A Giant Bubble Wand

Want to see something that is truly amazing and incredibly beautiful that you can make with just sticks, string and soap?

Here's what you need:

Bubble solution (recipe to follow)
A ball of cotton kitchen string / butcher's twine
Two sticks around 3 or 4 feet long

Here's what you do:

First, make your bubble solution. Use Dawn Ultra Dishwashing Liquid. Very gently mix one cup of liquid soap with 9 cups of water. This mix gets better with age, so if you make it a few days in advance, you will get some great bubbles! As you can see, we use an empty laundry detergent container to store our bubble solution:

The brand of soap and the water that you use really matters, and this particular combination makes the very best bubble solution around here. If you can't find Dawn, or if you have hard water, go online and I'm sure you will find a great bubble recipe that works for you.

Next, make the wand:

Loosely braid or crochet two long strands of cotton kitchen string. Our finished strands were 44 and 82 inches long, but they don't have to be super exact. If you have someone in your house who is learning to crochet, this could be a perfect project to make with some of those long, loose practice strings.

Finally, tie the ends of the two strands to each other and then tightly to the sticks. Our sticks were 40 inch long dowels, but you can use any long sticks you like. We painted ours with acrylic paints but other decorations could be fun, just remember that they will get very wet.

Now you're ready to make your HUGE bubbles!

Just dip the strings into your bubble solution. Oh, wait... I forgot to mention this part: GO OUTSIDE! Okay, now dip your strings in the bubble solution. Make sure that the strings get completely wet.

Lift them out of the solution and slowly spread the sticks apart. A slight breeze will make your bubble film turn right into a giant bubble, but if the air is still, you may have to move around or wave the wands a bit. If it's too windy, you'll need to find a sheltered spot or wait until the wind dies down. Once you get the hang of it, try opening and closing the sticks to release your bubbles.

Some kids just NEED to pop bubbles, so be sure to make them some that are especially for popping!

Give those little guys a turn with the wand, and they just might make some beautiful bubbles of their own!