Bubbles have got lots of interesting properties and it can be fun to
investigate these with your children.
You can buy bubble mixture from the shops, but it's easy enough to make at home.
All you need is some good quality washing up liquid,
add that to some water and hey presto, you get some nice bubbles.
In order to make it even better,
all you need to do is add some glycerine to it and you can get glycerine from your local chemist.
You could have one of these bubble wands lying around the house but the great
thing about bubbles
is that you can make them with almost anything. So for example
I've used a simple cookie cutter I found in my kitchen,
or a pipe cleaner
which has been bent into shape.
Experimenting with different ways to make bubbles is a great way
to get children thinking scientifically as they play.
Can you tell me what do you think is going to happen if you blow
really really hard?
It'll make a bigger bubble? You think it's going to make a bigger bubble?
OK, shall we try?
What do you think is going to happen if you use a fatter straw?
The same thing.
You think the same thing's going to happen? Shall we have a go?
What do you think? Do you think using a different straw made a difference to the bubbles?
Yes.
We're going to have a go at trying to make one with this pipe cleaner.
Can you make something similar?
Very good.
Wow!
Keep going! Amazing, well done!
What do you think is going to happen if I use a different shape?
For example this one? What type of bubble do you think I'm going to get from that?
A star. You think I'm going to get a star one? Shall we have a go?
Look at the bubble. What does it look like?
A circle.
And what do you think is going to happen with the hand shape? It will go into a circle.
Shall we have a go? Yeah!
When you blow up a balloon, you have to blow hard. The air inside the balloon has to press
outwards and stretches the rubber of the balloon. When you tie up the balloon,
the air inside it carries on pressing outwards, and the rubber presses
inwards. These forces balance each other
and give the balloon its shape. A similar thing happens when you blow a soap bubble,
but instead of rubber it is a thin skin of soap solution that contains the air.
Your bubble may start off in a funny shape, but the soap film is
always pulling inwards and the air is pushing outwards.
The bubble ends up shaped like a sphere
because then the outward force of the air exactly balances
the inward force of the soap film in all directions.
Shall we try to make an even bigger bubble?
Yeah!
Right so I'm going to show you a really really big bubble!
OK? You excited?
To make a really big bubbles
you can just use a cake tin or even a coat hanger.
But what I'm going to do today is show you how to make a big bubble wand
using some string, two wooden spoons
and a weight, which is going to be a key.
The first thing you need to do is take your string
and loop it through and tie it around one of your wooden sticks.
The next thing you need to do is take your key,
which is going to act as your weight, and pass that through
the string again so it's roughly about
a third down your string.
You are trying to form a bubble wand which is in a triangular shape.
So this forms the first side of my triangle.
The next thing you need to do is take your string and take your second
wooden stick or spoon,
and again pass that through.
And that should be about two thirds of your string,
and make another knot.
So there you go, you've got two sides the triangle,
and all you need to do now is complete the triangle.
Take the rest of the string, and again it needs to be approximately the same size
as the other two.
And I tie that around to finish off my bubble wand.
When I hold that up what we end up with is a really really nice triangular shape
that I can now use to make some really really big bubbles.
You put it in the bubble mix, take it away,
and then open it and walk back slowly,
and when there's a bubble you have to close it.
Me and Mischa have played with bubbles so many times before,
but this time round, asking her questions, getting her to investigate the properties,
getting her to look at them really really closely
has meant that we've got so much more out of it.
I do hope you do to.