We gathered up the last remaining bits of snow this afternoon to make a Baking Soda Volcano using snow! A snow volcano is a great way to have some fun in the snow while learning and experimenting.

I piled up a heap of snow around a small glass jar, making the top of the snow level with the top of the jar, added the ingredients for the baking soda and vinegar reaction and stood back to watch the snow volcano erupt!

How to make a snow volcano

What you need to make a baking soda volcano eruption

Two spoonfuls of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda )

One spoonful of washing-up liquid ( dish soap )

a few drops of red food colouring

30 ml vinegar

Snow

Small container

How to make a snow volcano using baking soda and vinegar

Add everything except the vinegar to the container.

Carefully shape a volcano shape around the container using snow.

Stand back, get ready......add the vinegar and watch the eruption! If it doesn't work so well, add a bit more washing-up liquid and vinegar and give it a good stir.

I loved how easy this was to make and how great the red looked against the snow! It was also super easy to clean up,

Extension Task

Can you make a different-coloured snow volcano? We made lave using every colour of food colouring we could find.

FREE Snow Volcano Printable Instructions

Download a free snow volcano instruction sheet.

How does a baking soda volcano work?

Vinegar (an acid ) and bicarbonate of soda ( an alkali ) react together to neutralise each other. This reaction releases carbon dioxide, a gas which is the bubbles you see; these bubbles make the washing up liquid bubble up to give the reaction shown above.

Another idea is to make a multi-coloured snow volcano. To do this, we used a thick card to divide the central container in half and added yellow food colouring to one half and red food colouring to the other half.

More experiments using baking soda

Don't forget to try some of our other easy Baking Soda Experiments

Make a fizzy monster Tea Party

Design and build a baking soda powered boat.

Hide small items inside fizzy baking soda rocks!

This post was first published on 21st Jan 2013. Updated 3rd Feb 2019

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Baking soda experiments or activities are a great, safe and easy way to introduce the concept of a chemical reaction to children. Baking soda is alkaline and reacts with acids such as vinegar, releasing carbon dioxide ( a gas ) and water. The fizz produced is brilliant fun for children to watch, especially if you combine it with washing up liquid ( dish soap ) to make even more bubbles or add a bit of food colouring, ice or a theme.

Note: This is an old post that I have updated, so there are now more than ten ideas!

Baking Soda Reactions

Make Honeycomb

Did you know honeycomb has lots of holes due to the addition of baking soda? Making honeycomb is a delicious way to see the bubbles made when baking soda reacts.

Baking Soda Rocket

This rocket is my favourite baking soda experiment, but it does shoot up with a bang, so take extra special care and stand well back! You'll need to wrap the baking soda in a small piece of kitchen towel to slow the reaction down for long enough to push the cork securely into place.

Baking Soda Powered Boat

We loved making our baking soda boat, although it was tricky to get the mechanism to work correctly. It's worth persevering with, though. It's fun to try making several different size boats and investigate how they move when you add different amounts of baking soda and vinegar.

Monster Tea Party and witchy potions

Our monster tea party was filled with fun fizzy potions and an excellent opportunity to try baking soda as well as bicarbonate of soda. Which do you think worked the best?

If monsters aren't your thing, how about making witchy or fairy potions?

Baking Soda Volcano

A baking soda volcano is a staple science activity for kids. Try asking children to investigate using different amounts of vinegar but keeping the amount of washing-up liquid and baking soda the same. Can they create the perfect recipe for an eruption?

Volcanos can be made using snow, sand, papier mache, LEGO or anything else you can make a basic volcano shape with.

Baking Soda Popper

My children loved these baking soda poppers. Please be careful and stand back, as these can shoot up with a little warning and a lot of force.

We experimented to discover the best baking soda and vinegar combination for a launch.

What reacts with baking soda?

This fun investigation is great for children to start thinking scientifically. We tested lots of different liquids to discover what reacts with baking soda and what doesn't.

Remember to keep the amount of baking soda and the test substance the same.

Fizzing rocks with baking soda

Make baking soda rocks and watch them fizz! Can you hide something inside them?

