Trying to beat the summer doldrums without spending money on toys that require 14 AAA batteries and have a lifespan of approximately 3.68 days? You don’t need the latest super-duper robot action figure with working laser, 200 real robot sounds, and karate chop action to keep your kids entertained for an afternoon. Vinegar and baking soda are just as fun! Kids love the bubbly, fizzy reaction that results when you mix these two non-toxic household chemicals together. The following activities only require vinegar, baking soda, and a couple of other household items, and they should keep you and your child busy for at least a few hours!
Mixing vinegar and baking soda can be messy, so you’ll want to take these activities outside as much as possible or do them in the sink.
Magically inflate a balloon. Put some vinegar in a plastic water bottle and some baking soda into an uninflated balloon. Stretch the neck of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle without letting the baking soda fall into the bottle. Then, tip the balloon up over the bottle, let the baking soda fall into the vinegar, and watch the balloon inflate with carbon dioxide! Experiment with different amounts of baking soda and vinegar for maximum inflation. For a zany variation, try using a rubber glove instead of a balloon (you might need rubber bands to secure the glove to the bottle).
Clean the sink. “Cleaning? Yuck! That’s boring!” How often have you heard that at your house? Well, wait until the kids see this method of cleaning out the bathroom drain! Just pour half a cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by half a cup of vinegar. Give the mixture some time to clear out the drain (and allow for exclamations of “Woah! Cool!”), and then flush some hot water down the sink.
Make a film canister rocket. You’ll definitely want to do this one outside, and make sure that you and your child are wearing safety glasses to protect your eyes! Make a thick paste of baking soda and water, and then stick some to the lid of an old-fashioned film canister or other container with a snap-on top. Put a little vinegar in the canister. Carefully put the lid on the canister, without letting the baking soda fall into the vinegar. Set the film canister upside down and then quickly stand back. The chemical reaction will rapidly create carbon dioxide, blowing the lid off the canister and propelling it into the air!
Of course, there’s always a lot of potential for fun when you have vinegar and baking soda in the same room. What are your favorite vinegar and baking soda activities?
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Filed under: Just for Fun! | Tagged: chores, family activities, fighting boredom, science
Love the experiments. It would be nice to have an explaination as to what actually is happening chemically when the baking soda and vinager mix for example.
Thanks
Hi, Carol-
The baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, a weak base, and vinegar contains acetic acid, a weak acid. When you mix the two chemicals together, they neutralize one another. The chain reaction also produces sodium acetate, which is used in the textile industry and in cooking, as well as water and carbon dioxide. The production of the carbon dioxide gas is what creates the bubbling effect. Hope this helps!
Happy experimenting,
The JumpStart Team
Mystery Powders
Science Concept:
Using our sense of sight, we will prove what each powder is by adding a chemical substance to each of them.
Materials:
four – 100 mL cups
four – 250 mL cups
flour
sugar
baking soda
vinegar
iodine solution
Directions:
1. Measure about 3-4 spatula spoons of each powder, and put into each cups ( three – 100 mL cups and three – 250 mL cups.). Choose one of the powders to be the “unknown” and put it into each of the fourth cup.
2. Add about 1-2 mL of iodine solution to the powders in the 100 mL cups.
3. Add about 1-2 mL of vinegar to each of the powders in the 250 mL cups.
Introduction:
Today I am a detective helping out the police on the scene of a crime. Each suspects house was searched.The police have found a white powder that could be sugar, baking soda, or flour. Joe had an open bag of sugar in house, Mike had an open bag of flour, and Mary had an open box of baking soda. Who did it???
The white powde at the crime scene needs to be taken to a lab to be tested. We cannot taste the powders because we don’t know what might be in them. So first we will take known samples of each powder and test them with iodine and starch. Finally we perform the same tests on the unknown sample.
Explanation:
The starch in the flour is like a polymer chain that is a coil-like spring. When the liquid iodine is added, it goes inside this coil and turns the flour black. Neither the baking soda nor the sugar has starch so these powders do not change color, but give the original orange/brown color of the iodine. The vinegar is an acid that only reacts with carbonate ions such as iin the baking soda. When they react, they form bubbles of carbon dioxide. The flour and sugar do not make bubbles. With these reactions, we can determine which powder is which.
Safety:
Use caution using the iodine solution. It is not a harmful chemical; however, it will stain clothes and skin. Otherwise, all of the powders and the vinegar are harmless.
Disposal:
All of these reactions can be disposed of in the sink.
Wow, Neil! Thanks for the great experiment- we may have to try it ourselves!
The JumpStart Team
Neil, this is awesome!!!
Hey we’ve totally done the ‘cean the sink’ idea! I love that one.. double dipping on fun and chores!
We are ALL OVER the film canister rocket idea!!
Thanks!
my 5 year old did it and she loved it!!!!!!!!!
you can make a model of a volcano with vinegar and baking soda. get a plastic bottle and put in just a little amount of water colored in red or orange . hide the bottle with brown paper or plasticin so to appear as a volcano and leave the top of the bottle open not hidden. add the baking soda and vinegar at once into the top of the bottle and watch the volcano metals coming up just like a real vocano
Wow! I never knew that baking soda and vinegar release carbon dioxide when combined…. Thanks for giving me new facts… I would love to learn more… ~Deanne~