Social Distancing Survival: Bring on the Bubbles!
Mezmirizing. . .Magical. . .Exciting. . .POP!
Bubbles are a great activity both indoors and out and for children of all ages! Children often giggle with glee and leap into action in attempts to chase, capture or pop these magical orbs of wonder and delight. Bubbles can be blown, chased, caught, re-blown and popped. . .all with valuable benefits! Bubbles can be colored, used for art, placed in lawn mowers and bubble machines and made as big or as small as you like. There are few toys as simple, economical and versatile as bubbles.
Let's talk benefits. As occupational therapists we use bubbles to motivate for reaching, tracking (following objects with our eyes), isolating pointer finger, sustained visual attention, hand-eye coordination, breath support and control, oral motor skills, and managing tactile input/light touch, In addition, physical activity can help improve overall mood and ability to manage a variety of sensory information and emotions.
Reaching
Reaching is important because it stretches muscles in shoulders, arms, back and sides. When reaching up, you are strengthening shoulder flexion which is essential for brushing hair, putting on a shirt, and often catching a ball. Strength through shoulders is also important for being able to maintain weight bearing through extended arms which is important in learning to crawl and developing hand and arm strength necessary to support handwriting. Babies typically begin reaching away from their bodies between 4 and 6 months in a supported position, and while reaching might not be accurate, it is still beneficial for them to chase after bubbles with their hands and arms. Pro tip: Have children reach for bubbles both up high and down low and with both hands and arms. Have children use a larger bubble wand and encourage big sweeping motions with their arms to get more and bigger bubbles while encouraging movement through their full range of motion accessing all of the muscles in their arms and shoulders.
Tracking and Sustained Visual Attention
Tracking is the term used to describe how our eyes follow an object as it moves through space. Bubbles move in a variety of directions and their paths vary depending on outside factors such as the wind. Following a bubble through space or watching several bubbles can strengthen our ability to follow objects though space with our eyes and change direction quickly. This improves our ability to make sense of our world through information we see even when it is moving. This can be helpful in learning to navigate around obstacles and learning to react as a ball is thrown toward us. Tracking skills are important in developing our ability to move safely about our environment using our vision as a guide and in learning to read. Even young infants will follow the bubbles with their eyes as they pass over them. Pro tip: Blow bubbles with your child in various positions. Try having them lie on the ground, sit in front of you or standing and moving to get the bubbles. This will help them learn to use the muscles of their eyes in a variety of ways.
Gazillion Bubbles 1 Liter Bubble Solution
Finger Isolation
Finger isolation is the ability to move one finger without moving the others and typically emerges around the time baby is sitting with stability. This is most commonly seen as using your pointer finger but can also be seen in a child using one finger to pull a toy toward them, pushing a button, or in developing the pincer grasp where the pointer finger meets the thumb. Many parents already encourage this skill by demonstrating bubble popping with their pointer finger extended. Finger isolation is important for a variety of skills including developing pencil grasp, shoe tying, and typing to name a few.
Hand-Eye Coordination
Now to bring it all together. Hand-eye coordination is simply how your hands are able to respond to what your eyes are seeing. You see bubbles floating through the air, your brain begins by processing that information and sending a response for how your body should react, your shoulder starts to flex, your elbow and pointer finger extend and. . .POP! Bubbles is one of many ways to encourage this important skill that in turn supports reading, writing, copying, drawing, stacking, container play, catching, throwing and learning to use simple signs and gestures. This is also an important skill in learning to self-feed both with and without utensils. Participation in a variety of outdoor games and sports rely heavily on hand-eye coordination as well as participation in manipulation of smaller objects like stringing beads and lacing. Pro tip: If your child is having trouble managing running and popping the bubbles, try using a bubble machine to put out more bubbles to increase success at first. You could also hold your child to manage the gross motor needs for them so they can concentrate on watching, reaching and popping.
Gazillion Tornado Bubble Machine, GREEN
Breath Support/Flow and Oral Motor Skills
Breath support refers to how we steady ourselves to allow optimal air flow. Breath flow refers to how much air is moving to create a desired sound or action. In blowing bubbles it is important to be able to stabilize our core muscles (back, sides and tummy) so that we can adequately control the amount of air needed to create the perfect size bubble. Oral motor skills refers to how we move our oral structures (lips, tongue, jaws, teeth and cheeks). When young children first start learning to blow bubbles, they often either blow too soft or way too hard creating a frustrating experience. Proper control of our muscles and air flow supports biting, chewing, swallowing, moving food in our mouths and creating sounds and words too! Bubbles is a rewarding way to practice stabilizing our bodies and managing our air flow. This also provides a different form of heavy work input that can be very calming for those with sensory processing differences. Pro tip: Try using a funnel as a bubble wand to encourage some control of breath when blowing through it. You could also blow the bubble yourself, catch it on the end of the wand and then have the child blow it off of the wand. Kazoos are great for dipping in bubbles and providing some tactile input to the lips as well.
Sensory Processing
Sensory processing is a big term that encompasses a variety of skills. For the purposes of this post, simply put, sensory processing refers to a child's ability to take in information about the world through the 8 senses and use that information to develop a response. (More on this in future posts). Playing with bubbles provides opportunities to practice using many different senses together for one activity. Visual input with watching the bubbles, proprioceptive input with movement of your body through space, vestibular input with movement of your head in relationship to your body, and tactile input as the bubbles pop on your skin. Some children find it difficulty to tolerate light touch, but bubbles provide an opportunity to get calming input to your joints in concert with the light touch during an enjoyable activity. With continued practice, this could turn into better ability to tolerate light touch. Conscious use of breath and learning breath control works to include our sense of interoception. This can lead to feelings of safety and calm. Pro tip: Play games that also include following direction to add the auditory sense. For example, Simon Says pop the bubbles with your (insert body part here).
For the older children
As children get older the wonder and excitement of bubbles wears off just a bit, but I promise there is still fun to be had for the whole family!
Older children can absolutely be helpers! They can show their younger siblings how to blow bubbles or they can help by blowing bubbles while you help with watching and popping them. Sometimes older siblings are able to explain it in ways that we just cannot. Just think, they are closer to the experience of learning to blow bubbles and may be able to explain it in a different way.
You could create a target (draw one with chalk or set up an item like a bucket or cone) and see who can get the closest. This is a great way to work in a bit of a science lesson on wind speed and direction.
Have your older child help you make bubbles at home. There are lots of cool variations including adding color, like this recipe. You can then have your children blow the bubbles onto white paper or card stock to create bubble art! Check out our latest COTA corner where Chelsea and her daughter make some bubble art. Make sure to do this outside away from anything you do not want stained.
Bubble wand scavenger hunt. See how many creative items your children can find to create bubbles. Some ideas are a berry basket from the market, a tennis racket or fly swatter, a straw, pipe cleaners. . .just about anything with defined edges and the ability to move air through it will work. Make sure to leave your unique finds in the comments below!
Stay tuned for a fun video featuring some of our bubble fun ideas!
