If you’re looking for simple science experiments and creative projects to do with your kid, you can’t go wrong with anything from Sergei Urban, aka TheDadLab. The experimenting father started posting clips of the activities he’d do with his two young sons, and parents kept wanting more. Now his videos—which include how-tos on hatching your own dinosaur ice eggs, making a lava lamp and assembling an air cannon—have nearly 60 million views. Urban’s new book, The Dad Lab: 50 Awesome Science Projects for Parents and Kids, comes out today, and he’s sharing one of his most popular experiments with us: Bubble snakes. Here’s how to make them with your kids.
What you’ll need:
A sock (which won’t get damaged!)
A half-liter size clear plastic bottle
A bowl of water
Dish soap
A craft knife
How long you’ll need: 15 minutes
How to do it:
1. With the knife, cut the bottom off the bottle.
2. Roll the sock over the open end of the bottle.
3. Mix a good squirt of dish soap gently into the water (don’t let it get too foamy).
4. Dip the sock end of the bottle into the liquid, then blow through the neck. The bubble snake will emerge from the sock.
What’s going on?
You’ve made a regular bubble- blower—but with lots of tiny hoops instead of the usual one big one. All the loops of thread in the sock act as hoops that hold a soap film, from which a bubble can be blown. The foam is just a light, fluffy mass of these tiny bubbles joined together.
This experiment is adapted from TheDadLab by arrangement with TarcherPerigee, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2019, Sergei Urban.