Shape-Shifter Bubble Wands

What you need

• Dish soap, a big squirt
• Water, about 1 cup
• Clear cups, 1 wide cup or container for mixing
• Pipe cleaners, 4 or 5
• Sugar, 1 spoonful
• Spoon, 1
• Towel, 1
• Plate or tray, 1 tray, or a spread of newspaper

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Pick an outdoor spot like a patio, yard or balcony. Spilled soap mix makes floors slippery, so keep it off smooth indoor surfaces. Check the pipe cleaner ends and fold any poky wire tips inward before little hands use them. Soapy mix stings eyes and isn't for drinking, so have a towel and some clean water nearby for rinsing.

1. Bend one end of a pipe cleaner into a circle and twist it closed.
2. Check the wire tips and fold any sharp ends inward. Ask for help if you need it
3. Pour water into the container, then add a big squirt of dish soap.
4. Add a spoonful of sugar and stir slowly so the foam stays low.
5. Head outside, dip your wand, and lift it out gently to see the film.
   Ask: Can you see rainbow colors swirling in the soap film?
6. Blow softly through the loop, or wave the wand to make bubbles.
7. Bend more wands into new shapes, like a square, a triangle or a star.
   Ask: What shape do you think a square wand's bubble will be?
8. Blow bubbles with each wand and compare the shapes that float away.
9. Pour the leftover mix down a drain, then rinse hands and wands.
10. Now show your friends, or invent more wands! What wild shape will you try next?
    Ask: Can you invent a wand shape nobody has ever tried?

Play it again

• Bubble count: wave your wand once and count how many bubbles you can make.
• Shape guess: before blowing, guess each wand's bubble shape, then check who was right.
• Wand parade: make a wand with a funny shape, like a heart or a zigzag, and see what floats out.