The Tod Squad loved participating in this fun, hands on group experience where they explored with different ingredients and then combined them together to create a chemical reaction. First, we worked together to scoop up some snow, placing it inside a big container, then we turned its contents upside down so when the bucket was removed, we had unveiled a great big snow hill! In the middle of the heaping snow hill we placed a plastic cup, so that we could pour our ingredients inside. Next, the educators introduced some basic ingredients that we would need for our experiment they included vinegar, baking soda, dish soap and two different colours of food colouring. The toddlers then took turns as they helped to pour in some baking soda, the bubbly dish soap and food colouring inside the snow volcano…. but nothing was happening. The educators then inquired what exactly might happen if we added our last ingredient, which was vinegar? We guided them with some predictions, asking them what they thought would happen, if we added vinegar to our food colouring and baking soda combination. Would the ingredients combine together? How would they react to one another when combined? Would we see our white hill of snow change from the colour white to another colour? “Change colour!” said Brynne, “Smelly” said Emerson as he had remembered what the vinegar had smelled like when the educators were passing the ingredient around for the tod squad to get a better look. “I see blue” said Brady as he peeked inside the plastic cup and noted the food colouring that had been added. “Alright friends let’s see what happens when we pour in the vinegar” said the educator. As the remaining ingredient was poured in with the baking soda and food colouring it instantly caused a chemical reaction, this appeared to look like a foamy substance that rose up from the plastic cup and cascaded down onto our hill of snow. The educators called this an eruption! “Wow! I like it!” said Diya excitedly “Me too! I see lots of bubbles and blue!” said Emerson. Brady and his friends thought this was a very funny sight and began laughing at the sight. Adrian attempted to stop the eruption with his mittened hands, but soon discovered that he wasn’t able to stop the colourful blue liquid from sliding down the volcano. It’s so much fun watching or toddlers embracing the winter season and engaging with their peers, creating their own science experiments. They wanted to see the volcano erupt again so we would change the colour of our volcano by mixing different food colouring with vinegar and then adding it to the container. It was so exciting to see a new colour of lava start flowing out of the top and mixing with the other lava colours. We also kept adding more baking soda so that the reaction of bubbles and foam would reoccur. This activity is perfect for our children to start to understand that when you mix certain every day kitchen ingredients together, it causes a chemical reaction. Why it happens and the basic science behind it.
How to make a snow volcano:
2 spoons of baking soda
1 spoon full of dish soap
A few drops of food colouring
Vinegar
And lots of snow!
