Hidden Colors – Toddler Science Experiment

 

You’ve got to see this fun twist on an easy toddler science experiment!

Who doesn’t love a good toddler science experiment? Science is basically magic in early childhood and nothing is better than the good old baking soda and vinegar experiment. It is the absolute gold standard best.

But this science experiment is so much more than just a one and done baking soda and vinegar moment. Trust me on this.

RELATED: Looking for more quick learning activities to try each day? Check out Playing Preschool – my easy home preschool program.

Check out the magical mystery I add to this activity!

I know it’s not some genius idea to do this experiment but I wanted to introduce the old “baking soda + vinegar” trick to my toddler something fierce. To make things just that much more interesting, I didn’t want to go the volcano route with it. I’m not anti-volcano – but my toddler just doesn’t have any frame of reference for that so I needed another vehicle for my ingredients.

Also, I wanted this to be an activity, not a 2 second “ooooh it fizzes” and my kids just walk away type thing. I wanted this experiment to be something extra fun.

What did I do to make this activity special?

I added a hidden ingredient that upped the wow factor for my kids.

Materials:
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• food coloring
• baking soda
• vinegar
• squirt bottle or regular water bottle
• cupcake tin
• storage tub to keep things “clean”

Remember, my goal was to make this an activity not a fizz and done sight.

To do that, I put a drop of food dye in each cup of my muffin tin and then a teaspoon of baking soda over it to hide the coloring. Genius, right! They had NO IDEA there was a hidden color under each pile of baking soda, and different colors at that.

 

Can you imagine how surprised kids were?

The first thing we did was look at the set up and talk about it: What was this white stuff and what was in that squeeze container?

Not only were they blown away by the fizzing chemical reaction of the two items but they was SHOCKED at the colors!! They’d yell them out each time and giggle with excitement and pride (I couldn’t stop laughing at my daughter calling this activity “stinky bubbles”).

You’ll never guess how long they played with this experiment for!

 

 

It took my kids about 8 minutes to work her way through the muffin tin of colors. It was an exciting 8 minutes in their life – and it kept on going from there.

But the fun didn’t stop there!

Get ready for this cool trick to keep the activity going

 

After the first “pass” through the muffin tin, my kids was itching to do more. Who wouldn’t be?! This activity is magical for toddlers. Forget the kids,  it’s magical for adults to watch this chemical reaction!

They wanted was to do this activity again and the best part is – I could make their wish come true without adding any new baking soda.

 

All I had to do was tip the muffin tin over and let the excess vinegar run into the storage container.

See why I used one of those? Sure it keep things clean but it also helps us restart the activity. With the excess vinegar gone, it reveals the unused baking soda and the fun can begin again.

We restarted this toddler science experiment 3 times!

Can you think of all the things a toddler learns with this experiment?

Kids learn so much with a simple toddler science experiment:

• Science – chemical reaction and the scientific method
• Cause and effect
• Grip strength to squeeze the bottle
• Hand-eye coordination

 

Not only did this activity get us through a good chunk of our  day morning, but it was a riot for my kids and oh so memorable. Toddler science experiments are always so memorable.

This one is absolutely perfect!

Will you try this toddler science experiment at your house?

 

Check out this video of my son play Hidden Colors!