Kids' Science and Art: Fizzing Water Color Paint

Fizzing water color paint is the best! Seriously. It combines science and art, and makes a total mess. What kid doesn’t love that?

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I kind of had my heart set on doing a fizzy paint version of Monet’s Water Lilies. But, I didn’t have all of the colors that I needed (while I’m all for mixing colors, blue is a primary and I didn’t have it). So, I decided to go for a water color version of a Renoir. We made a cotton ball paint version awhile back, and I thought why not try something different?

In all honesty, this one didn’t exactly turn out as ‘garden-y’ looking as the cotton ball paint. But, it was fizzy fun. Encourage your child to explore and experiment with the painting activity. Before you get started, ask a few questions (to get the science part rolling). Ask her to predict what will happen when you add the ingredients together. Make a list of her predictions (she may have more than one). After you’re done with the activity, check what actually happened against the predictions.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·        Baking soda

·        White vinegar

·        Food coloring

·        Card stock paper

·        A paintbrush

·        A muffin tin

Here’s What to Do:

1.     Fill each of the muffin tin’s compartments one-third of the way up with baking soda.

2.     Drip food coloring into the baking soda. Use a different color in each compartment. The more that your child adds, the brighter it will be.

3.     Stir in the color and let it dry for an hour or so.
 

Now that the paint is ready to go, your child has a few different choices when it comes to the actual art-making. In either case, you want to prep for the mess. I used a piece of foam core board, but you can also line your table with a flattened garbage bag. Your child can:

Sprinkle the paint onto the paper. Arrange it in a shape, pattern or just randomly. Slowly pour the vinegar on top and watch as the paint fizzes up on the paper. Your child can also use an eye dropper to gradually add different amounts of vinegar. Compare what he difference is between small and large amounts.

OR

Pour the vinegar directly into the muffin tin, on top of the baking soda paint. The more that you pour the more it bubbles up. Be careful, it may just erupt like a volcano and spill out everywhere. If this happens, grab the paper and put it down around the muffin tin to catch a Jackson Pollock type of paint splatter. If it doesn’t spill, your child can now use the paints like regular water colors. It may not be fizzing like crazy, but it will create bold colors that she can layer on with a brush.

 

 

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