On the PA day in November, we did a super fun science experiment with vinegar, baking soda, soda bottles and balloons. We started off by picking the colours of balloons and the children picked blue and purple. We then got started by filling up the balloons with the baking soda. "We need to use a funnel to get all it in the balloon," Oliver said to the group. Once we got the balloons filled up, we sent them around the table for all of our friends to feel. "It feels like the stress balls we made before summer camp," Rennick said. "It feels hard," Mason said as he gave the balloons a squeeze. "It's squishy like my stuffy," Skylar said. Once we all had a turn with the balloons, our next step was to get the bottles ready. Skylar helped pour one of the bottles "I’m only putting a little bit in this one" she said to the group. "I'll put more in this one and see what happens" Riley explained as she poured double the amount that Skylar poured in. Once both bottles were ready, we placed the purple balloon on the bottle that has more vinegar in it. "1, 2, 3!" the group started counting. Once we got to 3, Educator Nicole tipped the balloon over the hole in the bottle. As soon as the baking soda mixed with the vinegar, the balloon started to inflate. "It's going to explode!" Clark and Oliver said as they both backed away from the table. We then did the next one but didn’t get the same reaction "The balloon didn’t blow up as much as the first one" Aiden commented. "Why do you think that?" Educator Tracy asked him. "Because there was less vinegar in the bottle then the first" Riley said.
Doing this science experiment helps the children understand what happens when you mix two ingredients together and they create a gas/carbon dioxide. This also helps the children with their social skills as we needed to able sure that everyone could see what was happening.
After the activity was done, the children were wanting to pop the balloons, so we took them outside and Educator Nicole proposed the question "Which balloon do you think will be louder when we pop it?" Everyone shouted, "The purple one because it's bigger!"
We popped the purple one and it was quiet. Then, we popped the blue one and it was louder than the purple one. "Why do you think the purple balloon was quieter then the blue balloon?" Educator Nicole asked. "Because there was a liquid in the purple one so it made it quieter" Mason had said.
What other science experiments should we try with our school age friends? Do you have any favourite experiments your family has tried at home that you could share with our group? Stay tuned for the next experiment with our favourite scientists in the making!
