Making bubbles This activity will teach your child to enjoy science. 1. Mix 8 tablespoons of dishwashing liquid in 1 quart of water in a shallow pan. 2. Blow through a straw as you move it slowly across the top of the liquid. 3. When you've made a bubble, touch it gently with a wet finger. What happens? Touch another bubble with a dry finger. What happens? 4. Look at the bubbles. How many colors do you see? What do the colors remind you of? 5. Try making bubbles with a tin can (don't cut yourself) open at both ends. Dip the can into the soapy solution so that you get a soap "window" across one end when you pull it out. Blow gently on the other end to form a bubble. You can use wider tubes such as coffee cans to make still bigger bubbles. Bubbles are bits of air or gas trapped inside a liquid ball. The surface of a bubble is very thin. Bubbles are particularly fragile when a dry object touches them. That's because soap film tends to stick to the object, which puts a strain on the bubble. So if you want your bubbles to last longer, keep everything wet, even the sides of the straw. Science activities: Creepy Crawlies! for beginning scientists Plants and Light for more advanced scientists Source: Helping Your Child Learn Science. For more information, please contact the National Library of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20208, telephone 1-800-424-1616.