I love easy science experiments that use simple ingredients. Baking soda and vinegar science experiments are easy to set up and a fun way to watch a chemical reaction! Because these experiments use kitchen ingredients that you already have on hand, kids of all ages can experience the scientific method over and over again.
There are so many ways to experiment with baking soda and vinegar. Even though it produces the same reaction time after time, it looks different depending on how you set up the baking soda experiment. The best way to do these experiments is to give your child or students the chance to try them over and over again.
Here are a few things to note. During a baking soda and vinegar experiment you will observe an acid-base reaction. Baking Soda can also be referred to as sodium bicarbonate. The bubbles you see in a baking soda and vinegar reaction are actually carbon dioxide gas.
Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano
The classic baking soda and vinegar experiment that you probably remember from your childhood is the simple activity of a baking soda and vinegar volcano. You probably made the volcano out of paper mache or clay. Let’s get creative with this step. You can make the volcano out of anything!
- Make a volcano shape out of legos, sand, cardboard, snow, lasagna noodles, etc.
- Mold it around a plastic container like a water bottle.
- In the plastic container, mix 1 cup of vinegar, 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of dish soap, and a few drops of food coloring for color.
- In a small container, combine 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of water. Stir so the ingredients mix.
- Quickly dump the baking soda mixture into the vinegar mixture.
- Watch the explosion.
Try Mystery Colors like they did at Busy Toddler. In a muffin tin hide different colors of food coloring in between layers of baking soda. Pour vinegar in each section of the muffin tin to reveal the color. Squeeze the vinegar from a plastic bottle like they did or use a spoon or medicine droppers to add it. I’ve also used an ice tray for this activity. I love how she sets it up inside a large plastic container to keep the reaction contained.
Happy Hooligans made fizzing colors by putting the baking soda on a baking sheet, then applying drops of colors on top of the baking soda. You can use food coloring or water colors for this step. Instead of covering the colors, they applied the vinegar using a dropper to each color. This is a fun experiment because your little scientist has control over what colors are added and where they are applied.
The Best Ideas for Kids made a fizzy rainbow by coloring the baking soda first and forming it into a rainbow shape. The melting rainbow combines colors which is so fun to watch.
Buggy and Buddy tried it a different way. First, they colored the vinegar. Then they applied the different drops of colored vinegar to the baking soda. I love that there are so many variations of this classic science experiment and each one is just as interesting with something new to observe.
Get Creative with Baking Soda and Vinegar
This giant fizzy bin from Toddler Approved makes me want to dive right into this baking soda and vinegar activity. It looks like so much fun to gather around the pool of baking soda.
The Play Based Mom makes frozen baking soda ice cubes to experiment with. In this fun activity, she mixes water and baking soda to make the ice cubes and then puts vinegar into the spray bottle. Using a spray bottle is one of my favorite ways to build hand strength in young children.
The Parent Spot made fizzing treasure rocks. Inside the balls you can put small treasures like gold coins, action figures, lego men, dinosaurs, or gems. The balls are a baking soda and water mixture that forms the right consistency. Then, let the balls sit overnight before the treasure hunt begins. You can make these balls whatever size you want to hide all types of treasures!
Add your favorite toys to the experiment like they did at What Do We Do All Day. This exploding car wash is a fun science activity that also includes pretend play.
Baking Soda and Vinegar Explosions
Teach Beside Me shows you how to make a baking soda and vinegar rocket! Older kids will love to design their own rocket to carry out this simple science experiment.
Happy Brown House shows you how to blow up a balloon using the carbon dioxide from the baking soda and vinegar reaction. The fun part is experimenting with different amounts of both ingredients to see if it changes how big the balloon gets.
Steamsational does the dancing popcorn experiment using baking soda and vinegar. This is one of my favorite baking soda and vinegar activities. Try it with rice and raisins too.
If you love explosions, then you will love the exploding bag experiment from Fun with Mama. This is a safe experiment for outside. It uses a plastic bag, baking soda, and vinegar.
Hello Wonderful switches from vinegar to a lemon. Observe how the lemon and vinegar have similar reactions.
The Art Kit Blog uses an orange and baking soda. See how the reaction is similar to using vinegar.
The Resourceful Mama makes an apple volcano.
123 Homeschool for Me uses a pumpkin as the base of the chemical reaction.
We hope you love these easy science activities as much as we do! Which one will you try first?