Baking Soda Experiment turned into Art....

I have been looking for ways to incorporate the fun baking soda and vinegar reaction into my art classes ever since we had so much fun with the Volcano Eggs back at Easter time.  I really want to make my classes as fun as possible and what kid doesn't like things that fizz or explode?  We used this activity as an end of class filler and its been a big hit.

Coloured Vinegar and Baking Soda when finished fizzing - still so pretty

This idea came to me when my son was home sick and we did some fun experiments to cheer him up with oils, water, vinegar and baking soda.  I found a great set of experiments with just these ingredients on the Growing a Jeweled Rose blogsite.  This site has lots of great ideas if you are looking for a rainy day activity.

Leo experimenting with oil and coloured vinegar.  Then he sprinked baking soda on the coloured blobs of vinegar to make them fizz.

For our last experiment we just filled a plate with baking soda and dripped the coloured vinegar on with droppers to watch the fizzes.  The finished product was so pretty we decided to make a print of it with normal paper, baking paper and paper towel.  They all came out lovely and bright. Leo had the idea to put it up as a suncatcher so we coated the one on baking paper with oil, stuck it on the window and there you go another pretty suncatcher to adore our windows.

You will need:

• Baking Soda
• Plate or tray 
• Coloured Vinegar (just add food colouring) 
• Pippettes
• Baking Paper or paper towel
• Oil (any type will do)

How to:

• Spread baking soda all over your plate or tray.  
• Drop the coloured vinegar onto the baking soda with pippettes 
• When the children have finished watching the fizz and have completely covered their baking soda with colour, give them a piece of baking paper or paper towel and ask them to press it down onto their plate to get a "print".  
• Let prints dry and then rub off any baking soda still attached.
• If you wish to attach your print to the window, cut out into a circle shape (or other shape) and rub both sides with oil (the oil makes the paper even more transpaprent and also sticks the paper to the window).

The Results:

Here are our results on the window.  Pretty aren't they?  Another wonderful example that ART is all about experimentation.  Maybe I should be running science classes instead? On that note - Leo's Mad Science Party post coming soon......

Cheers
Fiona