Color Mixing Experiment with Baking Soda

We’ve done a lot of color mixing activities in the past to learn about primary and secondary colors.  Last week we worked on color mixing with baking soda and vinegar.  It demonstrated not just the science of “what happens when you mix colors” but it was a great way to entertain kids!


List of materials used in this activity:

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Droppers
• Small Jars
• Food coloring
• Observation tray

This activity was very easy to prepare.  Just make sure you have a bunch of baking soda, bottles of vinegar, droppers/pipettes and some food coloring or liquid watercolor.  I highly recommend that you prepare two primary colors at a time.  Here Vito picked to have red and blue.  Once you have setup the materials, you do a small presentation so that the child will have an idea of what he or she is about to do.


I captured some pictures showing his reaction while doing the activity.  Note that this is his first time to work with baking soda, so he was totally fascinated.




Is it okay for my child to touch it? Of course it is! It’s inevitable! Let them touch, smell, and explore the solution… it is pretty safe.  But always keep an eye so that they don't put it in their mouth or eyes.


Encourage your little ones to observe.  What happened when you combined red and blue?  What color came out?


Here Vito is looking closely at the mixed colors and at the bubbles.  He enjoyed this activity so much!


On our second try, we used blue and yellow… and Vito observed that it turned green!  The second time around was still as fun as the first one.


Your kids will never get tired of this activity!  Experiment on a variety of colors and it is probably best if you ask your child what colors he or she would like to see mixed.  So far we only produced 2 secondary colors: green and purple as we ran out of baking soda and vinegar LOL.

By the way, we are not yet identifying primary and secondary colors at this stage.  For now, we are just mixing, experimenting, observing, and identifying colors. As we progress we will move on to introducing the color wheel, but for now, everything is all play!