DIY Giant Bubble Mix and Wands

Bubbles are part of childhood and a great way to relax and have fun with the kids.  Even better than the little containers of bubbles you can make giant bubbles with a few ingredients and a little DIY.

Aside the bubble mix itself you will need to make a bubble wand.  All you need are two bamboo canes, two eyelet screws and string.

Screw an eyelet into the top of one cane and the second eyelet into the other cane.

Tie one length of string between the two eyelets as per the photo below.

Tie a second string to the two eyelets, about twice the length of the first so that it hangs low down.

Now you have your wand, you will need to make the bubble mix, a key ingredient you probably don’t have is Guar Gum, which you can buy a large bag on Ebay (only a small amount is used for the mix, so it will last for a long time).  I used this recipe:

1 teaspoonful Guar gum

15ml of glycerine (mix Guar Gum and Glycerine together first with a little hot water, before adding other ingredients)

75cc Fairy Original washing up liquid

Stir well for 2 minutes and then make up to 1 litre with warm water

Here are a few extra tips:

• Ensure that you mix the guar gum/glycerine/hot water together in a separate container and then add to the washing up liquid and hot water mix.
• Fairy washing up liquid worked a lot better for us than the cheaper supermarket alternative we first tried.
• Allow the mixture to cool, it work much better when it’s rested for a while and even better when we kept it in an airtight container for a couple of days.

Once you bubble mix and wand is ready, head outside to start creating your bubbles!  The best weather is dry with a slight breeze and the more open your space is the easier it will be to move around and create large bubbles.

Hold the ends of the two canes and dip the other end of the canes (with eyelets) and string in a large tub with the bubble mix. Make sure that all the string is in the mix and then slowly lift up with the eyelet ends close to each other.

Once you have raised the canes in the air, slowly pull the eyelet ends apart to make a gap in the string, which should have a thin layer of bubble mix in.  If it’s breezy the wind will blow the bubble outward, if not you will need to move backward or swish the string gently. This takes a little practice!

To detach the bubble from the string you need to close the strings by pointing the two eyelet ends of the canes together.

Practice makes perfect, so keep trying until you can make giant wobbly bubbles, which your children will probably take great delight in bursting!

If you have any problems or questions, just comment below.  Enjoy!

J x