Bubbles in a Bowl and Other Water Experiments

My kids are always asking to blow bubbles, but now that the weather is colder, it's hard to get outside (and with the amount of bubble liquid that my kids spill I'm not going to attempt having them blow bubbles indoors).  Today after we did a sink/float experiment in the kitchen, I thought of a super-easy solution - put some water and dish soap in a bowl, hand each kid a straw, and voila - instant entertainment!  Just for fun, here's the train of thought that got us here...

 

In the morning after we read a bunch of stories and did some painting, I took out some measuring cups and we did a math lesson with goldfish crackers.  After all the goldfish crackers had been eaten, the girls asked to pour something with the measuring cups...

So I gave the kids some water and we started experimenting.  L discovered that two 1/2 cups of water fit into the 1 cup container.  E observed that pouring from the larger measuring cup to a smaller one will cause it to overflow.  Then the kids' toys started finding themselves in the water and E observed that her lego figure floats but her seal figure sinks..

The girls asked for more things to put in the water, so we decided to do a sink-or-float science experiment.  The girls are great at making observations, and they used the word "hypothesis" correctly!

Meanwhile, Baby H was spending the entire morning happily sitting in his highchair putting plastic straws into a container..

Soon the girls were using his straws to blow into their water bowls (H found this hilarious!).  I decided to add some dish soap, and the next 30 minutes were spent doing this...

Both girls had a fantastic time, and even Baby H got into the action (with bubbles that I was blowing for him- I think he'd drink it if I let him try with the straw..)  He kept saying "baba" (bubble), and had a really good time with this sensory experience.

I really like it when I don't have a specific activity in mind, but one just seems to evolve.  I also love letting my children take the lead and know that it's good to experiment with trying different things and to come up with new ways of playing..