles will go if you don't POP them?

Bubble Catch Game

Children can develop motor skills, like eye/hand coordination, by playing "bubble catch." When the children play in pairs, one child blows a bubble and the other one catches it on a piece of cardboard. Then the children switch positions. 

Bubble Burst Game

This is another activity to develop motor skills, like eye/hand coordination,  "bubble burst." Blow the bubbles in a glass with straw and poke the bubbles using spoon or tooth pick or Popsicle stick to burst them.

Bubble Dance

Another fun movement activity is to "bubble dance." Play music in different tempos and invite the kids to pretend they are round bubbles floating around the room. They can spin and jump up and 'pop'!

Reinforce concepts while blowing bubbles using the words big, little, many, few, high and low. Ask questions like: Can you blow big bubbles? Little bubbles? Many bubbles? High bubbles? and so on.

Bubble Jumping

• Give a paper to your kids and ask them to color them in BLUE or any color they like.
• Cut out circular bubble shapes from colored paper. They need to be small enough for the children to be able to hop over. 
• When dry, set the bubbles on the floor and ask the children to take turns hopping over the bubbles.

Trust me this is one of the best activity we did in this theme. In fact we did again and again.

Extension activity #1: 

Label each of the bubbles with a letter, number, color or shape. Have kids call out the letter, number, etc. written on each of the “bubbles” as they jump over them.

Bubble Art (For Small Kids)

Fill a container with bubble solution and add a few drops of food coloring. Ask the kid to use a straw and blow into the solution to create a cluster of bubbles. 

As the bubbles rise, place a sheet of white paper carefully on top. When the bubbles break they will leave an impression on the paper. You can try this with multiple food coloring to create art. 

Check the post from NoTimeForFlashCards too. 

Bubble Art (For Preschoolers and elders)

Ask the kid to dip the bubble wand in the bubble solution and blew the bubbles across the paper.  You can also try blowing bubbles by taping together a bunch of straws. This makes the bubbles bigger and see the kids having so much of fun. 

Books we read On Bubble Theme 

Gilberto and the Wind -  

In this book by Marie Hall Ets, a young boy and his playmate the wind, likes his soap bubbles. The wind carries his bubbles way up into the air for the sun to color and then blows them back down to the ground to make children laugh when they burst. Charm the kids, just like Gilberto with some intriguing activities below.

Bubble Trouble - 

This is a book about small girl, Mabel is busy blowing bubbles on day and it turns into a big problem. the bubble that she has blown is HUGE and it surrounds her baby brother and carries him away into the air! As the wind blows poor Baby floats through the town. The town people have to work together to try and save the baby.

Pop! : A Book About Bubbles

Did you ever think that blowing bubbles could be educational? Read this science book to find out so many interesting things about bubbles like, how the bubbles are made, why they are round etc. I read this from library, its Great for kids of age 5+ . 

Clifford Counts Bubbles

A Board book that is perfect for toddlers which also teaches about numbers and counting.