Valentine’s Day is coming up fast. Usually, I’m the type of parent who stops at the store on the way to school and picks up some pre-packaged cards. I don’t even leave enough time to have my kids write or draw on them at all. We just hand out 20-30 generic cards. No personalized messages (just names), no thought goes into it at all. The only part the kids play in the whole ordeal is that they get to pick which tv show characters they will be handing out. This year, I wanted to do something different.
Here’s what we did: Bubble Valentine’s Day cards. They are very easy, the kids LOVE making them and the effect is quite unique and beautiful.
What you need:
- Valentine’s (find free printable at the end of this post)
- White cardstock (thinner paper may work but it’s going to get damp)
- Clear dish soap (1 tsp per colour)
- Water (3 tsp per colour)
- Straws and cups
- Food colouring (10-15 drops of each colour)
- Plates and/or a plastic tablecloth (optional, but highly recommended)
Creating the cards:
First, download and print off some cards. You want them to be fairly simple and black and white. We’re adding the colour with the kids in a minute!
Combine the water, dish soap and food colouring in the cups (one colour per cup). We used paper cups left over from a birthday party. I recommend using plastic cups if you have them handy, the paper ones got a bit soggy. Place something under each cup to catch the excess bubbles and water.
Have your child pick a colour, pop a straw in the cup and start blowing bubbles! Don’t worry about the mess, the bubbles are supposed to come up and out of the cup:
When the bubbles are overflowing, as in the image above, take the straw out and place the sheet of Valentine’s gently face down on top of the bubbles:
As the bubbles pop, they leave a cool bubble effect on the page. My son found that they looked even better if he popped the bubbles on the page with his hands. I agree, but before you do that I want you to know your hands will be all kinds of crazy colours when you’re done!
Keep repeating with different colours until the page is covered. Let them dry and then cut the cards out. This is a great activity for preschool and younger elementary school aged children as they can add their own flare to their Valentine’s without having to write too much.
Once they are dry and cut out, your child can simply write their name and their friend’s names (or you can do that for them if they are too young). Here is what one of our sheets looked like before we cut them out:
Tips:
- Be careful if you have younger children who may suck through the straw rather than blow. You may have to blow the bubbles for them.
- If the colours are a bit faint or get faint after using them a few times simply add a few more drops of food colouring to the mixture and it should work better.
- Try handing out mini bubbles to go with the cards!
This was a very fun project! The kids loved blowing bubbles and popping them. They had so much fun making their Valentine’s that they are asking to do “bubble art” on EVERYTHING now! It was definitely a hit and I think we will do similar ones next year too.
As promised, here are your Printable Bubble Valentines. Give them a try and let me know how yours turn out!
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