Giant Soapy Eruptions

 
 
 
Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

(E was 32 months old.)

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To make Giant Soapy Eruptions, you’ll need:



 

When E caught sight of our bottle of vinegar, she decided we had to do something with it.

I immediately thought of doing another “real” baking soda and vinegar experiment, after our recent Fizzy Puddle activity where we replaced the vinegar with Kool Aid and water.

We didn’t have that much vinegar left, so I put it in two different spray bottles to make it last longer.

I added a tablespoon of baking soda to each of two large plastic cups and added a bit of red Kool Aid and green Hawaiian Punch for some fun color.

I didn’t really expect it to be enough to make the cups overflow but decided to have E add a little bit of dish soap just for a bit of extra fun.

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

Then she started using the spray bottle to add vinegar. It looked AWESOME!

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

E loved it, too, and picked up the cup to get a better look. 

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

She got the mixture right up to the top of the cup but didn’t spill any of it.

Then she set it back down and kept spraying.

After a while, she tried the green spray bottle but surprisingly, it actually made the level of the foamy baking soda and vinegar reaction in the cup go back down. I think it must’ve been because it was a softer spray over a larger area compared to the hard spray from the hot pink spray bottle.

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

So she went back to the spray bottle that caused a better reaction and got the red mixture to rise really high in the cup.

She picked up the cup again and admired it from all different perspectives, including the perfect mad scientist pose.

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?
 
 
Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?
 
 
Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

This time, she did spill a tiny bit but it obviously hadn’t been her plan, and she set the cup back down to go back to spraying.

She wanted to add more dish soap, 

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

and I suggested she try pouring some of the vinegar.

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

This way of adding vinegar made the bubbles in the green cup go up slowly but very steadily until the cup overflowed.

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap? 

Interestingly, it didn’t seem like E WANTED it to overflow, and when she went back to the red cup, she poured very carefully until the mixture came up to the edge but stopped before it overflowed.

Next, she asked for a spoon and started using it on the foamy mixture she’d made.

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?
 

It stuck to the spoon and didn’t drip down easily.

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

Suddenly, she started running around the area where we were playing at top speed a few times 😉

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

After she’d gotten the wigglies out, she went back to our activity and played with the mixture. There was actually still quite a bit of vinegar left but she wasn’t interested in it anymore.

Now there was some spilling and pouring but nothing compared how she usually LOVES to spill liquids of any kind 😉

 

Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?
 
 
Make giant soapy eruptions - who knew that baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap?

 

When she was done, all we needed to do was hose down the patio a bit, and it was all cleaned up.



 

What I learned:

  • The dish soap definitely helps the reaction be a lot more dramatic.
  • It didn’t take much dish soap or baking soda at all to get the cups to overflow.
  • The level in the cups went up slowly when vinegar was added and down slowly when the bubbles popped after a while of not having additional vinegar added.
  • A soft spray from a spray bottle does not give the desired effect, you ideally need one that has a fairly hard spray focused in one spot like this {some spray bottles are adjustable} 
 
Baking soda and vinegar eruptions are even better when you add a little soap!



 

 

Additional suggestions:

  • We did this outside just to get some fresh air but it’s not necessarily an outdoor activity. You could easily do this inside in a large tray or even the sink or the bathtub for an even easier clean-up.
  • You can adjust this activity to skip the vinegar and use more Kool Aid instead. See the link below for photos.
  • Or use vinegar plus extra Kool Aid, and maybe some tempera paint for extra fizzing action 😉

 



Inspiration: Learn Play Imagine’s Giant Kool Aid Eruptions (no vinegar).

 

 

 

Does your child like baking soda and vinegar experiments? How do you do them? Leave a comment to tell me about it!

 

 

 

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