Bubble Day!
The former teacher in me could not entirely rest while I am taking some time away from my career to raise my son. When friends who are still in the profession ask me what I miss about teaching, I say the part that most of them actually dread… the lesson planning part! I LOVE being creative and thinking through projects and experiences and media to help the kids learn.
I was feeling like Grey was just getting old enough to really engage in some activity based lesson plans, so I dove in. Thank goodness my friend Amy and her son Hogan were game to accompany us on our first attempt.
I wanted to make each lesson a whole day of studying something that Grey was already interested in, but wasn’t saying yet. And something that I could easily access for a hands on experience and would make an easy craft. So we started with bubbles.
It just so happens, Amy had a pass to the Children’s Museum in Denver and they happened to have a whole exhibit on bubbles! So that’s where we started. It was a FREEZING cold Sunday, so of course the museum was packed with fellow parents trying to entertain their children on a very inside day. Grey was a little over stimulated by all the people and sounds, but he did settle in and enjoy a part where we could pull a rope to lift a wall of bubbles to poke at. Then, Amy took the kids inside a bubble room! That was so cool! For me. Grey got knocked over and fell and then cried for about 10 minutes. As even me and Amy struggled to use the wands to make a giant bubble, I realized that maybe this wasn’t exactly designed for 1 year olds…
The boys seemed to enjoy the room with all the balls much better… Ok, strike one for Bubble Day…
But we weren’t out yet! Since it was sooooo cold outside, in the single digits, the museum was putting on a “Frozen Bubble” activity outside. We bundled up and watched the bubble mixture freeze in our wands right before our eyes. Then, when we blew one fast enough, we could watch it slowly freeze as it sailed away. As it get heavier, the bubble with drop and sometimes land with a skin still intact from the freezing. It was AWESOME! Grey enjoyed it for a hot minute before he got too cold and we went back inside to the ball room… Strike two?
Amy and I parted ways for nap time and lunch and then reconvened for some final bubble activities at my house. I had the Bubble Machine going as we colored the letter B and the word “Bubble”. Then we moved into the living room and the machine kept going while we played some bubble songs. Amy and I attempted to dance like bubbles and the boys humored us with a couple of spins. (I used this Bubble Mix with my machine. Just pay attention to the mixing directions because it is super concentrated. I did not realize that at first and poured it straight into the machine which spouted onto my hardwood floor. I might as well have just poured Tide laundry detergent on the floor, it was so thick and sticky and impossible to wipe up.)
We attempted to read some bubble books on the couch (Bubble Kisses, Bubbles), but the boys weren’t very interested. My favorites were The Bubble, which had beautiful illustrations, and Bubble Homes and Fish Farts, with mind blowing bubble facts. I learned herring communicate with bubble farts, a species of spider spends its whole life living inside a bubble, and star nosed moles breathe in and out through their nose so rapidly, that they can use bubbles to smell their prey underwater! Whoa!
We wrapped up the night cuddled on the couch to watch a Sesame Street show focused on bubbles and then Grey took a very bubbly bath with these Bubble Pods. (Dada just so happened to have purchased those for Grey’s Christmas present this year.)
Bubble Day was a success after all, as Grey now says the word “bubble” all the time and points out bubbles in real life and in books often. He learned something new! Score one for my inner teacher.
I hope to put these lesson plans up on Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest once I get a nice collection of them. Subscribe to stay tuned for when I make these available! Next lesson plan… machines! (Grey is obsessed with construction vehicles and there just so happens to be some road work within walking distance from our house.)
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