Bubble Snakes – Friday Art Group

Bubble snakes are awesome. I blew my first test one in the kitchen and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Awesome! But I am going to tell you how not to do them with 5-6 year olds.

I first saw bubble snakes via The Crafty Crow at Housing a Forest. They, and everyone else make bubble snakes by cutting the end off a plastic bottle, covering the hole with a sock (we used jersey scraps and rubber bands), dipping it in soapy water and blowing through the neck of the bottle.

Great, I thought, we don’t use many plastic bottles, but, um, paper cups? I tried it, cut a hole in the bottom of the paper cup, and covered it with a scrap of knit fabric held on with a rubber band. I sealed the top of the cup around my chin with my hands, blew, and awesome.

BUT. When you do this when you are 5, or 6, unfortunately, what happens is this: First, you blow out. Second, you breath in. You see the problem. We had one girl sobbing in the bathroom for half an hour. She was the second to inhale dish soap, and we had several near misses, even after explaining the problem. Breathing, it’s something you just don’t think about, you know? So, the younger you are, the larger your bottle should be, to prevent you from inhaling dish soap. And maybe you should pick some dish soap that doesn’t taste as bad as the random bottle you found on your friends backyard sink, just in case.

Have you ever accidentally ingested dish soap? I remember I tricked my little brother into tasting our bubble gum scented bubble bath when we were in elementary school and still young enough to be bathing together. His conclusions: (1) it did not taste like bubble gum, (2) I was a mean big sister. Sorry Cody!