Kids of all ages were entertained by the science, art and comedy of “Bubbleologist” Keith Michael Johnson on Thursday night at the Cranston Public Libraries and Cranston Public Schools collaborative summer reading kick-off event.

Guests at the kick-off were wowed by Johnson and his creations during an hour-long show that had one fascinating bubble sculpture or feat after the next. The Cranston Teacher’s Association underwrote the event.

Johnson told the audience that he often has used the library to learn about other bubble artists, scientists and skills he needed to learn, and he encouraged the students to learn through reading as well.

He told the students that although he would be using soap bubbles in his performance, there are all kinds of bubbles in their world each and every day, from soap bubbles to toothpaste bubbles to soda bubbles and even bubbles in breads.

Johnson explained to the students that much of what he was showing them on stage could easily be replicated at home, and that students could also develop their own tricks as they experimented with bubbles.

Beginning with bubble sculptures, Johnson used a fog machine as one tool which helped him to create a snowman, a moon rising and sky falling, and a rocket ship out of bubbles. In doing so, he gave them an important piece of information that would help them in their own experimentation.

“Everything that touches bubbles needs to be wet,” he said as he frequently sprayed his hands and tools with mists of water.

He told them that the study and use of bubbles dates back hundreds of years.

“It took hundreds of years for scientists studying bubbles to figure out how the universe works,” he said. “Kids make the best tricks and you can learn a lot by studying a bubble. In the 1800s kids used to make up lots of bubble tricks and games. At the fanciest dinner parties people would put bubbles under a jar on the tables.”

He talked about Eiffle Plasterer, a bubble master who wanted to make a bubble that lived a long time, and set a 342-day record by keeping his bubble safe in a jar away from dryness and agitation.

“I read so much about him, it was like I got to meet him,” Johnson said. “When you pick up a book you get to meet people that you can’t meet otherwise.”

He also talked about Sterling Johnson, who was famous for making bubbles only using his hands and soapy water as tools.

Johnson told the students that although special tools are good to have, oftentimes bubbles can be made with simple items found around the house, including paper towel tubes, pipe cleaners and fly swatters with the mesh center section removed, as long as they remembered to keep everything, from their hands to their tools, wet.

For his grand finale, Johnson used larger tools, which he likened to a round plastic kiddie pool and a hula-hoop, for students wishing to experiment at home. He called on student volunteer Jenna Houle, a fourth-grader from Orchard Farms Elementary School for help with the finale.

As he created a bubble, which encased Houle from head to toe, he told the audience that bubbles are much stronger than they are given credit for and he encouraged the students to give bubble science a try this summer.

After being part of the bubble, Houle had the opportunity to create bubbles on her own, using Johnson’s tools, before the conclusion of the show.

For more information about Keith Michael Johnson and his Bubbleology show and other science and mathematics shows, visit keithmichaeljohnson.com.