Building bonds with bubbles

Looking for simple activities to help you connect more fully with your children and live more happily together? Try this fun bubble wand craft and share a rhyming bubble verse from The Connected Family Handbook: Nurturing Kindness, Warmth and Wonder in Children by Lou Harvey-Zahra and Danielle Harbison. Something as simple as blowing bubbles can feel very exciting to children and can bring smiles to everyday family life.

You will need:

• Pipe cleaners
• 1 part washing-up liquid
• 4 parts water
• A couple of drops of glycerine (optional) for stronger bubbles
• Bowl

Method:

• Create a loop and make the handle of your bubble wand by twisting the two ends of the pipe cleaner together.
• Gently mix the washing-up liquid, water and glycerine (optional) in a bowl to make your bubble mixture.
• Dip in the pipe-cleaner bubble wand, making sure a shiny film is covering the loop.
• Hold close to the mouth without touching the lips and gently blow!
• Create different bubble-wand shapes: hearts, squares and double-bubble wands.

Top tip!

The mixture works best if made a couple of days before using.

Share this rhyme as your little ones blow their bubbles:

Bubble, bubble, turn around,
Bubble, bubble, land on the ground.
Bubble, bubble, float up high,
Bubble, bubble, float towards the sky.
Bubble, bubble, float down low,
Bubble, bubble, land on my toe.
Bubble, bubble, stop, stop, stop,
Bubble, bubble, now go ‘POP!’

Find more easy crafts, fun recipes, play ideas, stories and verses – as well as practical tips and advice of creative discipline, rhythms and routines in The Connected Family Handbook.

We’d love to see the wands you create! Tag us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #ConnectedFamilyHandbook.