Bubble painting

STREAM Activity: Bubble Painting

Happy Fourth of July!

Activity best for children ages three and up

The 4th of July is bursting with color, celebration, and of course: fireworks! While real fireworks light up the night sky, we’re making our own colorful explosions with bubble mix. This fun activity lets us mix science and creativity while exploring what makes fireworks so exciting!

Did you know that fireworks are actually a big science experiment in the sky? They use a process called chemistry to create those bright colors and loud booms. Inside each firework are tiny packets of different chemicals, and when they are heated, the chemicals react and explode in all sorts of colors.

By using bubbles to create our own “fireworks” on paper, we’ll be exploring with color, motion, and a little splashy fun. Just like the real thing (but way less loud)!

VOCABULARY

  • Chemistry: The science of how things mix together and change. Just like how fireworks create so many different colors

  • Chemicals: Tiny building blocks that can mix, change, or even create color and sound together

GUIDING QUESTIONS

  • Why do you think real fireworks have different colors?

  • What happens when the bubbles pop on the paper?

MATERIALS

  • Red and blue tempera paint

  • Straw

  • 2 tablespoons dish soap

  • 1 tablespoon water

  • Paintbrushes

  • Plastic cups

  • White construction paper

DIRECTIONS

STEP 1

In order to create our bubble fireworks, we’ll need to create our bubble solution: 2 tablespoons of dish soap and 1 tablespoon of water, and mix well.

Bubble solution mixture

STEP 2

Add blue and red tempera paint into plastic cups and add some bubble solution to each cup and mix with the paintbrushes.

Add paint to bubble solution

STEP 3

Next, take a straw and dip it into the paint. Blow the straw onto the white construction paper to create the paint bubbles.

Dip straw in solution

STEP 4

Once you’ve blown paint bubbles, you can use your paint brushes to add more streaks to the fireworks.

Add painted fireworks