Blow up a balloon with baking soda

Did you know you can blow up a balloon with baking soda and vinegar or another acid?

Baking Soda Ice Cubes

Make some colourful baking soda ice cubes and watch them fizz as you add vinegar.

Frozen Vinegar

Inspiration Laboratories froze the vinegar instead of the baking soda, which also worked brilliantly.

Dancing Raisins

Watch raisins dance around a glass due to bubbles of carbon dioxide.

Fizzy Paint

We did this many years ago but loved our fizzy paint afternoon.

Exploding Sandwich Bag

Exploding sandwich bags are always fun too! Simply pop a bit of vinegar and baking soda in a sealable plastic bag, fasten it quickly and stand back to watch!

Colour Changing Baking Soda Potions

These colour-changing potions made with red cabbage indicator are fantastic fun and easy to make too!

These change colour as the acid and then alkali is added.

Christmas Elf Lab

We very much enjoyed our magical fizzy elf lab for Christmas time too!

Do you have any more baking soda experiments to tell us about?

What is a baking soda and vinegar reaction?

If you combine an acid and an alkali, they react together to neutralise each other. Vinegar is an acid, and bicarbonate of soda is an alkali.

The reaction releases carbon dioxide gas, which is the bubbles you see. If you add washing-up liquid ( dish soap ) to your eruption, mix the bubbles making the washing-up liquid bubble up, giving you an extra bubbly mix.

Don't forget we've got 100s more easy science experiments for you to try at home or school!

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Red cabbage indicator turns pink in the presence of acids, so by testing different types of acids ( lemon juice and vinegar are good to try ), you can make a range of lovely pink potions perfect for Valentine's Day!

If pink isn't your thing, add an alkali ( baking soda works well ) and turn the indicator a more dirty green colour! If you add an acid and an alkali, you'll get a clever colour-changing fizzy potion!

Don't forget to check out my other heart and flower-themed experiments for Valentine's Day in my Valentine science experiment round-up post too!

Pink Colour Changing Potions

Red Cabbage - chopped

Sieve

Large container for the indicator

Small containers for the testing

Water

Pan

Acids to test - vinegar, orange juice, lemon juice

How to make a Valentine's potion

Place the red cabbage into the pan and cover it with water. Bring to the boil ( ask an adult to help ) and leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Leave to cool and then pour the mixture through a sieve or colander saving the purple cabbage water.

Share the indicator mixture between the small containers and add a little of the test acids ( only use edible acids to test ) to see how the indicator changes colour.

Once you've made lots of lovely pink colours, add a little baking soda to make the potion fizz.

The alkaline baking soda reacts with the vinegar to make a lovely fizzy mixture. This is an example of a neutralisation reaction.

If you enjoyed this experiment, I've got lots more baking soda experiments you'll love!

More Potions for Valentine's Day

We love lava lamps here at Science Sparks, and this glitter love potion version is just lovely from Hello Wonderful.

This layered love potion from Playdough to Plato is gorgeous too.

Babble Dabble Do has a brilliant kool-aid based Harry Potter potion as well!

We don't know which to try first!

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I've found my 5 year old to be incredibly curious at the moment, always asking questions and wanting to know how things work. Even something as simple as a rain gauge has been VERY exciting for her. With that in mind I've pulled together a list of great science experiments for kids of all ages! The age ranges mentioned in this post are just a guide, most science is fun for all ages if you tweak the activity a little bit.

I've also got a couple of science books available if you fancy taking a look.

Science Experiments for 4-6 Year Olds

Bubble Snakes

Bubble snakes are very easy to make. Try blowing harder and then more slowly, and look for rainbows in the bubbles.

Paint on Ice

Ice painting has always kept my children busy for ages. Another idea is to freeze a 3D shape and paint that. Cake moulds work really well for this.

Filter Paper Butterflies

Make filter paper butterflies. This fun, creative chromatography experiment is great for younger children. Ink spreading through filter paper opens the door to lots of questions, and the fact that the dry filter paper can be turned into a craft is an added bonus.

Superhero Cressheads

These superhero themed cress heads are super cute and perfect for learning about germination.

How many feet tall are you?

Find out how many of your own feet tall you are. Is there a pattern?

