Today I want to share two activities with you that you can do with toddlers to school age children using vinegar and baking soda.
Vinegar & Baking Soda Fizzy Fun
My almost three year old loved this first activity which was an experiment to see how baking soda would react to vinegar.
Here are the supplies we used.
- Baking Soda
- Vinegar
- Food Coloring
- a Pan with Sides
- Bowls
- Medicine Dropper
The first thing I did was to put enough baking soda in the pan to cover the bottom.
Then I poured some vinegar into a couple of bowls and added a drop of food coloring to each.
You can definitely add more food coloring, but I felt this was a safe amount for my toddler.
I showed my daughter how to squeeze the end of the medicine dropper to get the vinegar inside. It only took her a few tries to figure it out.
Then I showed her how to squirt the vinegar onto the baking soda.
She was so excited by the fizzing and bubbling.
However, I think her favorite part of the activity was simply squeezing the medicine dropper.
This activity kept her interest until the vinegar in each bowl was gone and the baking soda had all been covered.
A turkey baster and a syringe would also be good to use for this activity if you don’t have a medicine dropper.
I think we will definitely do this activity again.
Here’s another fun experiment to try.
Blow Up a Balloon with Vinegar & Baking Soda
I have been doing this next experiment with kids since I was a teenager and my mom used to do it with my brother and I.
What’s not to love about watching a balloon blow up without using your own hot air? 🙂
For this experiment you will need the following items.
- Baking Soda
- Vinegar
- Balloon
- Funnel
- Bottle with a Narrow Opening
The first thing you will need to do is use a funnel to put about 1 tablespoon of baking soda into a balloon.
I highly recommend drawing a face on the balloon first.
Next, pour 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar into the bottle.
I prefer to use a recycled glass bottle because it is sturdier than a plastic one.
Carefully slide the opening of the balloon over the opening of the bottle without getting any baking soda into the bottle.
Quickly lift up the balloon so that all of the baking soda goes into the bottle and then let go of the balloon.
The vinegar and gas will start reacting right away and will blow up the balloon.
My little girl loved watching the balloon blow up and was very excited.
When her brothers got home from school we did the experiment three more times.
My six year old covered his ears because he thought it would be noisy. 🙂
As you can see from my boys’ faces they really enjoyed this activity.
This experiment is a really fun way to teach kids about chemical reactions without them even realizing they are learning.
I will caution you not to overfill the balloon with baking soda or this could happen.
I was ready with my camera the first time my little girl and I tried this experiment but I wasn’t expecting it to pop off of the bottle and get everywhere.
Obviously, it had been a few years since I had last done this experiment and I forgot the ratios. 🙂
Thankfully, she wasn’t too much worse for the wear.
If you are looking for another activity using vinegar and baking soda, check out this simple erupting volcano we made a few years ago.
