My kids have never seen actually lava lamp but this was still fun to do and watch. It was really easy to do, to set up, no hard to find items needed. We were all really into this one, Hubby and I included.
It is simple, you don’t need to have any weird ingredients, you can get everything at the grocery store, or even the corner store. It also doesn’t make (much of) a mess, so you can set it up on the counter without needing a pan to catch the mess. I only like science experiments that are simple
Homemade Lava Lamp
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Things to grab out of the cupboards, or pick up from the store:
- vegetable oil
- food color
- Alka-Seltzer tablets – these aren’t expensive, you can get a lot of reactions out of one little box.
You’re also gonna need water and a clear jar or glass of some sort.You don’t need a cover.
You want to add a couple inches of water to your clear glass. Adding food color will help you see what is happening better, using yellow, however, will not. We used blue, red, and green.
Add a few inches of vegetable oil to your jar. Just doing this alone is an experiment in its self.
Now, drop in an Alka-Seltzer tablet. Watch the reaction.
Once it calms back down, toss in another one, or two. We put a lot through our oil/water and the reaction didn’t change, it didn’t lessen, just kept on reacting.
For smaller bubbles, break the Alka-Seltzer tablet into smaller pieces.
For larger bubbles (which we had), you can drop the whole tablet (or more) into the glass.
If after a number of tablets your child wants to take a break, go for it, and come back to it later. It will still be there and still work a later on.
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What an easy and fun activity to do with the kids. Thanks for sharing your lava lamp with us at #overthemoon and have a great week!