What's inside the body?

Children can learn abour what's inside their body by drawing around themselves or a friend on a roll of paper and then adding in a skeleton or even organs.

Pine cone weather station

A pine cone weather station is a fun way to learn about the weather. Thanks to Rainy Day Mum for this one.

Static electricity and jumping frogs

Learn about static electricity with jumping frogs. The frogs are cut out from tissue paper and jump up the balloon when it's charged with static electricity.

Optical illusion

Trick your eyes with a super easy optical illusion. Optical illusions are fantastic because they can be themed in lots of different ways. We've made a fish in a tank, Santa in a chimney, and a face on a pumpkin.

Bubble wands

Another activity that inspires a lot of questions from younger children is creating bubbles from differently shaped bubble wands.

Waterproofing activity

Learn about waterproof materials with this fun activity using soft toys or try my Save the Dinosaur waterproofing activity.

Make a magnet maze and learn about magnetism. Can you make a huge version?

Explore freezing and melting with slushy drinks, you could even try some colour mixing.

Make some coloured ice cubes for more fizzy fun or how about some coloured rocks?

Find out about arm span and its relation to height in this easy activity.

Make some shadow puppets or a shadow frame and then put on a show. What happens to the shadow when you move it away from the light source?

Make mixture with toys. This is great for starting to lean about properties of materials.

Try some colour mixing with jelly.

Sort Ariel's treasures into groups depending on their properties.

Start to learn about what conditions green plants need to grow with this cress caterpillar.

Have some messy fun with oobleck!

Make some simple patterns using DUPLO.

How about setting up a  chemistry lab in the kitchen? all you need is some coloured water, oil and pipettes.

Science Experiments for 7-11 Year olds

Try a bit of science magic? Can you make an egg bounce?

Learn about oil and water not mixing and density with this density jar. Experiment with different objects floating on the layers to make it more fun. What happens when you shake it?

How about making some simple 'shooters' like Red Ted Art, what happens to them when it's windy? Do they move further if you blow harder?

We LOVE these candy science experiments!

Learn how to clean dirty water using filters or design and build a toy filter.

If there's a Science Fair coming up, we've got lots of easy and impressive science fair projects to try too!

Find out what makes the best sandcastle? Is dry or wet sand better?

More great science experiments for kids

Adult help is definitely needed for this one, but a Water Powered Bottle Rocket is always a big hit in our house.

Make honeycomb, pancakes, meringue and more in this collection of tasty kitchen science experiments and activities.

If it's coming up to Valentine's Day we've got lots of easy Valentine science experiments and activities too.

We've got collections of science experiments and investigations whatever the time of year:

Make a snow volcano, frost on a can and lots more cool winter science experiments.

Make a multicoloured cress caterpillar, colourful flowers and lots more spring science experiments for kids.

Stay busy all summer long with our huge collection of summer science experiments.

If autumn is more your season, we've got lots of fall related science activities too!

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These red cabbage indicator colour changing potions are fantastic fun for kids of all ages and very easy to create. We used red cabbage indicator and added different amounts of baking soda ( an alkali ) and vinegar ( an acid ) to make the different colours.

What is a pH Indicator?

A pH indicator is a substance which has one colour when added to an acidic solution and a different colour when added to an alkaline solution.

Acids have a low pH and bases a high pH.

Why does red cabbage make a good indicator?

Red cabbage contains a chemical called anthocyanin. This changes colour depending on the acidity of its environment. It turns a pink/red colour in the presence of an acid, is purple when neutral and when added to an alkaline substance turns blue or green.

How to make Colour Changing Potions

Red Cabbage Indicator Ingredients

Red Cabbage ( chopped )

A pan

Water

A stove

Strainer

Selection of jugs, jars and beakers

Vinegar

Dish soap ( washing up liquid )

Instructions

Place your chopped red cabbage into a pan, cover with water and heat until the water turns purple ( ask an adult to help )

Carefully pour the mixture through a strainer to remove the red cabbage and collect the solution in a container.

Pour the indicator into smaller beakers, it doesn't really matter how much you use, but we made ours about half full.

