How to Make Giant Bubbles + World's Best Bubble Recipe

Its seems the rest of the country has started back to school but my kids don't start until next week.  We've had such a fun summer together so I'm a little sad to have them starting school again (okay, lets be honest, super sad).  My kids are at an age where they play so nicely together for hours on end.  It's so fun to see them be such good friends.  I had a whole list of boredom busters to keep them busy this summer but with my kids entertaining each other we hardly touched the list.  But that's the way it should be, isn't it?  Good old fashioned imaginative play, outdoors, and fresh air.

A favorite activity that we did enjoy several times though was making giant bubbles.  After a disappointing morning of swimming lessons being canceled last minute we headed over to the library and were fortunate to catch a show from The Bubble Man.  It's amazing the things you can do with some soapy solution and air.  My kids loved it!  The Bubble Man was nice enough to share his bubble recipe and my kids were anxious to try it.  We created all kinds of bubble wands to try out in our solution but the giant bubbles were definitely a favorite.

Just a couple of dowels, some thin rope, and a washer and we were ready to go.

Big

Bigger

Biggest

 POP!

To make the bubble wands I picked up a bag of dowels at the craft store and screwed an eyelet into the top of each one.

I then tied about an 18 inch piece across the top and then a second longer piece (about 3 feet) as well.  There's also a washer strung through the second piece to weigh it down a bit.  Can you see it at the bottom of the rope hiding in the grass?   The first time I made the bubble wands I used yarn, which worked great . . . until it turned into a big tangled mess.  I decided to invest in some thin rope which worked so much better for avoiding tangles.  Don't worry that much about the length of the rope.  It doesn't matter too much.  Just make sure there's a shorter piece at the top and a longer one underneath.

Here's a few more big ones!

So much fun!

And here's the famous bubble recipe.  Simply mix the three ingredients together and you're ready for some serious bubble fun!  (Glycerin can be found at any pharmacy.  I got ours in the pharmacy section of our local grocery store.)

Have fun!

Outdoor Water Art

Hot summers often require wet activities that keep us cool.  In past years I have bought sponge brushes for my kids to draw on the sidewalk with water.  This year they decided that the house made for a better canvas.  And you know, I think it was a great idea.

They've had a so much fun.

And when their canvas is full, only a few minutes time will dry it off, and they're ready to paint again.

What kind of wet activities do you do with your kids in the summer?

Family Olympics

While the summer Olympics are going on I wanted to make sure that we celebrated!  In addition to watching events during the day and evening we held a "Family Olympics".  This is so simple to put together that you could do it in a matter of minutes--like I did!  After a nice healthy dinner we headed out back.  My husband had the boys warm up and stretch while I posted the signs of our events.

First up was basketball.  Since our kids are still little we just had them make a few baskets each.

Next event: Fencing.  

We have a plethora of light sabers at our house which is what we used for our swords but you could use sticks or wrapping paper tubes--anything works!  This ended up being J's favorite event.

One of the best things about our new home is the jungle gym in the back--and it made a perfect venue for our third event: gymnastics.

W showed us his skills at hanging upside-down.

And the boys loved doing their fancy jumps on the mini trampoline.

Our last event at home was track--my personal favorite (Amy and I both ran hurdles in high school).

We held a few different track events.  First was a race from one end of the yard to the next.  And since A was so sad about coming in dead last we had a relay--the two older boys were a team and A got paired with Dad which evened things up pretty nicely!

For our final event of the night we headed to the neighborhood pool.  

Usually when we head to the pool in the evening we have it all to ourselves.  Unfortunately there were several people swimming that night!  We adjusted our events and instead of swimming we did "diving".  After watching the men's diving events the night before the boys loved showing off their fancy dives.

After returning home we got in our jammies and held our medal ceremony.  Every boy got a gold medal (which my mom had given to me last summer and I miraculously still knew their location),  we sang the National Anthem, and had a special treat before heading to bed.

It was such a fun, low-key evening and everyone had a great time!  If you hold a Family Olympics we'd love to hear what events you compete in!

Homemade Moon Sand

I bought the kids some new sand toys the other week so they were pretty excited to head to the park and play in the sand.  They were awfully disappointed though when the dry sand wouldn't hold the shape for their new molds.  I decided to try making some homemade moon sand to see if that would bring more fun.  It was a huge success!

I bought a bag of nice clean sand from Home Depot for about $3 and a box of corn starch for $1 at Walmart.  We measured out 8 cups of sand and 4 cups of corn starch into a 32 quart plastic bin that I just had sitting in the basement.

 We mixed them together with 2 cups of water and we were ready to play.

My kids were so excited that it actually worked to build sand castles.

And even more excited that they could make some little "sand cookies" with the new sand toys we had bought.

And of course we had to fill up the big bucket for the ultimate sand castle.

This recipe is definitely a keeper.  My kids had so much fun playing with the moon sand, and I won't lie, I had fun playing with them too!

Moon Sand

8 cups sand

4 cups corn starch

2 cups water

Combine all ingredients in plastic container.  Store with lid off or it may become moldy.  If moon sand dries out before the next play session add more water to moisten.

Have you tried the commercial moon sand before?  How about homemade moon sand?

Summer Fun List

Summer is in full swing here and  my boys have been out of school for about a month now!  We moved about a month ago as well and just so I wouldn't spend all of my time unpacking and organizing our new place we made a summer to-do list. 

We have added a few things to our list and have already crossed off a good number!

What is on your summer fun list?

Sidewalk Game

It's that time of year to be outside.  My daughter and I have loved playing this new sidewalk game.  We write all the letters of the alphabet (both upper and lower case) around our driveway.  We then take turns calling out a letter.  One of us runs to the uppercase letter and the other to the lower case letter.  

We're learning, having fun, and getting our energy out all at the same time!

Painting with Water

Our local librarian always has a craft or activity for the kids to do after story time. Not too long ago she had the greatest idea . . . painting with water. All you need is a bowl of water, some old paintbrushes, and a piece of sidewalk.

My boys had so much fun with this... and the worst that could happen is they get wet!

Snake Bubbles

I found this idea here. I thought it would be a fun summertime activity.

First, cut the bottom off of a water bottle.

Then cover the end with an old dish cloth and secure it with a rubber band.

Moisten the cloth with water and then dip it in a shallow bowl of dish soap.

Now this is the fun part. Blow through the top of the water bottle (be careful to not suck in--yuck!) and out come the bubbles. I don't have the best pictures of the results. My daughter didn't want to blow in the bottle and I couldn't take a picture of myself doing it. She did have fun playing with the end result though. Check it out here for a better idea of what happens.

***Amy***