Oh, potion making… Miss G has done this for years and years {check this post out} and it’s still not old. During the spring and summer we do a nature version that includes all kinds of grasses and weeds and flower petals to make nature / fairy potions and it’s also become our go-to when Miss G is having a friend over {so far, they seem to love it!}
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Now while I’ve been letting Miss G get herself set up for potion making for the last couple of months, we started going through ridiculous amounts of baking soda and vinegar and Brad was challenged with getting trays brimming full of magic potion overspill to the kitchen sink from our dining area every afternoon {clumsy old me didn’t possibly stand a chance, and if I’m being honest, it wasn’t going so well for him either – hah!}
Now I loooove BIG fizzy eruptions just as much as any 7 year old and letting kiddos lead the way when it comes to their play is my jam, but after several weeks of letting Grae really go for it, I decided it was time to reel things in just a little bit. My goal was to cut way back on our supply usage, hopefully encourage more purposeful potion making, and avoid the massive mess that was impossible to get to the sink without soaking the tile floor… And so, I put out this little invitation to play one day after school and I have to say, it totally worked.
All it took was keeping the potion making supplies and the potion mixing bottles nice and small! That’s it!
Here’s what I set out on our Ikea tray:
- white vinegar and a pipette {CAN}
- liquid food colouring {CAN}
- glitter {I really want to give a biodegradable glitter like this one a try}
- baking soda with a tiny spoon
- shaving foam with a medicine syringe
- several small craft jars {these would be amazing | CAN}
Besides the tray with the significant lip around the edge, I always make sure to put out an old rag just in case too. Science explorations can be messy sometimes!
And then Miss G gets to it…
There’s absolutely no right way or order when it comes to potion making {though Miss G seems to have a little system of sorts} – it’s all about experimenting, observing, and having fun!
G’s usual method? A scoop of baking soda in the bottom, then a shot of shaving foam, a single drop of colouring, and a sprinkling of glitter.
Then the best part…
VINEGAR!
How pretty is that?!
And the fun doesn’t stop after the first fizzy eruption… From there she adds to it, stirs it, shakes it, and adds more vinegar to create a second {and third and fourth…} fizzy eruption. {It’s actually amazing how little baking soda and vinegar you need when using these small vile-like containers.}
When she’s ready to move onto the next potion, she usually caps up the one she’s just finished and sets it aside.
Then onto the next!
By the time she’s done, we usually have an entire collection of potions…
Such simple, inexpensive fun.
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This afternoon the sun was out and I decided to set up something really fun for Grae to explore and experiment with in the backyard.
The set up was pretty simple… Several differently shaped jars and medicine bottles filled with coloured vinegar (we used gel food colouring), a couple of small jars of baking soda, a couple of spoons, and a few empty mixing containers all on a tray. Oh, and some safety goggles. Because in Gracen’s world, science equals goggles. ☺
After helping her with her goggles, Grae set off to work.
As I usually do with this kind of activity, I didn’t give her any instructions. I simply said, “Do you want to play?”
The answer was an excited ‘yes’, and after a few questions about whether or not she could dump/mix/pour things (of course the answer to all was yes), she got started.
While she’s seen the reaction baking soda and vinegar have while 
And she loved it. Mixing a little bit of this with a little bit of that in order to cause colour changes and fizzy foam eruptions was right up her alley.
My little scientist made reaction after reaction, delighting each time she caused foam to spew out of the top of her jar.
One thing that was interesting is how the colour of the vinegar seemed to change with the addition of baking soda. In the case of the orange and the pink, the colours seemed to explode with brightness as the reactions occurred.
With almost all of her baking soda resources used up and her largest jar of vinegar left, we fetched just a little more baking soda from in the house.
It started off slowly, but the reaction did not disappoint. After scrounging leftover baking soda from wherever she could, she managed to create enough fizzing foam to have it flow generously out of the top of the jar. Success!