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Make “Boo Bombs”
October is a great time to try out some classic science experiments with a Halloween twist! You can make some Boo Bombs out of items in your kitchen.
Materials needed:
- zippered plastic bags
- white vinegar
- corn starch
- toilet paper (it’s a precious commodity but you only need a few squares)
- baking soda
- food coloring (optional)
If you’d like, you can decorate your bags first, with pumpkins, ghosts, witches, etc. If you have a curious child at home, plan to make at least a few bags as they will likely want to do this more than once.
Put about 1 tablespoon of baking soda in a square of toilet paper, fold it up into a square and set aside.
Fill each baggie with 1 tablespoon of corn starch and about 1 cup of vinegar. Mix it around a bit to make sure the corn starch is dissolved. Add a few drops of food coloring if you’d like too.
Here comes the tricky part! Help you child open the bag just enough to drop in the baking soda (tp and all). Seal the bag quickly and throw it! Watch as the baking soda mixes with the vinegar to inflate the bag until it pops. BOO!
Even very young children love to do this science experiment and will want to do it over and over again! As you are putting the bag together you can talk about the various components. How does the vinegar smell? Do you like the smell? What do we use baking soda for? Does it look like other kitchen supplies? Do yo have any idea what will happen when we mix these together? (Young children often think it will change colors.)
You can explain that the vinegar and baking soda will mix together to form bubbles full of air or gas to fill the baggie. After you have done the experiment ask them to tell you what happened, or what will happen if you do the experiment again.
Young children may not understand the concepts of carbon dioxide or chemical reactions, but they’ve used their senses to make observations, learned about making predictions, and conducted an experiment. It’s a great start to science learning and inquiry!
