Balloon Blowing

Many basic chemical reactions use ingredients that can be found in your house. My favorite is baking soda and vinegar. The acid-base reaction creates enough carbon dioxide to blow up a balloon.

First, gather your materials: balloons, empty water bottle, funnel, vinegar, and baking soda. I don't get really fancy with any of the materials needed. If I can't find it, I improvise. Instead of a funnel I used  the tip of a cake decorating kit. It's a very small funnel.

Put the funnel in the balloon, and add two teaspoons of baking soda to it. We put ¼ cup of vinegar into the empty water bottle. Lastly, put the balloon on top of the water bottle without letting the baking soda and vinegar mix. When everyone is ready lift the balloon so the baking soda drops into the vinegar. Hold the bottom of the water bottle, and watch the balloon inflate.

This experiment was so fun that the toddlers wanted to do it over and over again. We started over multiple times, which meant just dumping out the bottle. My boys had a lot of fun deciding how much to put in each time. If they put in more vinegar and baking soda the balloon would get big, and less amounts would be a smaller balloon. It was fun just watching them figure it out. We stopped measuring after the first time, and just started mixing. I love science because the cause and effect learning is tremendous. 

Both toddler boys were able to do almost everything in this experiment. However, they can't do it without making a mess, so keep that in mind.