Charlie and I had a lot of quality time together while he was home sick the past week. It was the perfect opportunity to try this little project involving baking soda and vinegar that I recently pinned. I regularly use baking soda + vinegar to keep my sink drains nice and clear, so I knew Charlie would love the fun reaction created when these two ingredients are combined. Best of all, these ingredients are safe, so even younger toddlers can participate!
You will need:
baking soda
vinegar
food coloring
small bowls
medicine droppers
baking sheet
Fill a couple of small bowls with some vinegar and add food coloring. I decided to start with just red, yellow, and blue. Then cover a baking sheet with baking soda. This can get a little messy, so I put some black posterboard under the baking sheet.
I showed Charlie how to get some colored vinegar into his medicine dropper and then put it on the baking soda, and he was off!
He loved seeing the little mini volcanos that erupted whenever he squeezed some vinegar onto the baking soda.
But then he touched the baking soda with the tip of the medicine dropper, and when he put the medicine dropper back into the vinegar, he got this reaction:
He was no fool and completely lost interest in dropping the vinegar onto the baking soda, and started putting the baking soda into the bowls of vinegar! He realized that the more baking soda there was, the bigger the reaction, so he asked me for a spoon. The medicine droppers were not going to cut it.
It’s a volcano!
Charlie kept adding more and more baking soda to the vinegar bowls until there was so much baking soda in them, the reaction stopped occuring. At that point we gave him some new bowls of vinegar!
We had so much fun with this activity, we’re definitely going to do it again. It’s a super easy activity that anyone from the youngest toddlers to school aged children can enjoy!
Sensory Play Activities part 5 of 11
1. Cool Beans by Mrs. Hide and Seek2. Learning Through Play - Indoor Toddler Activities by Guides
3. Edible Fingerpaint by DIY
4. Baking as Sensory Play by DIY
5. Food Coloring + Vinegar + Baking Soda = 4th Grade Science Project by Mrs. Bee
6. Fine Motor Fun: Pudding Bags by Mrs. Cowgirl
7. What is a Discovery Basket and How to Make One by Kylie @ How We Montessori
8. Baby Games: What's that smell? by Mrs. Tricycle
9. DIY Construction Site Activity Tray by Caroline @ Armelle Blog
10. Making Sensory Play Manageable at Home by Mrs. Lion
11. 20 No Mess Sensory Activities by Mrs. Lion
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
I’m super impressed that he realized to ask for a spoon to make a bigger volcano! What a smarty pants!
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18424 posts
That looks so fun. I will do it with the DD, thanks!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Hahah fun! That’s a lotta baking soda!
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Haha. He is so smart!
guest
Love activities that littles and not-so-littles can enjoy. Looks like fun!!
p.s. all the baby gear guides on here – amazingness!!! My daughter is 7 so I literally feel like I’m starting from scratch with #2. Things have changed since 2004
honeydew / 7966 posts
can’t wait to try this!
pomelo / 5839 posts
very fun!!
GOLD / pomelo / 5167 posts
fun!!! messy… but fun!
guest
Hey, this is great! Messy and fun, as the previous commenter said.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
I am also very impressed with the fact that he realized more baking soda equals more volcanoes so he requested a spoon!! Amazing!
honeydew / 7913 posts
Love it! Can’t wait to try this with my LO.
olive / 62 posts
Just finished doing this… he could have stayed out there for hours! I was running low on baking soda so I had to cut things off. Looks like I need to head to Costco and buy it in bulk
Very happy we could do this outside. It was messy.
guest
My 2 1/2 year old daughter enjoyed this for AN HOUR! We didn’t have food coloring, so I colored the vinegar with watercolor paints. Using the medicine dropper was great fine-motor skill-building, too!