Dish Soap Bubbles Art Games

Bubble Color Combination

• This bubble-art game encourages color-theory skills. Fill several small containers, such as empty yogurt cups, with bubble solution. Add a couple of drops of a primary color of tempera paint (red, yellow or blue) to the containers. Each kid takes a drinking straw and a piece of paper. An adult calls out a color name. Each kid moves to a container of bubble solution in that color. He dips one end of his straw into the container and then blows bubbles onto his paper from the other end. The bubbles pop and leave colorful marks behind. When the adult calls out the next color, kids find a container with the called color. They can then blow bubbles onto their papers, creating a secondary color when the bubbles pop over the first layer of colored bubbles. The first child to finish and remember the color combination that created the secondary color (i.e., yellow plus blue created green) wins a prize. The finished artwork is both educational and visually appealing, as it shows how colors mix together to create other color combinations, and also makes interesting bubble marks.

Bubble Catch

• Kids can play a game involving bubbles, art and teamwork by playing colorful bubble catch. Select which kids will be bubble blowers and which will be bubble catchers. Children who are bubble blowers can select a container of bubble soap that has been tinted with a small amount of food coloring. The catchers each select a piece of matte board to use for catching the bubbles. When an adult says "Go," the first catcher to get 20 bubbles to pop on her paper wins. The catchers can count out loud to help them keep track of their bubbles. Once one child reaches 20, the kids can switch so that each child will have a turn being a blower and a catcher. The finished artwork can dry in the sun and then be taken home to be displayed in kids' rooms.

Hidden Bubble Message

• Kids blow bubbles over a piece of easel paper hiding a secret message. With an adult's help, a word can be written on the easel paper using a white crayon and then taped onto an outside wall or fence. When each child is ready, he can blow bubbles onto the paper that have been tinted with tempera paint, revealing the hidden message. The first child to reveal the hidden word gets a prize. The finished-word bubble artworks are colorful and educational, encouraging children's reading skills.