Fizzing Baking Soda Paint

Baking soda and vinegar experiments are always a huge hit at Mud Mates Headquarters so we decided to give this fizzing baking soda paint recipe a go. The exploding, fizzy eruptions were great fun.

Heads up – this one gets messy! A Mud Mates Craft Apron will save you a load of washing.

As the kids love any kind of painting they gave this activity a massive thumbs up. In fact, they enjoyed it so much we did it again the very next day!

What You Will Need

• baking soda (approximately 1 cup)
• food colouring (range of colours)
• water
• whisk or fork
• small bowls or containers
• watercolour paper (or thick card)
• paint brush
• spray bottle / dropper/pipette / squeeze bottle

Instructions:

Step 1: Whisk together 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup of water and a few drops of food colouring in a small bowl or container. Repeat for as many different colours as you like.

Step 2: Let kids paint away – the whole surface, reasonably thickly. The baking soda tends to settle so give it a stir every now and then, or encourage older kids to mix it up when they dip their brush in. The more coverage, the better the fizzing eruptions.

Tip: watercolour paper gives the best results – 300gsm holds the liquid well and gives you bigger, better fizzes. Thick card works too if that’s what you’ve got.

Step 3: Once the painting is complete, give kids a container of vinegar and a dropper or spray bottle. Let them apply it to their painting and watch the fizzy eruptions happen.

This is a great opportunity to talk about colour mixing – watching what happens when colours combine is endlessly fascinating for kids. Using the dropper, squeeze and spray bottles is great for fine motor skills too.

Once you’re done with the painting, don’t pack away the leftover paint and vinegar – kids will happily spend another hour making volcanoes, eruptions and potions with what’s left. Baking soda and vinegar really are the most versatile messy play ingredients going. (Even I can’t resist having a go.)

Doing this activity at the table? Our Fitted Tablecloths protect your table and make clean-up so much easier – just wipe down and you’re done.

If your kids loved this, they’re sure to enjoy a fizzing shaving cream car wash!

For more screen-free activity ideas and messy play inspiration, join our community here.

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