The amazement of watching a child’s face light up when science and discovery happens is like watching a light turn on. This baking soda and vinegar paint experiment is a creative and sensory way to explore science through painting. My kids had so much fun exploring the chemical reaction of baking soda and vinegar with our bright and bold homemade paints. We ended up with vivid paintings and had a great time creating.







Baking Soda and Vinegar Paints

This post is part of our Learning with Free Materials series where we are sharing learning ideas for homeschoolers and school-extension activities using items that are free or mostly free (i.e. CHEAP or you already have in the home), and is part of the 31 Days of Homeschooling Tips as we blog along with other bloggers with learning at home tips and tools. This post contains affiliate links.





You’ll need just three ingredients to make these paints:

baking soda

Vinegar

Washable

Poster Paint (This is my favorite brand of paint!)

(This is my favorite brand of paint!)





You’ll also need:

Mini Muffin Tin

(any containers will work, but you’ll want all of the paints near each other and enough compartments so that you can see the different shades made by slightly adjusting the amount of paint you add. (any containers will work, but you’ll want all of the paints near each other and enough compartments so that you can see the different shades made by slightly adjusting the amount of paint you add.

Paper

Water

Paint Brushes



To make the Baking Soda Paints:

First, mix together baking soda and water to create a thick paste. You want it to be stir-able and moist. Scoop the paste into the sections of the muffin tin with a spoon. Add drops, globs, and dabs of different colored poster paint. Adjust the amounts in the different sections so that you get a nice variety of shades. Stir the paint into the paste.





Next, pour off any excess water from the tops of the paste. You want a nice, thick paste to remain. Allow the muffin tin paints to sit overnight. This will create a hard, tub of dried paint, almost like watercolors.

The next day, pour vinegar into cups. Use paint brushes to dab vinegar into the dried paints. Watch the science reaction happen as you paint!





Adding more vinegar to the tubs of paint will give you a brighter hue as you paint. You can get even more vivid colors by swiping chunks of moistened baking soda across the page. And, what a textured piece of art this will be!





What is especially neat about these paints are that if you work quickly enough, you can see the bubbly reaction right on your art work. Simply swipe the paint brush into the vinegar and then into the baking soda paints. Quickly paint and your bubbles will dry onto the paper.

How gorgeous is this work of art?









Looking for more baking soda experiments? These are a few of our favorites:





