Baking soda and vinegar… It just never ever gets old. This very simple fizzy eruptions activity has been a hit with so many of our little friends and guests over the years. And it doesn’t matter if they’ve just turned two or they’re nearly eleven years old – everyone who has come over when I’ve had this set out for a co-op meet-up, play date, or birthday party has pretty much loved it. I mean what’s not to love about colourful fizzy eruptions that leave your play surface looking just like that of the moon, right?
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Here’s the simple-as-can-be set-up… A plate of baking soda (or soda bicarbonate for our UK friends), several little jars of white vinegar coloured with liquid food colouring, gel food colouring, or liquid watercolours {my personal favourite because of the fact that they’re fully washable}, some pipettes, and a play tray to contain the mess {this one from Ikea is our fave}.
At nearly 3 years old, Sam has just really nailed down how to successfully use pipettes, but Miss G was using them when she was freshly 2, so it just depends on the kiddo!
That being said, kids who haven’t mastered pipette use can totally still create fizzy eruptions on their own! Instead of giving them the usual jar / pipette combo, just put the coloured vinegar in old glue bottles, any other squirt bottle with a small opening, or old liquid soap bottles with a pump and let them squeeze or pump the vinegar onto their plate of baking soda.
If they’re able to use a pipette, it’s as easy as squeeze to collect coloured vinegar…
Then squeeze to release the coloured vinegar onto the baking soda base and watch the fizzy eruption magic happen!
When the fizzy foam settles down, you’ll be left with the coolest coloured spots that look just like the moon’s surface {hence why we sometimes call this ‘moon painting’}.
Now if you really want to take things to the next level {like Sam does ALWAYS}, you may want to try the triple pipette method {patent pending – HAHA!}
Simply shove all three of your pipettes into a single jar, squeeze up as much vinegar as humanly possible…
And enthusiastically squeeze them out onto your baking soda in order to create the biggest fizzy eruption possible. The more force the better, really.
I mean, just look at how fun it looks!!
And when you’re nearly done, may as well just dump the rest of the vinegar out, right?? ‘Papa says sam can do it’, I’m told. Hah!
But in all seriousness, when the entire plate is flooded in vinegar like this, most often you can dump off the liquid and use the remaining {wet} baking soda below for round 2. I mean you may as well get as much bang for your buck as possible, right? {This is especially important when you live in Kuwait and you’re buying 45 of these tiny 100 gram containers of baking soda at a time.}
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