ROSS TWP. — Kindergartner Jacob Mock could barely hold his excitement as bubble master Jeff Boyer put the youngster inside a bubble.
“I thought it would be impossible to be in a bubble, but I was just – inside – a – bubble!” Mock yelled, unable to control his excitement during a March 16 presentation.
Boyer, a renowned bubble maker who has worked with Nickelodeon and the SpongeBob Squarepants Broadway musical, came to share his soapy magic withstudents at Ross Elementary School.
The program was sponsored by the school’s Parent Teacher Organization, said Michelle Davies, a member of the PTO.
Nearly 125 kindergarten, first, second and third-graders watched Boyer create bubbles of all sizes and shapes at 9 a.m. At 10 a.m., about 125 fourth, fifth and sixth-graders were awed by Boyer’s bubbles.
The hour-long program started with a request of the children to stay seated.
“I know children are the natural predator of bubbles, but I need you to stay seated through the program,” Boyer said.
“What is a bubble?” Boyer asked.
Kindergartner Cole Hample quickly raised his hand and answered, “Air trapped inside soap and water.”
Impressed with the youngster’s answer, Boyer then asked the students why bubbles are always round. He took out a wand with star-shaped holes that made sphere-shaped bubbles.
No one seemed to know the answer.
“Surface tension,” Boyer said as he stuck out his tongue to catch a bubble on it.
He explained wet surfaces like a tongue enable people to touch a bubble without popping it.
“But don’t try it at home,” he said after the bubble popped. “It tastes terrible.”
Student volunteers Liam Chieto, Stefania Kabata, Jesse Miller and Ashlyn Maguire went on stage to attempt to hold a bubble.
Then, with the lesson aside, Boyer turned on music and began to make bubbles of all sizes, even creating an ice cream cone of bubbles.
Students Robbie Wilson, Joseph Gulastella, Delaney Pfeiffer and Cassidy Hollos volunteered and used mini fans to help blow bubbles.
The students cheered on Boyer when he used a smoke machine to make “fog bubbles.”
Students Nicholas Palmer, Elizabeth Palmer, Gulastella and Kenzie Williamson-Coleman tried to hold “fog bubbles.” Some of them were successful while others had their bubbles pop, which released a puff of smoke.
Boyer even created a dancing “fog bubble.”
A large bubble was made on a small platform that had a color-changing light underneath. The light colored the fog in the bubble.
Then, Boyer picked up a clear, flat plastic-like sheet. He wet one side of it and gently touched the top of the bubble membrane, which stuck to the plastic surface.
He slowly waved the sheet up and down, from side to side, causing the bubble to dance along with the music.
Students applauded.
The highlight of the performance came when Boyer put Harveys Lake Borough Police Officer Kyle Rogers and kindergartners Jacob Mock and Makenzie Okane inside bubbles.
Okane stood in the center of a circle as Boyer lifted a giant bubble wand around her. A huge bubble surrounded her. She tried to stand still but the youngster could not resist the urge to reach out with one finger to touch the bubble, which made it pop all around her.
“It was weird inside the bubble,” Okane said after the performance. “It made everything (outside the bubble) look shiny.”
Officer Rogers was happy to step inside the bubble.
“It was weird. It was like looking at an optical illusion.” Rogers said, trying to explain what his view was like inside the bubble.