{pumpkin, pencil gift for a teacher and fun with bubbles}

sienna made this "stained glass" pumpkin.

she glued tissue paper squares on plastic sheet protector. added some glue on top. after it dried, i cut it into a pumpkin shape.

the plastic comes off and you're left with a durable tissue paper pumpkin.



sienna saw mister maker  making this pencil and decided to make one too. i had to help a lot. you glue white tissue paper on a paper towel roll. let it dry, then paint it as shown. you then make a cardstock paper cone and glue it on one end. at the other end is a cut up pink sponge to block that end. permanent marker is used to do the details.

sienna gave this to her teacher. we put small chocolate bars and a mini arbonne lotion inside. we didn't know when we were making it that it was her teacher's birthday. she can store pencils or candy in it. great teacher gift if you have the patience to make one. 

sienna and i made felt animals (a kit she got for her birthday). i turned my bear into a picture.

then i have to share this cool thing with you. i went on a fieldtrip to the space & science center with sienna's class. we saw an imax movie about bugs and then the kids made amazing stuff with bubble solution. they made huge (and i mean huge) bubbles on a tray. when they popped, the kids used pennies to measure the diameter and the circumference of their bubble to see whose bubble was the biggest. they also dropped pennies inside their big bubbles. you just had to wet the pennies in the bubble solution and they would make it into the bubble without popping it. they also made snowmen and flowers by making various size bubbles. one of the coolest thing was to see sienna make a smaller bubble inside a big one. the trick is to wet the straw so it won't pop the bubble. as long as things(even hands) are wet, you can put it in a bubble and not pop it. to make the huge bubbles, kids had to learn to blow very gently and slowly. the tray had to be wiped with the bubble solution so it was wet too.



the bubble solution the kids used was better than the kind you buy in a store.

here's a basic bubble solution recipe:

1 part water

1 part Johnson's baby shampoo

1 - 3 tsp glycerine (for about a litre of solution)

and here's a recipe for a thicker, stronger bubble solution (strong enough to last 10 seconds or so):

3 parts Johnson's baby shampoo

1 part water

1 - 3 tsp glycerine (for about a litre of solution)

add the glycerine one teaspoon at a time and test for strength.

glycerine can be bought in most drug stores.

you can use a drinking straw to blow the bubbles. cut & bend one end as shown in the above picture.

i really, really encourage you to have bubble fun with your kids. sienna's class had a blast! :)