In this science activity, children will explore chemical reactions with baking soda and vinegar!
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Kids always love experimenting with baking soda and vinegar. We decided to add food coloring to the ingredient list to prompt even more discoveries! (This post contains affiliate links.)
Exploring Chemical Reactions with Baking Soda and Vinegar
Materials for Baking Soda and Vinegar Activity
- Containers to hold the liquid (We used glass jars like these.)
- White vinegar
- Dish soap
- Baking soda
- Food coloring
- Spoon
- Glitter (optional)
Procedure for Baking Soda and Vinegar Activity
- Find an area to conduct your experiment. We chose to do ours outside on our backyard deck. (Once we were done, clean-up was easy! All we had to do was pick up the materials and then hose the deck down.)
- Place all your materials out where they are easily accessible to your child.
- Help your child fill the containers 1/2-3/4 of the way full of vinegar.
- Color the vinegar with food coloring.
5. Throw in some glitter for some added sparkly fun! (optional)
6. Add a generous squeeze of dish soap to each container and stir.
7. This would be a good time to move all your previously used materials (glitter containers, food coloring etc.) out of the way so they don’t get all messy.
8. Make predictions about what will happen once the baking soda is added.
9. Add a generous spoonful of baking soda to each container and observe.
Tips
- Definitely stay and observe your child, but don’t be afraid to let them take control of the experiment. Lucy had so much fun making predictions and then finding out what would happen. Some of the things I heard from her: “Mom, I wonder if it will make more bubbles if I add more baking soda?” “I’m going to try mixing the colors! Maybe I can make purple!” “I’m going to put more soap in this one and see if it makes more bubbles.” “I wonder why the bubbles won’t come all the way out of the yellow jar. I want to try to make them come out.”
- Before you clean up, let your child have some fun playing with their mess! Lucy loved how the glittery concoction felt when she stomped her feet in it. (The soap can make the resulting liquid slippery, so be cautious if you are on a hard surface.)
What’s Going On:
A chemical reaction has occurred! Combining the vinegar (an acid) with the baking soda (a base) results in an entirely new substance, carbon dioxide.
Want to go even further?
Even more activities to inspire creativity and critical thinking for various ages.
- Illustrate your experiment and results in a science journal or on a blank piece of paper.
- Explore some more bubbly science from Buggy and Buddy: Dancing Raisins Science Experiment.
- Combine literacy and science with this fun Icy Fizzing Letters activity from Fun-A-Day!
I just love the look on your daughter’s face throughout this experiment!! 🙂 Engineer and I are going to have to try this out soon — he and I love science experiments! Thanks, also, for including our Icy, Fizzy Letters! 🙂
I remember doing this for hours when I was a kid. I used to pretend I was a mad scientist.
We’ve tried this but without the dish soap… it was on our To Do list… now it is in our To Do This Week list. I’m on vacancy, so…
Does it work without the soap??
Yes, it will work, just won’t bubble as much!
So fun! I love all your science posts!
We haven’t done a baking soda and vinegar experiment in a while, but my kids have always loved them. Your colorful experiment is making me want to try this again soon!
I love how easy this is, and how it just never gets old! We could probably do this every week and not tire of it!
How wonderfully messy! Thanks so much for joining our challenge. xx
I never thought of adding dish soap! What a great addition. Definitely going to try it on our deck the next warm day.