Back to School: Personalize your Notebook with Bubble Painting

A dreamy, underwater like effect to personalize your school notebook.

Materials

• Liquid watercolours (diluted with a bit of water)
• Liquid dish soap
• Straws
• Circular plastic containers
• Notebook
• Cardstock
• Labeller (optional)
• Glue stick
• Washi (paper) tape
• Scissors
• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Before you start this activity it is a good idea to practise blowing out of your straw, rather than sucking which is usually associated with the use of straws.  You may want to do this in a glass of water.  This helps prevent your child from sucking in the bubble mixture accidentally!

• Don your smock.

• Put a few centimetres of water into your containers and add your liquid watercolours.

•  Add about 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap to each of your paint mixtures.

•  Stir the mixture throughly.

•  Place your bubble mixture on your craft tray.  Blow your bubbles up over the lip of the container (not overflowing, however.)

• Gently put your paper on top of the container.

•  Lift off your paper carefully and repeat with different colours.  You can overlap or go off the edges of the paper for different looks.

• Allow your project to dry overnight.

• Glue it to your notebook cover and cut off any excess edges. (Flip to the inside to make this easy, using the cover as your cutting line.)

• We sewed around the edges to create a bit of detail and then added some Washi tape as well.

• Label with the class, year and your name.

Purpose

• Getting engaged in the back to school process.
• Exploring different techniques.

Safety Notes

• As mentioned, go over blowing, rather than sucking with the straw, prior to starting the activity.  This is not an activity for children 0-3 or who may have trouble with this.
• Use scissors with care.
• Be sure to wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothes and surfaces.
• A sewing machine is recommended for adult use or with direct supervision depending on your child’s age and abilities.