Baking Soda Painting

If your kids enjoy painting and get excited about the reaction between baking soda and vinegar, then they’ll love painting with baking soda and vinegar.

The Supplies for Baking Soda Painting

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• paper
• Contact Paper
• baking soda
• vinegar
• water
• paint
• Paint Brushes
• 2 small containers to hold the paint

The Setup

1. Laminate a piece of paper using contact paper. (Alternatively, you could use a large plastic lid or similar surface.)
2. In one container, add a tablespoon of baking soda.
3. Add a little bit of water.
4. Add some paint and mix.
5. Add baking soda, water, and/or paint until the consistency is what you like.
6. In a second container, mix together paint and vinegar. (My paint did not mix well with the vinegar. I thinking adding a bit of water to the paint before adding the vinegar would help.)
7. Set the containers of baking soda paint and vinegar paint on top of or next to the laminated paper along side a paint brush.

I drew a circle onto the laminated paper for an added play prompt. What will your child do with the circle? Will he ignore it? Will she paint within the circle? Will he make the circle part of his creation? My son chose to paint over the circle. Even though I drew it with permanent marker, it washed away.

The Play

My son (age 2.5) was very excited to see this activity setup. I thought he would immediately grab the paintbrushes and start painting. Nope. He brought his own tools to the party – a spoon, half a plastic egg, a star shape, and a few stacking cups. He spooned the liquids into different containers.

Aiden dumped the liquids onto the laminated paper. He eventually picked up the paintbrushes and moved the liquids around.

He poured the red liquid into the blue and was excited by the reaction. He poured the blue liquid into the red and was equally excited. Color mixing was an added bonus – blue mixed with red makes purple!

He continued playing and painting for quite some time. And things got a little messy. I was prepared. That plastic drop cloth not only covers the table; it is also under the chair.

When he was finished, he had a cool piece of art. How to save it since it was on laminated paper? I made a print! Just place another piece of paper on top of the colored liquid masterpiece. Pull away and you have a print of the original art.

Thanks for letting me share our fun with you!

Would you like to see more ideas for toddlers/preschoolers from me? Here are a few of my favorites.

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