Bubble Art

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

— Pablo Picasso

This art activity combines painting, stamping, and blowing bubbles - a few childhood favourites!  Maelle loved this so much she has already asked to do it again (multiple times).  See below for a great summer activity when you need a break from the heat, are waiting out a nap time, or avoiding the summertime boredom that often comes with no school.  Enjoy!

What You Need:

1. Cups - you will need an equal amount of cups and food colouring colors
2. Clear liquid soap
3. Food colouring - we used the neon food colouring which popped off the page
4. A drinking straw
5. Paper - thick watercolour paper works best 
6. Bubble wrap 
7. Paint - we used washable paint for easy cleanup but acrylic paint would work too
8. Paintbrush 
9. Scissors 
10. Sharpie

How To:

1.  Mix 2 parts water to 1 part liquid soap and add food colouring to the mixture.
   • The exact quantities will vary depending on the depth of the cup you choose. 
   • Test out the quantities before starting by blowing bubbles and placing a paper over top.  You need enough of each ingredient so that the bubbles can form beyond the lip of the cup and the colour is vibrant enough to show up on the paper.  
2. Repeat, using the same ratios, for the different colours you selected. 
   • You can use as many colours as you would like.
   • We used 4 neon food colours.  
3. Prepare your art area. 
   • Place a disposable sheet down on your work area and have your child wear an art shirt or smock to make clean up a breeze. 
   • Have all of your art supplies set up and ready to go. 
4. Place all of your cups together in a cluster.
5. Have your child blow bubbles in one cup and then move their straw to the next cup to create a mass of different coloured bubbles above the tops of the cups. 
   • Warning! Make sure this is an age appropriate art activity fir your kid - nobody wants their child to guzzle food colouring and soapy water!
6. Once your child is satisfied with the amount of bubbles they have created, have them place a paper on top of the bubbles.  
   • Ensure your child does not press onto the cups to avoid spilling and cup rings showing up on their pages. 
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 multiple times getting your child to cover their entire sheet of paper.
   • Have your child make multiple pages; we left some without the final prints to use as card paper in the future.  
8. Roughly draw under the sea creatures on bubble wrap.  
   • We drew seaweed, a fish, and a starfish, based on Maelle's recommendations.  Let your child decide what they would like.
9. Cut the sea creatures out. 
10. Have your child paint the bubble side of the cutouts. 
    • Be liberal with the paint for this step so that the bubble print clearly transfers onto the paper.
11. Using a stamping motion, have your child press the cut out on top of their bubble paper.
    • Repeat with each cutout to create an underwater scene.