Blowing Bubbles Pops with More than Fun
Soap and water must be a sort of magical formula for childhood. Blowing bubbles is a fun way for kids to both play and learn with bubbles. Mix up a batch and who knows what might pop up?
For a start, simply blowing bubbles is exciting. In order to create bubbles, kids need to make a certain shape with their lips and use just the right amount of air. This is quite tricky and requires a lot of trial and error to get it just right. The muscles a child uses in the mouth and cheeks are the same ones needed for speech. Not every language has the same range of sounds but they use these muscles.
Before they even blow bubbles, very young children are linking the cause—blowing on soapy water, and the effect—bubbles. They carefully watch adults or other children to see how it’s done. Soon, they want to try for themselves and engage in exploratory play and figure out just how hard or soft to blow. Holding a bubble wand in different ways will change the effect. It needs to be straight up and down and too close doesn’t leave room for blowing.
Older kids and adults all love to blow bubbles. The colors seem to appear out of nowhere and disappear back again. Time seems to stand still as a bubble grows on the end of a wand. Will it or won’t it stay round and float away? What direction will it go? Eyes follow the path of the bubble until poof and it’s gone. Once in awhile, one will land and linger.
Being able to blow bubbles gives a sense of satisfaction. While adults don’t announce “I did it!” kids do. Their faces show their surprise and delight, as well as disappointment when it’s not working. There’s enough success and challenge to make it unpredictable without being too frustrating. Interesting and fun, blowing bubbles is full of learning and play. Will bubble play pop up in your child’s day?