Bubbles and Learning

Yesterday I got to spend the day with a little friend.  One of the things we did was play with bubbles.  It was pure joy watching her play with them.  She would chase them, see how many she could catch.  She would try to make them by waving the wand rather than blowing.  It was great fun.

At one point several of the bubbles landed on one of my plants.  As the bubbles hung on the ends of the leaves, she said, They look like Christmas ornaments!  They really did.  It looked as if we had carefully hung clear balls on the end of each leaf.  Each time she would then try to see how many she could get to land on the plant.  Unknowingly she started doing math.  She would say, Look! I made five bubbles, ohhh, only two landed on our tree.   Three popped.  She engaged in natural 'talk'.  I didn't need to say, That was a math equation.  That's 5-2=3.  She will get that soon enough.  What's important is that she was seeing that on her own.  Once she starts formal equations in school, she will have that background knowledge on which to hook it.

Will the bubbles land on the end of leaves every time?  Maybe not.  If not, she was still able to pose natural hypotheses when trying to blow the bubbles out of the wand or wave them out.  Will more come out when she runs or stands?  How 'bout the comparative language when she says, Ohhh, that one was tiny but that's really bigger!

I won't even mention how fun bubbles are for the imagination!