No matter how many times we’ve combined these two ingredients, this dragon vinegar baking soda science experiment was still exciting. Be prepared though, once isn’t enough!
The kids wanted to do some dragon science, but what to do? We needed an idea. The thinking process for some dragon science fun was long and winding. There were big jumps of imagination instead of logic but that’s part of thinking too. Kids know dragons breathe fire but we didn’t want to use real fire for science. Hmmm. The kids said dragons are like dinosaurs, right? Maybe we could do dinosaur science. Dinosaurs aren’t alive anymore and some scientists think it’s because of volcanoes not meteorites. A volcano has fire like a dragon, so maybe we could do that? A dragon vinegar baking soda science experiment?
Making a volcano with baking soda and vinegar is pretty standard but we didn’t know how to make a dragon volcano. After some google searching, we discovered a foaming dragon science experiment on The Joys of Boys. We all agreed this was a great idea and could hardly wait to make our own.
To make a dragon volcano is simple. Start with an empty water bottle. Cut a tail and 4 paws out of a foam sheet or something else green and plastic. In the sewing drawer, we had some vinyl left-overs from a patio cushion that would do and a tube of googly eyes. Tape the tail, eyes, and paws to the bottle. A big bottle will need more vinegar than a small bottle. Fill the bottle about half full of vinegar and place on a pan to catch drips. Squirt in some liquid dish soap. Add a couple drops of food coloring. We used red and yellow to make orange. Since we hadn’t mixed in the dish soap, the food colors made swirls in the bottle. It was really interesting to watch the red spread out in the vinegar solution. *At this point, the kids reminded me I’d forgot to tape on the dragon’s tail and paws. We had to pause for that.
Now, for the fun and exciting part. With the vinegar, soap, and color in the bottle, what do you think will happen when we add some baking soda? Will it bubble right out of the bottle? The reaction starts as soon as a little bit of soda hits the vinegar. It only needed a small scoop of baking soda for orange foam to start bubbling up, out, over, and all down the side of our dragon. This dragon was breathing hard and it was orange like fire. It even worked again with a second scoop of baking soda.
Good oldstand-bys. This dragon vinegar baking soda science experiment was so much fun. The kids proved it works once again, were engaged, had lots to talk about and certainly lots to think about. Could this be a play-of-the-day for your child?