Kids Blowing Bubbles Get Smarter!

Blowing bubbles is wonderful fun and children love it, but the potential for a mess leads many parents to avoid this great activity. This is unfortunate because blowing bubbles is not only fun, it's a great educational tool. Keep a bottle of bubbles handy on the front porch or in the backyard, or wherever your family spends the most time outside, so you can enjoy your kids blowing bubbles conveniently.
BASIC VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Young children are still learning simple nouns and basic language to increase their vocabulary. The relationship between an extensive oral vocabulary and success in all areas of life has been studied numerous times and is well accepted. Here are just a few examples of words that might be new for many young children.
Nouns: top, lid, bottle, wand, solution, soap, mixture
Verbs: mix, blow, pour, share, wait, spill
Adjectives: wonderful, huge, magnificent, beautiful, teeny, slimy, soapy
MATH / SCIENCE LANGUAGE
Comparative Language: big, bigger, biggest; small, smaller, smallest; high, higher, highest
Science Vocabulary: transparent, sphere, other shapes
Math Vocabulary: count how long before a bubble pops, count how many bubbles you blow
Experiments: try blowing bubbles with all different kinds of wands and tools, use different mixtures, make your own


SPEECH THERAPY & BREATH CONTROL
Kids blowing bubbles are learning to speak more clearly, because of the extra practice in breath control and performing many small movements with their mouth and tongue, as they learn to blow the perfect bubble. Encourage your children to blow bubbles often while they are younger, and you may avoid speech therapy later.
FINE MOTOR CONTROL
Kids blowing bubbles are working hard to develop their hand and finger coordination. Sometimes adults forget how tricky it is -- to get the little wand in and out of the bottle, to hold it at just the right distance from your mouth for the best amount of air on to the bubble solution (but not get it on your mouth!), and to do all of that while you also need to remember to hold the bottle and not let it tip over. Kids blowing bubbles have a lot to remember all at once!





CAUSE AND EFFECT
Cause and effect is not just an official science skill for older grades in school. The basic understanding of cause and effect applies to all areas of life and leads (hopefully) to the generalized understanding that "my behavior has consequences" and that by changing my behavior, I can (often) change the outcome. What more important lesson could anyone learn? Kids blowing bubbles have very immediate feedback about how their behavior affects their outcomes, and plenty of opportunity to try again next time, choosing a different behavior for a different outcome.
spill your bubbles . . . . now you're finished for today
drink the bubbles . . . . . no more bubbles for several weeks!
be careful . . . .. you get to play longer
touch your eyes . . . . . feel the soapy sting
whine . . . . watch the bubbles get put away after all
blow too softly or too hard . . . either way, bubbles will not form properly


SELF - CONTROL
Blowing bubbles is one of the best ways for young children to improve their self-control in an environment with an age-appropriate level of risk.
don't taste the bubbles . . . . . . . even though you might want to
practice breath control . . . . so you can make the best bubbles
popping bubbles . . . . only your own, unless your friend says it is okay
pouring out the bubbles . . . . . the longer you wait to pour out the mix, the longer you'll get to play
perseverance . . . . . keep trying, and you can learn to make great bubbles


HELPFUL TIPS:
Blowing bubbles is the most fun outside, where no one needs to worry about spilled bubbles making a slippery floor dangerous or damaging carpets. Cheap bubbles work just fine. There's no need to buy fancy expensive bubble solution. Buy one set of small bottles, and also a big jug of bubble mixture to refill with, for cheaper fun. The best weather for bubbles is when it is coolish or misty or overcast, or during the early part of the morning, or later in the afternoon or early evening. If the weather is hot and dry, the bubbles will pop too quickly to be much fun. The first couple of times that you get out the bubbles, plan ahead for extra excitement and extra spilling. Make sure your kids are wearing old clothes, until they develop some skill. Playing with bubbles about once a week is often enough, so they'll stay exciting and fun, as a treat. Have a water hose or sink available for washing hands afterwards, so that children won't get soapy bubble solution in their mouth or eyes from their hands.