We love fun kid’s activities. During the summer time and on breaks it can get challenging to keep kids occupied and off the tv/ipad! I love finding fun things to do that are easy on my part and fun for them. This is one of those activities. I can almost bet you already have the main ingredients, vinegar, baking soda, and some food coloring. We all remember the fun experiment where you mix baking soda and vinegar, right? This is similar but on a much smaller scale, no explosions will happen!
To set up fill a cake pan size sheet 1/2 full of baking soda. Fill some cups with vinegar and add food coloring to desired colors. The only other thing you will need is a medicine dropper. I saved some over the years from old infant medicines. You might check your local pharmacy too if you can’t find one. The old medicine droppers work great!
This activity can make a little mess so I make sure and put a tray down underneath the cake pan. This was the first time I had my 3 year old try this. He was so excited! Since he’s a boy and really active, it’s hard to keep him sitting still so I wasn’t sure just how long this would occupy him. I have to say it did the job! He was so enthralled with this and didn’t want to stop! He played this for over 30 minutes. That’s like an eternity in 3 year old time!!
He loved creating and watching the fizz. If needed, you can always dump out the baking soda and have your child do another round. I didn’t need to this time. He was content and went slow, surprisingly. I realized as he was doing this too that it’s actually a great gross motor activity. He was having to pinch the dropper and hold it to bring the vinegar over to the baking soda. That took some skill and some patience. A great pincher activity to work on pre-writing skills. Doesn’t this smile say it all?
I only used 2 colors this first time and he didn’t seem to mind at all. With my daughter (who is 8 and LOVES this too) I sometimes use 3-4 colors. I didn’t have to buy anything for this because I always have baking soda and vinegar on hand. Next grocery store trip though I need to restock on some food coloring!
This activity makes a great one to do when it’s too hot or raining outside. We have lots of similar ones including No Mess Painting and Moon Sand. Check out those to have during the hot summer!
This looks like a lot of fun. My two year old is very focused on learning her colors and I think this would really help. Thanks for another great idea, Shannon!
Perfect! I bet both kids would like this though 🙂
I just love engaging activities for kids like this! Thanks for sharing! I passed it on for other parents to enjoy with their curious kiddos, too!
Great! This is requested from my kids all the time!