Mermaid Bubble Cards

Use this dreamy, underwater-like effect to create your own set of bubbly cards- perfect for a mermaid birthday, greeting or thank you cards! 

Materials

• Liquid watercolours (or food colouring)
• Liquid dish soap
• Straws
• Shallow circular containers
• Scissors
• Pre-made card sets (we purchase these at craft stores) OR cardstock/envelopes/paper trimmer

We always find these items useful too:

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/students from sucking in the bubble mixture accidentally!  TIP: If you are working with young children, using plastic straws, make a small snip in the straw- it helps to prevent children from sucking in the soap from the same extent!  When we do with with a group, we will also put a dot on the end of the straw that goes into the bubble mixture so that that end doesn’t accidentally get tasted!  As you can see on our video, metal straws also work quite well!

• Don your smock.

• Put a few tablespoons of dish soap (some produce better bubbles than others) in your shallow containers, along with several tablespoons of liquid watercolours (you could also try food colouring)- the more paint you add, the more vibrant the bubbles.  Add some warm water (we went with about 1/4 a cup in each container), but it depends on the size of container that you use) and mix with your straw (the end that doesn’t go in your mouth)!  If you would like your bubble prints to be really vibrant, skip adding the water and just add the soap to the liquid water colours.  Different brands create different levels of vibrancy.

•  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- the best results are generally yielded from going straight up and straight down.

•  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 paper to dry overnight.  If you used cardstock, trim your page to the right size to fit your envelopes and fold it in half.

• Write a card to your friends!

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Purpose

• Exploring different techniques.
• Creating opportunities for writing.

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.  Check for non-toxic products.
• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.