Young Toddler+
S and I are both HUGE fans of baking soda and vinegar. I was trying to think up a new way to play with it, and decided to see what it would do if I threw gelatin into the mix. Turns out, it's really fun (at least we think so!).
To make fizzing gelatin, you'll need:
Gelatin (I bet you could use Jello, too)
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Food Coloring/Liquid Watercolors (optional)
When you are making the gelatin, just make sure to dissolve a hearty amount of baking soda in the hot water step (for the gelatin pictured, I dissolved somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 cup). Not all of it will dissolve - that's OK.
Refrigerate as normal, remove from whatever mold you've used (we used plastic Solo cups) and you're ready to add vinegar!
We added about a cup of vinegar all at once.
If you press your hands down, it feels like Pop Rocks! It's so fizzy. The gelatin slowly releases the baking soda, so it kept on fizzing for a long time (for more than 5 minutes!)
If you squeeze a handful of the gelatin, little pieces hop out of your hands.
It's such a bubbly, fizzy sensory experience, we really enjoyed it as a variant on our traditional baking soda and vinegar play.
Please always supervise your infant/child at play. Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.
My kids and I tried this the other day and it didn't work for us. I'm wondering what I did wrong, because the baking soda fizzed when I dissolved it. Then when we poured the vinegar on it didn't work. Is there a step I'm missing or something I should do different? We thought the idea was super fun and they want to do it again, but I want to do it right next time :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your time and your posts. You are so creative and I have had fun doing some of your stuff with my kids!
Oh no! Hmm. I dumped a LOT of baking soda in -- probably around 1/3-1/2 a cup per solo cup of gelatin - I'm wondering if you added less? Did it not fizz at all, even when you squished it in your hands?
DeleteNo, it fizzed VERY little. I didn't put that much in though. We will try with more :) I think I put in 1 1/2 cups total. OK, I'll try again with more and let you know :) Thanks!!!
DeleteYes - please let me know! We've done it on several different occasions and I have never had a problem, so I'm not sure what it could be!
DeleteSo ours did feel like pop rocks to the touch but we did have a disappointing amount of visual fizz too :-( I was so excited to try it ... was I doing something wrong? I found that lining the base of our tray with baking soda and then putting drops of watercolor and drops of dish soap in yielded more excitement. The watercolors produced colorful fizzing and the soap made extra big foamy fizzes.
ReplyDeleteIt is mostly internally fizzy like pop rocks, but if you add a TON of baking soda, it will produce a layer like you see in the first picture, and that will react more. As we broke up the gelatin, there was more fizzing - but it is less dramatic than straight baking soda and vinegar. It is less of a visual reaction and more of a tactile one. Hope that helps!
Delete