Bubbles! Bubbles!

The Mini Macks have a little secret. They have their very own Science Lady that appears like Cinderella’s fairy godmother whenever home schooling days with me get a little boring. Bring out the bubbles!

My friend Jenny Sue, a.k.a. the Science Lady, is the Director for the Martinson Center for Mathematics and Science at Regent University. They invite teachers and kids for amazing interactive camps and courses. But the Mini Macks, well they got a front row seat with Jenny Sue the other day. First they tried to freeze bubbles.

Apparently if it is cold enough, and your bubble solution is right, you can blow, wave, and swish a bubble from a wand and MAGIC! It freezes. But much like Cinderella’s godmother shaking her puffy sleeves and stomping her foot trying to find that darn wand, the stars didn’t align to allow for bubble freezing. (Apparently, our bubble solution was wrong)*

No worries, Science Lady moved the party indoors to continue exploring, observing, smelling, touching, and unintentionally, tasting the bubbles. As soon as she came, she was gone. Off to another adventure, the Mini Macks were left to explore from one of Science Lady’s lessons (downloadable here).

We blew bubbles in water. We blew bubbles in whole milk. We blew bubbles in soapy water. We made observations. We discussed surface tension. We giggled as we slopped suds about. We dropped needles and paper clips on the surface of the solutions to talk about the tension. We used keys and spatulas to see which (and why) would make bubbles.

We You Tubed to cross reference. We studied and predicted. Here are some of our findings:

• Bubbles are fun! Water and air make bubbles – but not very big ones
• Milk and air make lots of bubbles!
• Soap and air make “THE BEST” bubbles!
• The milk or soap allows the water to stretch and capture the air we blow out. Typically water likes to stick to itself.
• Science ROCKS. We know this. Our Science Lady says so and we can prove it.

Giant Soap Bubble Solution
3 cups water
1 cup liquid dish-washing detergent
1/2 cup white corn syrup

“By adding corn syrup to a basic soap bubble recipe you create a sugar polymer and a much stronger bubble that is able to live long enough to be frozen.” – The Science Lady

Download her awesome lesson and let the magic begin!