Summer Boredom Buster: Homemade Super Bubble Wand

What would summer time be without bubbles?  No matter the age, I know few who can resist playing with bubbles (myself included).  As a matter of fact, my kids accompanied me last week to a Bright Beginnings playgroup and they had a ball playing with a homemade bubble wand.  So much so that we left the group, bought the supplies and made some for ourselves.  These are not your traditional homemade bubble wands.  These bubble wands make GIGANTIC bubbles! 

Here's what you will need:

• A wooden dowel
• Some metal weights (We used a package of key rings)
• A hot glue gun
• A large bead (like those used for stringing) or dowel cap
• Heavy yarn, string or trim (used on curtains or upholstery)

Here's what you will need to do:

• Cut a large piece of yarn, string, etc.  (between 4-5 feet)
• Hot glue one end of the string to the end of the dowel
• Place one key ring on the dowel about 10-12 inches from the end of the dowel where you hot glued the string.  Tie a loose knot around the key ring.  The idea is that it slides about 10-12 inches away from the end of the dowel once the wand is completed.
• Place another key ring on the string allowing it to dangle freely.  This is going to serve as a weight giving shape to the string for the bubbles.
• Hot glue the other end of the string to the dowel tip.
• Hot glue a large bead or dowel cap to the end of the wand.  Be sure that the block or cap is LARGER than the key ring.  You don't want the key ring to be able to slide off the end of the dowel.
• Have your kids dip the wand into a bubble solution (recipe below) and pull it out allowing the key ring to slide slowly and wave in the air to create super bubbles. 

While making the wands took less than ten minutes, this is kind of a difficult one to explain in writing.  The completed bubble wand when completely extended should be similar to an elongated triangle.  The photos I took of ours do not seem to want to upload.  Below is the closet thing I could find to illustrate the design:

I hope you get the gist of the design.  I should tell you that we were able to get all of the necessary supplies at our local Michaels store.  The cost was less than twenty dollars, however, I purchased enough supplies to make four wands as I will use them with the families with whom I work.  While we used a heavy yarn, I would suggest using fabric trim as we have found that the yarn has a tendency to get tangled.

Now that you created a mega bubble wand, you need to have some awesome bubbles to go with it.  Here is a recipe for homemade bubbles that guarantee long lasting bubbles:

• one gallon distilled water
• 3 tablespoons of glycerin (available at most pharmacies in the skin care section)
• 12 ounces of dish soap

Mix the contents together in a bucket gently to avoid too much foaming.  Then let the kids go to town! 

I know my kids had a ball with these bubble blowers.  Talk about cheap and easy fun!  Thanks to Dawn of the Bright Beginnings program for sharing this easy to replicate activity at her group!

Are you going to try the homemade super bubble wand?  If you do, please be sure to post your feedback and remember, if you have a summer boredom buster activity that you would like to share, drop me a line at [email protected].