A summer of bubbles ……
A summer of sticks, string, washing up liquid and many, many bubbles
Giant bubble
At the end of October we did our final holiday session of the year for North Hayne Farm Holiday Cottages, a truly magical place in North Devon where my family were lucky enough to spend some of our very best holidays when my son was younger. With a focus on inclusivity North Hayne is a haven for families with children with additional needs. The children that attend the weekly Free Rangers sessions in the holidays are a mixed age group and I need to make sure our activities are engaging for everyone. Plus, our activities need to be different each year as so many families return again, and again, and again to North Hayne - and the children always remember what they did they last time - even I may not!
This year I decided that we’d give giant bubbles a go. Not only did all the children have fun with bubbles but many of the adults couldn’t resist joining in as well, and it certainly brought joy to my Wednesday mornings 😊.
Making bubbles big and small is a brilliant outdoor activity that I challenge you not to become slightly obsessed with! Lots of the North Hayne families asked what we’d used as our super bubble mixture so I thought I would do a little bubbles blog so we can all brighten up the currently quite grey autumn days with a burst of bubbles.
We ended our October session with a big cobweb bubble wand so I’d love to hear about all the wonderful giant bubble creations you manage to make. I think a Christmas snowflake giant bubble wand may need to be tried out next month!
Although many bubble recipes use additional ingredients to make bubbles bigger or longer lasting, I just use washing up liquid and water. It is important that the activities we offer at Tangled With Nature are accessible for everyone if they decide to try them at home, so using simple, easy to get hold of things is essential.
So, here’s both the bubble mix we use as well as some instructions on how to make the giant bubble wands.
What you’ll need –
* Washing up liquid (approx. 400ml) – I use either Fairy Liquid or Ecover – or a mixture of both. This summer we had great results with both.
* Water (approx. 1.5 litres)
* 2 x long sticks – about 1cm to 2cm in diameter and about 50cm long
* 1.5m of cotton string / cord around 1mm think – something like a cord you’d use for a skipping rope or macrame.
* 2 x screw eyes
* A large bucket or trug
* A love of bubbles!
How to make your giant bubble wand -
Get your two sticks, two screw eyes and string.
Screw one screw eye into the end of one stick and the other into the end of the other stick.
You need to make a triangle out of the string by tying it into the screw eyes on the two sticks and then tying a knot in the bottom V part of the string.
See the photos below.
Your giant bubble wand is now ready to use.
Giant bubble wand
Now to mix up your bubble mix –
Add the 1.5 litres of water to a large bucket or trug.
Add the 400ml of washing up liquid to the water.
Slowly and gently mix the washing up liquid into the water – don’t whizz it around too fiercely and try not to generate too much bubbly foam.
Creating your bubbles –
Gently submerge the string of your bubble wand into the bubble mix.
Keeping the sticks close together slowly lift the strings out of the bubble mix.
Try not to touch the sides of the bucket as you lift the string out.
Once your strings are out of the bucket slowly widen the sticks and let your bubble fly free.
It may take a bit of practice but persevere as once you have got the hang of it you’ll be hooked!
Creating giant bubbles
And having mastered your basic giant bubble wands - experiment with other shapes and patterns - and most importantly have lots of outdoor bubbly fun.
Cobweb bubble wand