Core Skills Analysis
Emotional Regulation and Self-Control
- Learned how controlled breathing through bubble blowing can calm the nervous system and reduce stress.
- Developed patience and focus by practicing slow, purposeful blowing to create bubbles.
- Experienced a sensory method to manage emotions, which helps in recognizing and responding to feelings appropriately.
- Practiced fine motor skills by coordinating breath and lip movement to form bubbles.
Science and Observation
- Observed the physical properties of bubbles including shape, size, and movement.
- Gained an introductory understanding of cause and effect by seeing how breath intensity affects bubble formation.
- Noted characteristics of liquids and air interaction in a playful, hands-on manner.
- Engaged in a simple experiment observing how changes in blowing speed alter the bubbles formed.
Tips
Tips: To deepen understanding of emotional regulation, encourage the child to describe how blowing bubbles makes them feel before and after the activity. Incorporate storytelling where characters use bubble blowing or deep breathing to calm down, making emotional regulation relatable. For science exploration, try experimenting with different bubble solutions or make giant bubbles to observe variations in surface tension and bubble lifespan. Integrating art, have the child draw bubbles or create a comic strip showing bubbles helping a character relax, fostering creative expression alongside emotional awareness.
Book Recommendations
- Singing the Seasons: Circle of Life in Nature by Nancy Loewen: A beautifully illustrated book that includes mindfulness practices and explorations of nature’s calming rhythms, reinforcing self-regulation concepts.
- Breathe Like a Bear by Kerri Kaufman: A gentle introduction to mindfulness and breathing exercises designed specifically for young children to manage emotions.
- Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy: A fun story involving bubbles that captures children’s imagination while subtly introducing concepts of cause and effect.
Learning Standards
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.1 - Participate in collaborative conversations with peers about the activity and emotions experienced.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3 - Describe characters' feelings in related storybooks about regulation.
- NGSS.K-PS2-1 - Use observations to describe the effect of air (blowing) on objects (bubbles).
- SEL Competency – Develop self-management skills through regulating breathing and emotional responses.
Try This Next
- Create a worksheet where the child records observations of bubble size and count with different blowing strengths.
- Encourage drawing pictures of how they feel before and after blowing bubbles to link emotions and regulation.