Bubble Resources
Bubblz Maths, in partnership with
AIMSSEC
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Schools Enrichment
Centre
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BUBBLZ MATHS – Bubble Resources
ACTIVITY – BUBBLE SHAPES WITH FRAMES
Resources: Washing up liquid, water, bucket, stiff wire, bendy straws.
Vocabulary: sphere, cube, triangular prism, tetrahedron, octahedron, 3D,
solid, frame, inside, triangle, square, rectangle, edge, face, vertex/vertices.
Curriculum Links: Learning Outcome: Describes, sorts and compares 2D and
3D objects in pictures and the environment, including: *2D shapes in or on the
faces of 3D objects, *flat, straight and curved surfaces and edges.
INTRODUCING THE ACTIVITY
Learners can explore 3D shapes in a memorable way using some dilute Fairy
washing-up liquid solution and some simple 3D shapes made from wire or
bendy drinking straws.
Instructions: Make a skeleton tetrahedron, cube, triangular prism, and
octahedron out of wire or bendy straws and tape. First make polygons
(triangles and square). Join the straws by inserting the short section of one
straw into the longer section of another straw and pushing it in up to the bend.
Use sticky tape to join the polygons together to make the frames. Make the size
of the shapes small enough to fit inside your bucket.
Pour enough water in the bucket to more than cover each of the shapes you
have made. Pour 100ml of dishwashing detergent into the water and stir gently.
Practise dipping each shape once to see the thin soap film that forms inside the
shapes. Dip them a second time half way to catch a bubble inside (The bubbles
will be the same shape as the skeleton except with curved edges). Always do
the cube last because the result is the most exciting.
Triangular based pyramid
(Tetrahedron)
Cube
Triangular Prism Octahedron
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BUBBLZ MATHS – Bubble Resources
Activities for young learners (ages 3 to 7) (Foundation and KS1)
Provide groups with a bucket of
soapy water and one shape.
Ask the learners to describe what
they can see. Encourage them to
name the shapes they recognise.
How many edges does the soap
film have?
How many faces does the soap
film have?
What do you think will happen
when you dip it again half way?
What shape is the bubble?
Are the bubble and the frame the
same shape? If they are
different, how are they different?
Pass your shape to the next
group and try a new shape. Ask
the same questions.
What do you think will happen if you pop all the soap films so that the bubble
inside is free to float away?
What shape is the freed bubble? [It becomes a sphere.]
ACTIVITIES FOR THE WHOLE CLASS
Show each shape to the class and ask:
How many edges, how many faces, how many vertices do they have?
What shape are the faces?
What is it called?
What do you think will happen when I dip the shape in the bubble
solution?
Fully dip the shape into the solution and ask:
What they can see?
Encourage the learners to describe fully and name the shapes they
recognise.
How many edges does the soap film have?
How many faces does the soap film have?
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BUBBLZ MATHS – Bubble Resources
What do you think will happen when you dip it again?
Dip the frame again until it is half submerged to catch a bubble shape and ask:
What shape is the bubble?
What are the differences between the bubble and the frame?
What are the similarities between the bubble and the frame?
Repeat for all the shapes (cube last).
What do you think will happen if you pop all the soap films so that the bubble is
free to float away?
What shape is the freed bubble? [It always becomes a sphere.]
What other new shapes could we try out?
What shape are the soap films going to be?
What shape is the trapped bubble going to be?
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BUBBLZ MATHS – Bubble Resources
Activities for learners aged 7 to 13 (KS2 & KS3)
Provide groups with a bucket of soapy
water and one shape.
Ask: What can you see?
How many edges does the soap film
have?
How many faces does the soap film
have?
What do you think will happen when
you dip it again half way?
What shape is the bubble?
What are the differences between the
bubble and the frame?
What are the similarities between the
bubble and the frame?
Pass your shape to the next group and try a new shape. Ask the same
questions.
What do you think will happen if you pop all the soap films so that the bubble
inside is free to float away?
What shape is the freed bubble? [sphere].
ACTIVITIES FOR THE WHOLE CLASS
Show each shape to the class and ask:
How many edges, how many faces, how many vertices does it have?
What is it called?
What do you think will happen when I dip the [“name the shape”] in the
bubble solution?
Fully dip the shape into the solution and ask:
What can you see?
How many edges does the soap film have?
How many faces does the soap film have?
How many vertices does the soap film have?
What do you think will happen when you dip it again?
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BUBBLZ MATHS – Bubble Resources
Dip the frame again until it is half submerged to catch a bubble shape and ask:
What shape is the bubble?
What are the differences between the bubble and the frame?
What are the similarities between the bubble and the frame?
Repeat for all the shapes (cube last).
What do you think will happen if you pop all the soap films so that the bubble is
free to float away?
What shape is the freed bubble? [It always becomes a sphere.]
What other new shapes can we try out?
What shape are the soap films going to be?
What shape is the trapped bubble going to be?
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BUBBLZ MATHS – Bubble Resources
KS2 & KS3
GROUP ACTIVITIES – this is an outdoor activity.
Learners should make loops of different sizes to experiment with making
bubbles (spheres) of different sizes.
Ask learners to estimate the size of the sphere they will make, before they
make it.
Get learners to catch a small sphere and compare its width with the length of
the string.
ACTIVITIES FOR THE WHOLE CLASS
Make spheres using the different loops. Ask the learners to show you the size
of the sphere with their hands. You could get one of the learners to make the
bubbles.
Ask “Were all the bubbles spherical (nice round spheres)?”.
Ask: “How can we make the sphere bigger without changing the length of the
string?” [include more air].
Using a small loop quickly make lots of bubbles and ask: “How many bubbles
can you see?” Learners have to concentrate on the bubbles as some pop while
others are being made, so the number of bubbles in the air changes all the
time.
Ask “What else is spherical (the shape of a sphere)?”.
What does half a sphere (a hemisphere) look like? (Small bubbles landing on a
wet surface make beautiful hemispheres for the learners to examine.)
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KS2 & KS3
BUBBLZ MATHS – Bubble Resources
ACTIVITY 10 – BUBBLE SHAPES WITH FRAMES
Resources: Fairy washing up liquid, water, bucket, stiff wire, bendy straws.
Vocabulary: sphere, cube, triangular prism, tetrahedron, octahedron, 3D,
solid, triangle, square, rectangle, edge, face, vertex/vertices.
Curriculum Links: Learning Outcome Shape and Space: similarities and
differences between different polyhedra.
INTRODUCING THE ACTIVITY
Learners can explore 3D shapes in a memorable way using some dilute Fairy
washing up liquid solution and some simple 3D shapes made from wire or
bendy straws.
Instructions: Make a skeleton cube, triangular prism, tetrahedron and
octahedron out of wire or bendy straws and tape. Make a skeleton tetrahedron,
cube, triangular prism, and octahedron out of wire or bendy straws and tape.
First make polygons (triangles and square). Join the straws by inserting the
short section of one straw into the longer section of another straw and pushing
it in up to the bend. Use sticky tape to join the polygons together to make the
frames. Make the size of
the shapes small enough to
fit
inside a bucket of your
choosing.
Pour enough water in the
bucket to more than cover each of the shapes you have made. Pour 100ml of
dishwashing detergent into the water and stir gently.
Practise dipping each shape once to see the thin soap film that forms inside the
shapes. Dip them a second time half way to catch a bubble inside (the bubbles
will be the same shape as the skeleton except with curved edges). Always do
the cube last because the result is the most exciting.
Triangular based pyramid
(Tetrahedron)
Cube
Triangular Prism
Hexahedron)
(Pentahedron)
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Octahedron