Help Me Be Awesome

May 25, 2007 7:58 PM

How do I become a bubble-blowing hero to my kid?

I have a 2-year-old son who loves blowing and chasing bubbles. How can I make the most awesome possible bubble mix using materials available in my home?

posted by scrump to Grab Bag (19 answers total)

The trick to cool bubbles isn't so much having the perfect bubble mix as it is to have great things to make bubbles with You can use string, coat hangers, pieces of bent wire or lots of different stuff. The trick to bubble stuff is basically detergent and glycerin which you can get at the drugstore. You can add a few drops food coloring to it and make bubble prints on pieces of paper. There's a neat dry ice project called a bubble box on this page. This page shows you how to make rainbow bubbles using a flashlight, or use this page to make a bubble blowing machine.
posted by jessamyn at 8:13 PM on May 25, 2007

If you have AC vents, stick the wand over that for a boost of fun.
posted by hodyoaten at 8:15 PM on May 25, 2007

There are tons of homemade recipes online, if you google things like "homemade bubble" and "homemade bubble mix" you'll be inundated. The most common basic formula is dishwashing detergent, water and glycerin (or glycerine, or glycerol, it's all the same, try the drug store). There are also recipes that use sugar, salt, or corn syrup as the additive rather than glycerin. I've never tried homemade with anything but glycerin. Some sort of additive is essential for size and longevity though, just dish soap and water simply won't make decent sized bubbles that last. Glycerin improves bubbles iridescent appearance also, I don't know about the others.

My experience was that these formulas will make passable bubble mix but I agree with this guy: even the cheapest store formulas work better. He has advice anyway on the best performing homebrew formulas, anyway, if price or the DIY aspect is the big aim.

If performance is your aim homemade is probably not the way to go. The detergents in your home are meant to clean, not make cool bubbles, and the array of surfactant modifying additives available to you is limited. This guy is obviously selling something, but then again he probably has a point: his bubble solution is superior to homemade solutions because he's, you know, he's a chemist.
posted by nanojath at 8:41 PM on May 25, 2007

I admit that this is a lot more than you're asking for, but it looks like a little polyvinyl acetate and acetone would guarantee lasting awesomeness in the eyes of every child who happened to walk by your yard.
posted by kmennie at 8:58 PM on May 25, 2007

Use a straw. Two really. You can make some great cool shapes this way.
posted by filmgeek at 9:29 PM on May 25, 2007

I believe your attitude is far more important than the bubble mix and "equipment" -- be ready to spread bubble cheer in the most unexpected places and times. My personal favorite memory in the vein is blowing bubbles out of an open sunroof while stranded in a relentless traffic jam on the Golden Gate Bridge. Lots of spirits were lifted by that seemingly simple act.
posted by peace_love_hope at 9:35 PM on May 25, 2007

Incidentally, again like the first guy I linked above, for easy to find commercial solution I found the Gazillion bubble brand very effective for making big, long-lasting bubbles.
posted by nanojath at 10:09 PM on May 25, 2007

I think older kids might be into making your own bubble solution - it's something cool you could do together - but for toddlers, I highly recommend a sticky bubble like Catch-A-Bubble.

There are other brands, too. Sometimes I've seen them called sticky bubbles or plastic bubbles (hard to Google!), but basically they dry a bit as they float through the air, so you can catch them and poke at them. It makes bubbles a little more interactive for little ones because they can get their hands on them.
posted by peep at 10:23 PM on May 25, 2007

Should be coming to market anytime: Zubbles, non-staining colored bubbles.
posted by IndigoRain at 12:23 AM on May 26, 2007

Buy this book. You will become bubble God for many years to come.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:36 AM on May 26, 2007

Get a fluorescent blacklight and add some UV reactive dye to your bubble mix. Then go in a darkened room and blow his mind.

Make sure you get a fluorescent blacklight, not an incandescent bulb -- they suck. You can get fluorescent UV bulbs in almost any standard shape or size, so any room that already has a fluorescent fixture can be temporarily converted. Or you can get a cheap fixture from the hardware store -- even a fluorescent flashlight that uses a standard T-size bulb works well. Point is, you don't have to spend a lot of money on this part. Even if the UV-bubbles part doesn't work out, the kid should be fascinated by the blacklight. Hint: give him some highliters of various colors and let him draw on his skin. He'll go crazy.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:01 AM on May 26, 2007

Here's some purpose-made UV bubble mix. They also sell scented bubble mix on that page! Who knew!
posted by Rhomboid at 2:07 AM on May 26, 2007

I really like this toy we have called a Bubblescope.

Photos here. Yes, that's a self-link, but I cannot find any other photos of this toy anywhere...
posted by chuckdarwin at 2:29 AM on May 26, 2007

When I was little, I used to soap up my arms in the tub, hold my hands together in a circle (like I was holding an imaginary beach ball), submerge my arms, carefully take them out of the water with a motion outlining a dome shape, and a huge bubble would be there, floating on the surface of the water. They were bigger than half a basketball in size, which was big for me since I was seven, and survived longer than I thought they would.

My next goal, that I was almost able to do, was to dive under and bring my head up inside the bubble.

I was using regular soap -- dove, I think, or maybe dial. I bet if you use a bubble solution that is non-toxic on your arms, you could make even more resilient megabubbles this way.
posted by umbú at 9:25 AM on May 26, 2007

I used to own one of the bubble books, and in his recipe for homemade bubble solution, the author gave an uncompensated recommendation for Joy dishwashing soap. He said it made the biggest, shiniest bubbles by far.

That was a decade ago, and the formulation may have changed. But I can tell you from experience: brand does make a huge difference.

Also, be aware that a dry environment kills bubbles. A humid day, or a humid room, will allow you to produce more bubbles and keep them alive longer.
posted by Elsa at 12:17 PM on May 26, 2007

My personal favorite memory in the vein is blowing bubbles out of an open sunroof while stranded in a relentless traffic jam on the Golden Gate Bridge. Lots of spirits were lifted by that seemingly simple act.
I may have been somewhere behind you in that very traffic jam. The story continued... seeing a trail of bubbles from ahead made the ride fun for the folks in my car. Eventually we caught up and the original bubble blowers passed the bottle of bubbles through the window to our car so we could continue the fun. We passed them on a while later. I highly recommend keeping a bottle of bubbles in the car for such situations!
posted by purplefiber at 1:24 PM on May 26, 2007

Equipment:
1. Large flat circular tray
2. Lots of bubble solution
3. Small child
4. Hula hoop (trimmed and reconnected to have a diameter smaller than the tray but larger than the child)

Procedure:
1. Pour bubble solution into pan
2. Place hoop in pan
3. Have child stand in center of hoop (you can use a small stool or blocks to keep his feet dry)
4. Lift the hoop quickly to a level over the kid's head and hold it there until the giant cylindrical bubble bursts

My husband does this at science-themed birthday parties and it's awesome just to watch. I'll see if I can get his recipe for bubble solution.
posted by beandip at 1:32 PM on May 26, 2007

Regular soap, soft water and the O formed by your thumb and index finger. Not the most spectacular, but the fact you can do it without any special equipment at all makes it magical.
posted by Hogshead at 7:10 PM on May 26, 2007

Last time I was at the Exploratorium they did the Child-in-Bubble thing. It was awesome. If you can't get it to work yourself, mosey on over there.
posted by radioamy at 6:04 PM on May 27, 2007