Did you know that this well loved activity also helps to develop communication, sensory skills and motor skills?
Blowing bubbles with toddlers and young children promotes eye contact, joint attention, requesting and turn-taking. Sit face-to-face and start blowing bubbles with your toddler then wait for them to request more bubbles with eye contact, gesture or words. By taking turns to blow and pop the bubbles you are encouraging their development of conversational turn-taking skills.
Children will develop oral motor skills, abdominal muscle and breath support for sustained speech when they blow long consistent streams of bubbles. Blowing exercises are great for developing lip rounding positions which are needed for speech sounds such as ‘oo’, ‘w’, ‘oh’ and ‘sh’.
Children’s language skills and vocabulary are also getting a boost during bubble blowing activities. They will be learning action words (blow, pop, dip, again, poke, clap), describing words (big, small) and developing their understanding of concepts (wet/dry, light/heavy). Children also have a fun opportunity for phrase completion. When they are set up with “Ready, set…” they will be motivated to say “Go” to see more bubbles.
Bubble blowing activities can also help with sensory processing skills. Catching the wet bubbles is a good tactile sensory play activity. Blowing bubbles using your own hand as the bubble wand is also great for tactile input.
In addition, the physical act of blowing can be a very effective, sensory-based way to help children “organise”, calm, and focus their bodies.
Catching, stomping or chasing bubbles can also give lots of awesome proprioceptive input.
Make the most of this inexpensive, versatile and portable activity with your child - it ticks so many boxes!
Just remember - repetition is key and have fun!
