Who doesn’t love blowing bubbles? You can blow bubbles year round indoors or outdoors too. Freezing bubbles is definitely on our list of 25 Best Science Experiments to try. Since it’s pretty cold here, 19 degrees to be exact, I thought we would see if our bubbles would freeze outside for an extension on our indoor bubble play. Freezing bubbles is pretty cool but not all that easy!

HOW TO FREEZE A BUBBLE ACTIVITY FOR KIDS

Freezing Bubbles Winter Science Activity Outdoor Bubble Play

BLOWING BUBBLES IN WINTER

Bubble science is real and fun! Read more about the science behind bubbles below. If you like, you can draw snowman on a large cup (see below) and explore bubble science indoors first!

CHECK OUT: Winter Science Activities

My son loves blowing bubbles into great masses! The bigger the better. How big will the bubbles get?

Winter Bubble Science Snowman Bubble blowing activity inddoor bubble play

FREEZING BUBBLES

What about freezing bubbles? I suggested we try blowing the bubbles outside to see if it would be different. What would happen since it is so cold outdoors?

I checked the temperature at 19 degrees on our back porch, so we headed out. We were still able to blow great masses of bubbles like indoors. However, we noticed them start to freeze a bit over a few minutes.

Sadly, there was a breeze and since the freezing was not immediate, we would loose our bubbles if a gust came along!

Winter bubble activity freezing bubbles frozen bubbles activity You could see the freezing bubbles change though which was pretty cool. Instead of the very transparent sparkling of the indoor bubbles, they became a bit cloudy {as he called them}.

You could tell the bubbles were freezing and forming a shell. This was definitely evident when the freezing bubbles popped and left behind partially frozen pieces of the bubble!Winter bubbling blowing outdoors freezing bubbles frozen bubbles We tried the freezing bubbles over and over again to see what would happen until we were too cold to continue. The waiting was the hardest part especially when a good breeze came along just as the freezing bubbles were looking good!

FREEZING BUBBLES RECIPE

YOU WILL NEED:

  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons of corn syrup
  • 4 tablespoons of dish soap

HOW TO MAKE BUBBLES

Add all the ingredients to a container and mix together.

Winter bubble activity freezing bubbles frozen bubbles activity

HOW DO BUBBLES FORM?

A bubble is a super thin layer of soapy water and inside it is filled with air.

The film that makes the bubble has three layers. A thin layer of water is sandwiched between two layers of soap molecules. Each soap molecule is oriented so that its polar (hydrophilic) head faces the water, while its hydrophobic hydrocarbon tail extends away from the water layer.

That means that whatever shape a bubble has when it is first formed, it will try to become a sphere. That’s because a sphere is the shape that has the least ​surface area and requires the least energy to achieve.​

Looking for easy to print activities, and inexpensive problem-based challenges? 

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Grab your quick and easy winter STEM challenges. 

MORE FUN WINTER ACTIVITIES

FREEZING BUBBLES FOR WINTER PLAY

Click on the image below or on the link for more fun winter activities.

winter activities for kids

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