Today, our explore and discover linky is all about science. Â We have been doing so much science in our classroom that it was hard to decide what to share for this post. I decided to share our bubble activity but keep in mind that science in the preschool classroom isn’t just about things that bubble or pop. For young children, science is about inquiring, questioning, observing, and exploring…
Blowing bubbles in a bowl isn’t a new idea for most of us in early childhood education, however the process often becomes focused on creative art. Â You know, where the children place a piece of paper over the top of their bubbles and then lift it up to see their beautiful print. Â I love doing that too but for this bubble in a bowl activity, we kept the focus on just exploring the bubbles and color….
To get us started, the children poured about a half of a cup of water in their bowls. We didn’t actually measure the water but I demonstrated how to pour water into a bowl so that it doesn’t get too much and the children estimated their own amount of water from there…
Then the children added a good squeeze of Dawn dish soap and stirred the water and soap together with their straws…
We talked about how to blow through the straws and to be sure not to suck the liquid up through the straws before ever getting started. Â We even practiced this a bit so the children would get the idea. Once the children mixed up their soap and water it was time to start blowing bubbles…
The more the children blew, the higher the bubbles grew in their bowl. Â We could see all the little tiny bubbles working together to form one big bubble on top of our bowls…
The children were invited to try popping their bubbles or using their whole hand to squish their entire bubble mass all the way down then blow them back up again…
As a second step in this process, the children also used pipettes to add colored water to their bubbles. Â The children could observe the water flow down through the bubbles into the bowl below (another reason for not starting with too much water in the bowl)…
If the bowl started to get too full, the children could go to the sink and pour it out then start all over again. Some children, however preferred to have two separate bowls so they could compare the bubbles as they went along…
I had heard that if you take a needle and poke it through one end of the straw, it will help prevent sucking up a bunch of soapy water but I haven’t actually tried it. I thought I would pass the tip along to you in case you are worried about sucking up soapy water. I don’t remember which end of the straw would need to have the holes poked so you may need to do a little of your own experimenting…
I was glad we stayed focused on just the process of blowing and observing bubbles rather than turning it into an art activity. I think it helped the children stay focused on the process for much longer since there wasn’t any kind of end to the process. It wall all about exploring bubbles and color…
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