We are always buying things because they look cool, or sound cool. What we are not big on, apparently, is thinking things through. When you see a book that says Guinness Book of World Records longest bubble was made with this, and that book is attached to a few pieces of plastic and some mesh, you are likely to fall for their insidious marketing plan. They fail to mention, for instance, just how long it took the inventor of this marvelous bubble wand to create that winning bubble. They show a kid whipping out giant crystal globes and long streaming tubes of bubble goodness.
The upside is, we bought it at a thrift store for very little money – though still new. The downside is five year olds don’t understand why their Dads and older siblings can’t do things just like the appear in books, on television, and in their tiny wonderfully imaginative minds. In there I’m a superhero, or a sorcerer. Out here, I have a magic wand – a bubble wand – but apparently I need more training.
We mixed up the bubbles as directed, 12 cups water, 1 cup dish washing liquid. They did suggest adding glycerin, which we’ll try next time. We dipped the wand, and we whipped it around, and we splashed a lot of people and things with bubble liquid…but not much happened in the way of bubbles. I tried. My son, Billy tried. We failed. Katie was less than pleased…
So when everyone went inside, I stayed out with her, and I tried again. I read more carefully. I played with the silly thing, and you know what? I made a big ol’ bubble or two, at last. I figured it out (basically) and we had a lot of fun chasing them, watching cats chase them, and taking pictures. Eventually (as you see above) Billy even got one of those long bubble tubes to work.
The thing we all discovered along the way was that, working together, trying to figure it out – and then – at last – succeeding – made the entire experience more rewarding. We’ve talked about how to approach it more efficiently next time out, what we can do with the bubbles, and how much fun it will be, and we have that family glow that comes from accomplishing something as a group. Here’s to you, giant bubble wand. You get two thumbs up, even if those thumbs are NOT creating world record bubbles.
When was the last time you had an experience like this? If you have, I wish you’d share. That’s what this site is all about, after all…