Add different amounts of baking soda or vinegar to each one.

How many different colours can you make?

Colour Changing Potions Challenge

For a little extra fun, you can add vineger to a beaker containing baking soda and vice versa to see a fizzy colour changing reaction.

Safety note

Wear safety goggles if using strong acids/bases.

An adult should help with the chopping and heating of the cabbage.

More Red Cabbage Indicator Ideas

We love how The Science Kiddo froze some red cabbage indicator to test different substances

Make your own pH indicator test strips

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This is a great little science experiment that kids will love! When baking soda and vinegar are added, raisins dance around a glass of water.

Dancing Raisins Experiment

What happens when you put a raisin in a glass of water?

It sinks!

Do you think it's possible to make raisins rise to the top and jump around?

Find out in this simple baking soda science investigation.

What you need:

A pint glass

Warm water

Raisins or anything else you would like to test.

Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda)

White Vinegar

Why do the raisins dance?

The vinegar and bicarbonate of soda react to form carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide bubbles collect over the surface of the raisins. As carbon dioxide is lighter than water, it rises to the top and takes the raisins with it. As the bubbles pop at the surface the raisins drop again, only to be covered in bubbles again at the bottom until the reaction finishes.

More Investigation Ideas

Try to find the smallest amount of baking soda and vinegar that allows the raisins to dance. Try with just one raisin and then investigate to discover if you need more to make two raisins dance.

Can you think of anything else this would work with? You could investigate using other dried fruits and record how well each dances.

We tried with small LEGO pieces and found that they sank when they filled with water and once the reaction started they jumped to the top, but didn't dance around.

We then tried with small coins, but these didn't move at all, you can see how all the bubbles of carbon dioxide have gathered on the surface though.

Another idea is to attach something to the raisins and see if they still dance.

Why do baking soda and vinegar react?

If you combine an acid ( vinegar ) and an alkali ( baking soda ) they react together to neutralise each other. 

The reaction releases carbon dioxide gas, which is the bubbles you see.

More baking soda experiments for kids

Create a fizzy Monster Tea Party!

Our baking soda powered boat is a fantastic engineering challenge.

Everyone loves a baking soda volcano. We also have a sand volcano, a snow volcano, and a papier-mache volcano.

Or try some fizzing rocks with baking soda, what would you hide inside?

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Many people ask me about parties and the best experiments to entertain children at a science party. Science Sparks is full of fun, safe and hands-on science investigations that would all make great party activities, but here are some I think would work brilliantly for a children's science party at home.

Science activities are great for keeping kids engaged and offer lots of opportunities for teamwork and creating an action-packed, unforgettable party for kids of all ages.

Easy Ideas for a Science Party

Make a Lava Lamp

Lava lamps are super simple to make and the perfect take-home gift. They are completely reusable with the addition of a bit more Alka Seltzer or an effervescent vitamin tablet. Children can make a beautiful display of different-coloured lava lamps and take home their creations as party favours.

Walk Over Oobleck

Set up a giant tray of oobleck and see if the party guests dare walk across. I'd recommend doing this in the garden as it's messy but worth it, and a memorable party activity.

The infamous Cola and Mento trick

This one is sure to be a crowd-pleaser and a great activity to start or end a party. Drop a couple of Mentos into a bottle of Cola and stand back! Children can experiment to see whether it works with diet drinks or sweets.

Another idea is to use different coloured fizzy drinks to make an erupting rainbow.

The trick with the coka and mento reaction is to drop the mento in the bottle as soon as the lid is removed. The longer the gap between the lid coming off and the mento dropping in, the less impressive the eruption. 

I'd also do this outdoors, as if you're quick with the mento, it could hit a ceiling inside!

Absorbing sugar cubes

This sugar cube activity is super simple, easy to explain and very hands-on. Add some coloured water to a plate or bowl and have different materials on hand to investigate whether they stop the sugar cubes from absorbing the water.

Make this even more fun by having a prize for the tallest tower still standing at the end.

This does end up a bit of a sticky mess, so you have been warned!

Make a LEGO house and test different roof materials

Sticking with the absorbing theme, another idea is to make and test different roof materials for small LEGO houses.

