Kitchen Science Fun - Making Art with Vinegar and Baking Soda

Mixing vinegar and baking soda is one of the classic Kitchen Science experiments that never fails to fascinate children. In this activity I decided to colour the vinegar with food colouring for an 'artistic' effect in addition to the fizzing fun. The use of squirt bottles also makes this a great activity to practise fine motor skills.

Materials used:
- a tray lined with baking soda
- diluted vinegar in squirt bottles (one part vinegar to one part water)
- food colouring (I chose the primary colours red, yellow and blue to allow for the possibility of creating secondary colours.)

David started with the blue vinegar solution. He squeezed the bottle and squirted the blue solution onto the baking soda. The intense bubbling and fizzy reaction got him all excited. "Mummy! See! Bubbles! Bubbles!"

He then added bits of red and then yellow. We were beginning to see the effects of colour mixing.

Red was the last bottle to be used up.

The picture above shows the final product. Don't you think it's a nice piece of art? We can observe the results of colour mixing and thus creation of the secondary colours, particularly green and purple. Throughout the activity we talked about the colours he used, how the colours changed when they mixed, and why there were so many bubbles. I just explained there was air in the bubbles trying to escape. That should suffice for this stage, I think. I know he can't fully understand the science behind this yet, how that acids combine with bases to form a chemical reaction. Nevertheless, I believe exposure to sensory and visual observations of such experiments does have benefits for young children. Not only is it a 'fun' thing that excites them and stirs in them a sense of wonder, it also helps build observational and language skills. To me, it is largely about exposing them to the wonders of science, which ultimately points to the wisdom and power of our Almighty Creator.