Our Bubble Experiment

    Today Christopher took Grace and Elly to the Wellness Centre for a swim.  The two girls were so excited.  Gracie has been a few times with her friend, but we have never been.  The whole morning she was excitedly telling her Dad things about the pool.  The three of them set off, towels in bag.  About half an hour after they had left I received a dejected phone call from my husband.  "They canceled public swimming because they are having a swim meet.  I guess I'll take the girls to Pirate Park."

    Back at home I decided to make this a special time for Rowan and Riley also.  Rowan rented "The Tooth Fairy 2" (I can't believe that it was overlooked by the Oscar selection committee).  The two of them sat happy as little clams eating potato chips and drinking ginger-ale.  I enjoyed listening to their back and forth banter as the movie played.

    After the movie we did a bubble experiment.  A bunch of my friends have been posting the above picture on facebook.  Every time I see it I thought some day I should try that.  Today was someday.  I do not have any "Joy", so I substituted Palmolive Dish Detergent instead.  I made a half batch mainly because I didn't want to waste 2 cups of expensive dish soap and a cup of corn syrup.  Riley and Rowan excitedly helped me mix together our batch.

    We decided to not only experiment with bubble solution, but also with wand shapes.  I pulled out some craft wire and started shaping.  Rowan wanted a square, and Riley wanted a triangle.  She announced that it was her favourite shape.  I personally have never really thought about shapes long enough to decide if I had a favourite.  It turns out that I should not go into the bubble wand making business, because I stink at it.

    Typical our luck, the day that we decide to do a bubble solution experiment is the day that it is hurricane force winds (o.k. I might be exaggerating just a teensy tiny little bit, but it was pretty windy).

The bubble solution blew out of the wands before the kids even had a chance to raise them out of the bowls.  To compare our solution we also brought out store bought bubbles.

    The shape of the wand did not really seem to effect the shape of the bubble, although the triangle one came close.  I say this, but it was so windy that we can't really tell what shape worked the best.

    Shortly into our bubble experiment Riley spied the first caterpillar of the year.  She talked baby talk to it for while.  After a few minutes of telling the caterpillar that he was adorable, yes so adorable she became bored with him and put him back where she had found him. 

    So here is my final verdict on our bubble experiment.  You are cheaper to just go to the dollar store and buy a bottle of bubbles.  Having said that, the kids loved the build up.  They loved "making" bubble solution.  They were really excited to go outside and try it out.  They were over the moon when they saw that their bubble solution worked, and actually produced better bubbles than the store bought stuff (although they are not as the picture claims 'unbreakable').  I spent quality time engaging with my kids.  They won't remember blowing bubbles as an isolated memory, but I think that they will remember "making" their own solution.  I hope that by doing silly little things like this it makes their little minds work, and enjoy the simple scientific process.  It was only an hour of my time, but that hour was completely "their" time and I completely devoted it to them.  More than anything else we had a fun Sunday afternoon.