We tested a selection of sticks and leaves for the children to use as the roof and then sprayed them with water to test how watertight each material was.

Another idea is to put a LEGO mini-figure inside and give a prize to the team with the driest figure at the end.

Science Magic Tricks

If you'd like a few science demonstrations at the party, impress the kids and grown-ups with these simple science tricks. There's an unbreakable egg, butter made from cream, a skewer through a balloon, magic colour-changing flowers and more!

Baking Soda Experiments

Fun and fizzy baking soda experiments and activities go down well with kids of all ages.

The good old baking soda volcano is always popular, but there's so much more you can do with baking soda and vinegar than just a volcano. Older children can make mini bottle rockets, exploding sandwich bags and colour changing potions, and younger children will love finding small toys in baking soda rocks!

Set up a messy potion station

Everyone loves a messy fizzy potion. How about sparkly fairy potions? Or witchy potions if you want something a little spookier.

Baking soda volcano

How about making erupting volcanoes for small groups of children? You could make them with papier mache, play-dough, sand or even snow. If you wanted to be super organised, mini papier mache volcanoes made in advance would work brilliantly.

Lolly Stick Races

Make lolly sticks shoot across a tray of water by disrupting the surface tension of the water.

This only works once, so it is better as a demonstration than an individual activity.

Colourful Skittles

This activity is full of awe and wonder. All you need is different coloured Skittles, a white plate and water. Sometimes you can even rescue the 'S' from the top of each sweet.

Fruity Boats - sink and float experiment

Make a fruity snack and then build boats from the fruit skin! Give out a prize to the child with the boat that can carry the heaviest load.

If you don't want to use fruit, foil boats work just as well!

Giant Bubbles

Everyone loves giant bubbles, and if you've got enough mixture and a hula hoop, you can put your guests inside one!

We use bubble mix from Dr Zigs, which is the best I've found.

Rockets!!

Finally, why not end the party with a bottle rocket or a film canister rocket? Film canisters also make great take-home party favours!

If you want an activity that takes some time, give each child an empty bottle to decorate like a rocket and launch them at the end.

Science party bag gift ideas

Give the kids a make your own lava lamp kit ( containing a little bottle of oil, food colouring, a jar and a fizzy tablet ) in a little bag.

A little pack of Skittles with instructions for arranging them on a paper plate and covering them with water is a lovely party favour too.

Print out my paper spinner templates and give them out with a paper clip for children to make at home.

Science party food

Make pizza dough to learn about yeast and respiration, or experiment with different types of pancake mix for dessert. The basic pancake mix could be made up in advance, and the children then add the baking powder ( or not ).

For dessert, meringue towers are great fun. Use cream in between the layers and add strawberries for decoration. Or keep it super simple and melt chocolate to dip strawberries in, or if it's a hot day, children could make s'mores in a solar oven.

I've got LOTS more edible experiments in my book Snackable Science too!

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We have had lots of fun blowing up a balloon with lemon juice today, although it's taken several attempts to perfect our technique. This is a brilliant chemistry experiment for learning about chemical reactions!

Inflate a Balloon with Lemon Juice

What you'll need

A small bottle or jar
Lemon juice
Vinegar
Bicarbonate of soda
Balloons

Instructions

Stretch the balloon a bit first. This makes it easier to inflate.

Fill your jar or bottle about one quarter full with lemon juice.

Use a funnel to tip the bicarbonate of soda  ( baking soda ) into the neck of the balloon.

Place the balloon over the top of the bottle. When you're ready tip the balloon up so the baking soda drops into the lemon juice.

Watch the balloon inflate.

Another way to do this is to pour the baking soda directly into the jar and then quickly place the balloon over the top, but we've found this a bit trickier.

Extension Task

Set up a fair experiment to investigate whether vinegar, lime or lemon juice produces the most gas? Think about how you can measure the amount of gas produced.

Think about which conditions you need to keep the same...( amount of baking soda, amount of vinegar, and amount of vinegar and lemon juice )

Why does lemon juice inflate a balloon?

