Baking Soda and Vinegar Science

This has to be the easiest activity to do with the kids.  You probably already have all the ingredients in your cupboard. All I did was cover a plate with a thick layer of baking soda.  You could use a pan or anything else that has a lot of surface area.  I knew my kids would want their own area to work with though.  Then I filled half of an egg carton with vinegar and food coloring.  I left one of the spaces without dye.  That one turned out to be Stella's favorite.

I didn't actually plan on doing this activity today, I was just browsing through the cabinets looking for something for the kids to do.  if I had planned ahead I would have had eye droppers, but instead I had to improvise.  Piper got to use a plastic medicine syringe, and Stella used a pipette from their science kit. Now comes the fun part.  

Per's looked pretty cool at the beginning, and then it turned into a muddy mess.

After a long time of experimenting and playing, they discovered that they could pick up clumps of the sticky baking soda paste and drop it directly into the vinegar solution.  It had some neat effects. 

After they were done we just hosed down the deck and thy jumped in the pool to wash up.  There was minimal staining on their hands, but I expect it will be gone after a bath tonight.