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You will need: Baking soda, water, dish soap, food coloring (optional), vinegar

  1. Mix ingredients in a bowl.
    • 1 cup baking soda
    • 1 tsp. water (with food coloring added, if desired)
    • 1 Tbs. dish soap
  2. Stir until clumpy
  3. Press into shape and add “leaves” or other decorations
  4. Drip or pour vinegar over top (pipets were a big hit at my house!) and watch these fizz and foam.

Here’s what’s going on with these: This is another variation of the baking soda and vinegar reaction that we’ve posted about before. The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) reacts with the vinegar (acetic acid, C2H4O2). The first step is a double replacement reaction where the sodium (Na) from the sodium bicarbonate switches places with the hydrogen (H) from the acid. One of the products from this reaction is the chemical carbonic acid (H2CO3). Carbonic acid then undergoes a decomposition reaction which means that it decomposes or breaks apart. When that happens, it breaks into water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The carbon dioxide is a gas, so you can see it bubble up through the water. We’ve added some soap also, so when this bubbles up it’s a little extra sudsy.

Have fun!