On September 4, 2024, we organized a "Bubble painting" workshop for about 23 children from class 4A at Lessing Elementary School in Zittau. This interactive and interdisciplinary workshop combined art and science, which is in accordance with our InterBridge project that promotes the connection between these fields.
At the beginning of the workshop, the children learned a few interesting facts about bubbles – how they form, why they have a round shape, and how a rainbow appears on their surface due to light refraction. This scientific part was led by our Karolína, who explained everything to the children in an age-appropriate way.
Afterward, the artistic part began, where we showed the children the creative technique of "bubble painting."
The concept is simple but very fun – detergent or soapy water is colored with food dye (for the children's safety), and they are given straws to blow into the liquid. The colorful foam is then transferred onto paper, and once the bubbles pop, a beautiful, colorful pattern is left behind. Well, that's the ideal scenario. However, the children, as often happens, were so enthusiastic that instead of gently transferring the bubbles onto the paper, they experimented with pouring the liquid. As a result, the artwork resembled a mosaic of colorful splashes and spots rather than carefully crafted art. But the main thing was that the children had a great time!
The children were divided into two groups – one group painted, while the other played with various types of bubble toys. While Karolína led the artistic group, Pavel took care of the playing group. We bought bubble sets for making giant bubbles, a bubble gun, and special "bubble gloves," which the children eagerly used to create bubbles. Bubble swords, which produced cascades of bubbles, were also a big hit. Bubbles were flying everywhere around us :-)
Pavel photographed and filmed the children throughout the workshop so that we could document this wonderful day.
Student Tereza Sedláčková was a big help, leading the communication with the children. She studies English and German at the Faculty of Education at TUL and acted as an interpreter, which greatly contributed to the smooth and successful running of the entire workshop.
The workshop lasted three hours, including preparation and cleanup. Thanks to a prior notice, the children brought sunglasses to protect their eyes and came appropriately dressed, many even in aprons, so there was no worry about getting messy.
Finally, we would like to thank Lessing Elementary School for the excellent collaboration. We made a memorandum of cooperation, which was signed by our institute's director, Prof. Černík, and the school's principal, Mrs. Annegret Heyne. We believe this will not be the last joint event, and we are already looking forward to the next workshop for class 4B, which will take place in 14 days. We hope the weather will be as sunny and beautiful as it was for the first event.
Thank you to all participants for their enthusiasm, and we look forward to the next bubble adventure!
Hana Křížová
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