Famous Inventions Kids Love – Bubble Gum

Thank goodness for inventors and all their famous inventions. There are the basics like cars, light bulbs, and (one of my personal favorites) hot water heaters. Then there are some less obvious ones like thumbtacks and zippers. There are even a few I resisted at first, like backup cameras in cars. I mean who needs those? (Apparently, me.) If you can believe it, I didn’t even want an iPhone when they first came out. Now I can’t imagine getting along without it.

I love stories about famous inventions that were unplanned, but turned out amazing. Bubble gum is one of those inventions. I found this out after reading Meghan McCarthy’s picture book POP! The Invention of Bubble Gum. 

It tells the true story of Walter Diemer, an accountant-turned-accidental-inventor, who mixed a little of this and a little of that until he invented a gum that could be blown into bubbles. The Fleer Corporation, Walter’s employer, named the creation Dubble Bubble, and the rest is history.

Famous Inventions Kids Love

I’ve known a lot of kids over the years and very few of them don’t like gum. It’s kind of like saying you don’t like ice cream. Because it’s so popular, bubble gum is a good entry point for talking about inventions and inventors with kids. POP! is a great book, but I wanted to take it farther, so I created this mini-unit to extend the learning. It’s integrated across multiple subject areas and takes about 2-3 days to complete if you do everything available in the resource. It’s also standards-based, so no worries about the unannounced walkthrough.

BUBBLE GUM BLOWOUT: A MINI-UNIT

Hands down, my favorite part of this unit is the science lab where we make our own bubble gum. I promise you it works because I had two failed attempts before finally getting it right. The third time really was the charm! (Don’t worry. I’ll tell you exactly what to buy.) So what’s in the resource?

UNIT CONTENTS

NONFICTION STUDENT TEXT

This original text is ready to print, fold, and use. It provides historical information about bubble gum and can be used to practice phonics skills, review nonfiction text features, and strengthen vocabulary strategies.

RELATED ELA LESSONS

I’ve also included additional lessons that support ELA standards, such as character mapping, word building, word sorting, facts & opinions, and cause & effect. They’re ready to print and use.

WRITING LESSONS

Two different writing lessons are presented in this set and here’s the reason why. One of the lessons focuses on procedural writing, but if many of your students don’t know how to blow a bubble with gum, you may want to skip that lesson and opt for the opinion piece.

Option #1: Should kids be allowed to chew gum in school? I love this writing lesson. It gives kids the chance to form and express their personal opinions and then write persuasively to support their ideas.

Option #2: In this writing lesson, students can choose from a variety of open-ended templates to write their own How-To book explaining the steps needed to blow a bubble with gum.

MATH ACTIVITIES

Which flavor of bubble gum is the most popular among your students? Find out with this math lesson. You just need three different flavors of bubble gum for students to sample, then they’re on their way to collecting, graphing, and analyzing class data! The set includes two additional options. You can choose to sample different brands instead. Or you can sample different types of gum, such as gum balls, gum tape, and shredded gum. A blank graph has been provided if you want to choose your own flavors for the lesson.

MAKE YOUR OWN BUBBLE GUM!

SCIENCE LAB

Making your own bubble gum is much easier than you think, and it tastes so good! Give it a go! This lab is a fun, hands-on way to show children how changes in temperature can cause changes in states of matter and their physical properties. The bubble gum recipe is included in the teaching resource, but if you’d like to experiment beforehand, I’ve included it below.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup gum base
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vegetable glycerin
• 1/2 teaspoon citric acid
• 2 teaspoons flavoring of your choice (we used strawberry bakery emulsion)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• parchment paper
• a disposable, microwavable container
• a disposable spoon

Other than the gum base, I found all the other ingredients in my local grocery store and on Amazon. Do not buy gum paste. That was my first mistake. Make sure you purchase gum base. We found ours at GLEE GUM.

2023 UPDATE:

I can’t find the gum base on the Glee Gum website anymore. After some looking, I read that food grade beeswax will also work as a substitute for the gum base. I tried it, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. The consistency was off and it kind of tasted like a candle, lol.

If you’d prefer a gum-making kit instead, I found these two on Amazon. I haven’t tried them, but the reviews support the products and I think it would still be very fun for children. The end result is the same, right? … “We made gum!!”

1. DO IT YOURSELF BUBBLE GUM KIT 
2. SCIENTIFIC EXPLORER – BUBBLE GUM FACTORY

If you’re able to find gum base though, you can go ahead and follow the original recipe below.

DIRECTIONS

1. Put 1/3 cup gum base, 3 tablespoons corn syrup, 1 teaspoon glycerin, and 1/2 teaspoon citric acid in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for one minute.
2. Stir in 2 teaspoons of flavor. Mix well.
3. Place about half of the powdered sugar on a piece of parchment paper. Make a well in the center of the sugar.
4. Pour the melted gum mixture into the well. Let it sit for 2-3 minutes to cool slightly
5. With a little sugar on your hands, begin kneading the gum like you would bread dough. As the gum becomes sticky, continue to add more of the sugar to your hands and to the parchment paper. Knead the gum for about 8-10 minutes. At this point, the gum will be less sticky. Most of the sugar will be incorporated and it should have a consistency similar to fresh Play-Doh.
6. Roll the gum into logs and cut into bite-size pieces.

ART ACTIVITY

I know it’s hard to make time for art, but I think it’s so important to set aside time for creativity and fine motor development. This art project is such a fun one! It begins as a directed-drawing lesson with guided choices for personalizing along the way. Kids love the way it looks when the 3D element is added at the end!

FAMOUS INVENTIONS: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR POP!

If your schedule won’t allow for a whole mini-unit about bubble gum, but you still want to read POP!, here are a few questions for you and your students to discuss:

• What is the purpose of this book? Why do you think Meghan McCarthy wrote it?
• What are some words you would use to describe Walter Diemer? Give examples from the story to support your ideas.
• How does Meghan use words and illustrations to show Walter’s dedication to not giving up?
• What was the result of Walter’s hard work? How would the outcome have been different if Walter had stopped asking questions and trying out new ideas?

OTHER BOOKS ABOUT FAMOUS INVENTIONS

This has quickly become one of my favorite collections of books. I love finding children’s books about inventors (or makers) and their famous inventions, especially ones I think kids will go nuts over! Here are my top, true-story, recommendations:

• The Crayon Man by Natascha Biebow
• The Boy Who Invented the Popsicle by Anne Renaud
• The Marvelous Thing That Came from a Spring by Gilbert Ford
• Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy
• The Boo-Boos That Changed the World by Barry Wittenstein
• Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis
• Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet
• Whoosh! by Chris Barton
• How the Cookie Crumbled by Gilbert Ford
• Fairy Floss by Ann Ingalls
• The Hole Story of the Doughnut by Pat Miller
• A Royal Ride by Kristen Fulton
• Imaginative Inventions by Charise Mericle Harper

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Happy teaching!