Monday Fun Day ~ Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere

I have found that bubbles are fun for children of all ages.  When I was a child, we didn't (in my family at least) have all the fancy bubble blowing machines that are on the market today.  We simply used the bubble wand that came with the small bottle of bubbles and we were perfectly content.  I have made the decision to hold off on the elaborate bubble maker until my sons are a bit older - and may not ever purchase one.  That doesn't mean that we don't have fun with bubbles though! We have a great time! I blew bubbles for my toddler when he was a baby and he first enjoyed watching the bubbles, then delighted in popping the bubbles that he could catch!  He still likes to catch and pop bubbles. I really enjoyed watching as he learned to blow bubbles.  He first tried to blow bubbles by blowing air out of his nose! For a long time he put the wand directly on his mouth and once in a while a bubble would appear, which caused amazing giggles to emerge from his tiny body! As he has grown, his bubble blowing ability has too.

I recently splurged on a dollar bubble gun that I found at the department store.  My son was super excited when he saw it and I have to say it has been one of the best dollars ever spent!  It's a simple battery operated fan mechanism that blows the bubbles through two wands.  Perfect. This bubble toy keeps my son occupied for many minutes (an hour at times) which allows me to get the dishes done or vacuum (the blah work).  Oh yes, and as he blows the bubbles, guess who else is having a great time?  The baby.  Yep.  One dollar and bubbles to keep both kids occupied so I can get something accomplished! How great is that?!

That brings us to today's Monday Fun Day activity: Making your own bubbles.  There are many solutions online that I have not tried, but I can tell you what worked for us.

I took a milk jug and filled in about half way with water (1/2 gallon of water).  To that I added approx. 1/3 cup of dish soap.  Finally I added about 2 tbsp of glycerine.  We poured some in the bubble dish for the bubble gun and keep the milk jug close by! No more buying bubbles at the store!

We also made a game where we tested items to see what would work as a bubble wand.  For example, we poured some bubble solution in a baking sheet and dipped a slightly bent coat hanger in for big bubble fun.  Also, you know those kits that you used to decorate your easter eggs?  Well the egg dipping tool also works well as a bubble wand! It is such fun to experiment! Next we are going to try different size funnels to see if we dip the large end of the funnel in the solution and blow through the tube if it will create bubbles. We shall see!