Bouncing Bubbles | Easy Bouncing Bubbles Recipe (2024)

June 8, 2023 by Debbie Chapman

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These bouncing bubbles are SO FUN! Best of all, they’re super easy to make, using simple kitchen items like dish soap and sugar. No special or fancy ingredients needed!

Blowing bubbles is always fun, but have you ever made bouncing bubbles?! There’s something pretty magical about blowing a bubble you can hold and bounce on your hand. Make our easy bouncing bubbles recipe in only a few minutes to create hours of fun!

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How to Make Bouncing Bubbles

Use simple kitchen ingredients to make bouncing bubbles! Hold a bubble in your hand and bounce it up and down. It's such a fun kids activity!

Author: Debbie Chapman

Materials:

1/4 cup Warm water
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Dish soap

Equipment:

Check Out The Video Tutorial:

Looking for more fun bubble activities? Here's a few of our favourites:

How to Make Bubble Solution

Blowing Bubble Towers

Bubble Painting

Instructions:

Step 1: Find what you need

Gather your supplies and materials.

Step 2: Mix the bouncing bubbles solution

Pour warm water into a small bowl and add the sugar.
(You can also use cold water, but the sugar dissolves more easily in warm water.)
Stir well until the sugar dissolves.
Pour the dish soap into the bowl.
Gently stir to combine the dish soap with the water and sugar mixture.
Allow the bubble solution to reach room temperature. It works better when it's not warm.

Step 3: Put on a glove and have fun bouncing bubbles

Put a winter glove on one hand to catch the bubbles.
Dip your bubble wand into the bubble mixture.
Blow the bubbles and then catch them and bounce them with your gloved hand.
Your bouncing bubbles are complete!

Helpful Tips:

Try making your own bubble wand from wire or a pipe cleaner. You can also cut the rounded end off a disposable pipette, dip the cut end in the solution, and blow through the small end to make bubbles.
If you’re having trouble getting big bubbles, try using distilled water. This can provide better results, because there are no extra minerals in it to stop the bubbles from forming.
If you have the time, leave the bubble solution to sit overnight for extra strong bubbles. Try comparing a bowl left at room temperature versus a bowl stored in the fridge. The cold bubble solution should give you better bouncing bubbles, because the water will evaporate more slowly.

What is the science behind the bubble experiment?

To understand how bouncing bubbles work you need to know a little bit about how bubbles are formed. A bubble is formed from two layers of soap surrounding a thin layer of water, with air in the center.

Water bubbles pop very easily on their own because water is not very stretchy, and it wants to return to its original form. When you add soap to the water, the surface tension (the force between the water molecules at the water’s surface) decreases. This allows the water to stretch around the bubble.

When you add sugar to the soap and water mixture, it creates a stronger, thicker bubble. This allows you to hold and bounce the bubble, but why?

A bubble bursts when the water between the soap molecules evaporates. The sugar forms a bond with the water molecules, reducing the speed at which the water evaporates. This makes the bubble stronger, and allows it to last longer.

You can also use corn syrup or glycerin, instead of sugar, to make a strong DIY bubble solution.

What kind of gloves do you need to make bouncing bubbles?

The only gloves that worked for us are soft winter gloves. We also tried to bounce the bubbles on nitrile gloves, TPE gloves, and rubber gloves, but none of them worked!

The soft texture of the cotton winter gloves seems to gives extra cushion to protect the surface tension of the bubble.If you don’t have winter gloves handy, put a clean sock on your hand. It’s the perfect use for a lone sock!

Can you use store bought bubble solution to make bouncing bubbles?

Yes, we had good luck making bouncing bubbles with dollar store bubble mixture. Simply mix 1/3 cup of bubble solution with 2 Tablespoons of sugar.

Make our easy bouncing bubbles recipe, no glycerin or corn syrup required! It’s such a a cool science experiment, and a fun summer activity that’s great for sensory play.

Try different sizes of bubble wands to create smaller and larger bubbles. Which ones bounces better? Then have a fun competition to see who can get the most bounces!

Here’s even more fun bubble recipe ideas:

Blowing Bubble Towers

How to Make Big Bubbles

How to Make Bubble Snakes

Our bookLow-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!