Toddler Time at Home: Leaf Bubbles

As part of our ScholarShare 529 Toddler Time at Home program, we’re blowing bubbles using leaves! With bubble solution and leaves, you can have fun blowing bubbles with your little one! This is great for toddlers as they can observe and experiment with making bubbles. Watch the video below for a tutorial on how to do this activity.

1. Collect leaves with your little one. Smaller leaves work best. Try to collect leaves with stems as those are easier to hold.

2. Tear a small hole in the center of the leaf.

3. Pour bubble solution into a bowl.

4. Dip the leaf completely in the bubble solution. Make sure to fully coat the leaf.

5. Hold the leaf up with both hands.

6. Blow into the center of the leaf.

7. You will start to make bubbles! It may take your little one a few tries, so let your little one try it themselves and encourage them to stick with it!

Early learners (ages 2 – 5) have a natural desire to be outdoors and to explore their world. Activities that center around nature and within it provide them with opportunities for vocabulary building, problem solving and can have positive effects on their emotional well-being. To further increase the learning opportunities while doing this nature-based activity together, consider incorporating one or more of the ideas below.

Nature Collection
Look around your home or take a walk with your child and encourage them to collect natural objects along the way and alongside you. Once home, share your collections with each other and talk about them. You may want to keep your collected objects in a box or bag as a memento or use them to make artwork.

Nature Tracing
Using leaves and other natural materials (rocks, pine cones, etc.) demonstrate to your child how to trace around each object on top of paper using crayons or other drawing materials. Encourage your child to practice tracing and work with them to have fun filling in the shapes with colors and designs. Also, talk about the names of the objects and label them on the paper underneath each one.

Share a Story
Reading is a wonderful vehicle for learning and for introducing new ideas to early learners. Select any engaging and age-appropriate book about nature and the natural world and read it together with your child before or after the bubble blowing with leaves activity.

Recommended Related Reading (Ages 2 – 5):

• Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
• Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Hearld
• The Hike by Alison Farrell
• The Backyard Bug Book for Kids by Lauren Davidson

Preschool Learning Foundations Standards (Social Emotional Learning, Language and Literacy, and Science):

Age 48 months:

• Understand and use accepted words for objects, actions and attributes encountered frequently in both real and symbolic contexts.
• Understand and use accepted words for categories of objects encountered and used frequently in everyday life.
• Enjoy learning and are confident in their abilities to make new discoveries, although may not persist at solving difficult problems.
• Demonstrate curiosity and raise simple questions about objects and events in their environment.
• Observe objects and events in the environment and describe them.

Age 60 months:

• Understand and use an increasing variety and specificity of accepted words for objects, actions and attributes encountered in both real and symbolic contexts.
• Understand and use accepted words for categories of objects encountered in everyday life.
• Take greater initiative in making new discoveries, identifying new solutions and persisting in trying to figure things out.
• Demonstrate curiosity and an increased ability to raise questions about objects and events in their environment.
• Observe objects and events in the environment and describe them in greater detail.