Giant Kool Aid Eruptions

Eruptions with Kool Aid and Soap

Do your kids love making eruptions as much as mine do?  No matter how many times we experiment with baking soda and vinegar or other materials that cause reactions like Kool Aid, watching eruptions never gets old.  A few of our favorite ways to create eruptions include color mixing with baking soda and vinegar, color surprise eruptions, and eruptions with Kool Aid and paint.  Since we are obsessed with our squeezy bottles lately I thought it was time to set up a new invitation to create eruptions.  The best part is that our giant eruptions were made without vinegar, so they didn't have that overpowering smell.

How to Make Giant Vinegar Free Eruptions

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Supplies:

• water
• baking soda
• dish soap
• Kool Aid
• squeezy bottles

I filled many small containers with baking soda and set them by a large bin.  Of course I could have put the baking soda directly in the bin, but lately Peanut and Tank (24 months) really enjoy scooping and dumping.  I knew they would find the invitation more enticing if they were able to create it all.

For awhile they all ran their hands through the baking soda.  It provides a unique sensory experience with the gritty texture .

Tank and Peanut were in sensory heaven.

Once they were ready to move on I had JZ (6) add dish soap to the baking soda.  The dish soap bubbles up and is the secret ingredient for giant eruptions.

He squirted it for awhile then decided it would be much easier to just dump the whole bottle.  Smart boy.  (I poured Dawn into the old soap dispenser, so ignore the Kitchen Lemon label.)

Adding the dish soap created yet another sensory activity.

The soap caused the baking soda to clump and mold together.

It doesn't form like dough, but it is fun to touch and squish.

After they explored the soapy baking soda for a bit I set out the squeezy bottles.  Before setting out the invitation I had filled the squeezy bottles with Kool Aid and water.  I used one packet of Kool Aid per three 4oz bottles.

The boys immediately started squirting the Kool Aid into the bin.

When Kool Aid mixes with baking soda it reacts in a similar way to vinegar and baking soda.  The dish soap isn't necessary, but it produces larger, more foamy bubbles for added fun.

The colorful foamy eruptions were impressive even to me.

Once all of the Kool Aid had be squirted into the bin, the boys dug their hands into the bin for some more sensory play.

That afternoon, while the three younger boys were napping, JZ asked if we could make more eruptions.

I was happy to oblige and this time used small containers, so we could really see the effect of these giant sudsy eruptions.  The larger container was perfect for sensory play with all four boys, but making the ingredients erupt over the edge of the dish was purely awesome.

We made eruptions with Kool Aid and baking soda before, but this was the first time we added dish soap to the mix.  The soap was so foamy and really created a different texture and look.

Please note that you do not need to use a lot of soap to create bubbly eruptions.  I used a good amount the first time since this was also a sensory activity.  When I pulled out the supplies for the second round I used less.  As you can see it is still plenty foamy.

For more cool eruptions follow me on Pinterest.

To protect our table I covered it with a towel.  Under the towel is a shower curtain from Dollar Tree.  After play I tossed both of them into the washing machine on a rinse cycle and hung them to dry.

More ways to make eruptions:

Erupting Watermelons ~ Erupting Sand Foam Dough ~ Color Surprise Eruptions