The balloon should inflate because adding the lemon juice/vinegar to the bicarbonate of soda creates a chemical reaction. When the two combine they create carbon dioxide. The gas rises up into the balloon blowing it up.

This is an example of a reaction between an acid ( lemon juice/vinegar ) and a base.

More Baking Soda Experiments

Try some more fun chemistry experiments for kids.

Have a go at one of my 10 brilliant baking soda experiments!

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When you think of great science experiments for kids one of the first that springs to mind is probably a baking soda volcano and vinegar volcano. I remember making one with my little brother in the kitchen when he was about 4 or 5. Baking soda volcanoes and coke floats were our favourite summer activities.

You might also like our 10 science experiments every child should try at least once with a free printable checklist to work through.

A baking soda volcano eruption is a fantastic first demonstration of a chemical reaction as the ingredients are safe ( although do wear safety glasses to protect your eyes from vinegar )

Why does a baking soda and vinegar reaction happen?

If you combine an acid and an alkali they react together to neutralise each other. Vinegar is an acid and bicarbonate of soda is  an alkali.

The reaction releases carbon dioxide gas, which is the bubbles you see. If you add washing up liquid ( dish soap ) to your eruption mix the bubbles make the washing up liquid bubble up, giving the appearance of lava erupting from a volcano.

How to make a baking soda volcano

What you need to make a baking soda volcano

Basically you need the ingredients for the volcano eruption, a jar or small bottle for the eruption to happen in and something to use as the volcano part.

Volcano - sand, snow, modroc etc

Small jar or bottle

Red food colouring

Dish soap

Baking soda

Vinegar

Volcano Instructions

I don't usually measure an exact amount of each, but a good dollop of baking soda, a squirt of dish soap and a bit of red food colouring mixed with a little water should give you a good eruption. If it doesn't, add a bit more baking soda.

If you want to make a very quick and easy baking soda volcano a sand volcano is a good option, or a snow volcano !

Volcano Experiment Extension Ideas

What happens if you don't use the dish soap? Can you predict what might happen before trying it?

What happens if you add extra dish soap?

Volcano Experiment Extra Challenges

Can you think of an acidic fruit you could use to make an baking soda volcano eruption without adding vinegar?

Create a papier mache volcano? We love this version from Red Ted Art.

Design a multicoloured volcano? We split our jar in half and poured yellow food colouring into one half and red into the other for this.

What's your favourite baking soda volcano to make?

What is a volcano?

A volcano is a mountain that contains a magma ( rock so hot it has turned into a liquid ) chamber. The magma chamber is filled with liquid rock. If enough pressure builds inside the chamber, the volcano can explode, shooting the magma from the top! When magma is on the surface of the Earth, we call it lava!

Make a model of a famous volcano

Another idea is to make a model of a famous volcano. In my book This Is Rocket Science one of the activities is to make a baking soda Olympus Mons. It's a great way to learn about chemical reactions, volcanoes and Mars!!

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Baking soda experiments are a great introduction to chemical reactions using safe ingredients. These Christmas themed fizzy activities are lots of fun and super easy to set up.

Please watch children at all times. This activity is not designed to be eaten.

Food colouring may stain clothes.

Fizzy Baking Soda Christmas Experiment

Materials

Water

Bicarbonate of soda/baking soda

Vinegar

Food colouring

Christmas themed cookie cutters - optional

Instructions

Pour a small pack of baking soda into a bowl and add water slowly until you get a thick paste.

Add a few drops of food colouring and mix well.

Place the mixture inside a cookie cutter on a plate and leave to harden in a fridge for a couple of hours.

Remove from cookie cutter.

Add vinegar slowly.

Watch the fizz.

Why does this happen?

Vinegar (an acid) and bicarbonate of soda ( an alkali ) react together to neutralise each other. This reaction releases carbon dioxide, a gas, which is the bubbles you see.

What shapes would you make?

Fizzy Elf Lab

What do you think of our fizzy elf lab? It's super easy to set up, and the fizz looks fantastic oozing out of the test tubes.

FREE Christmas Ebook!

Download our Christmas Science eBook for more Christmas Science experiment ideas.

If you love Elf on the Shelf, give our fun ELF STEM Challenges a go, too!

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