Colorful and bubbly science exploration

Children love science experiments and this fizzy exploration with color is so much fun!

Baking soda, food color, and vinegar are perhaps the easiest set of ingredients to throw together to create wonderful opportunities for science play and exploration. Today, our class explored these ingredients and the bubble making process in an entirely new way and it was a big success…

Preparing the experiment

I have written about using vinegar, baking soda, and food color before: “Fun with Colorful Bubble Science.”  In this post, the children enjoyed having the colors appear as they stirred the spoons of baking soda into the vinegar.  But this time, I changed the process so the children would be able to explore the process with more freedom and for a longer period of time…

  1. I set out trays for the children to work on.
  2. I set out cups of vinegar with food color added to each cup for the children to share.
  3. I set out one cup of baking soda per tray.
  4. I set out plastic spoons and droppers.

The process

Each child scooped out a spoonful of baking soda on their tray. Then the children used the droppers to add colored vinegar on top of their scoop of baking soda to create colorful bubbles.

Investigating colors

The children continued to add new scoops of baking soda and new colors of vinegar to make bubbles on the trays…

Fun with eruptions

Some of the children announced that they were making volcanoes…

Exploring cause and effect

The bubble making process went on for quite some time. The children scooped and made bubbles, then scooped some more and made more bubbles…

I finally had to let the children know that we were going to have to get ready to go home but before we wrapped up our bubble making science process, I had each child choose one color of vinegar to set on their tray – and I added a second cup as well…

Experimenting and making new discoveries

And we finished our day with a big bang!  All the children added the remainder of the baking soda into their cups of vinegar and we watched the bubbles flow!!

It was a terrific process of individual exploration and discovery plus the opportunity to finish with a big bubble finale!

Links to grow on..

I am linking this page to No Time for Flashcards: Link & Learn

Play Date with Science – Easy fun Experiment from No Time for Flashcards

Sciency Bubbles from Beansprouts Preschool Blog

Vinegar and Baking Soda from Hands on: as we grow

Making Bubble Prints from Teach Preschool

Books from Amazon

       

Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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