Our teachers and researchers from the Schoenbaum and Crane Centers have teamed up to offer activities for your child while you are home together. These activities are meant to help engage your child through play and fun, creating optimal opportunities for learning.
Bubble Lava Lamp
Great for all ages with adult supervision
Materials needed:
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- Food coloring
- Antacid tablets
- A recycled container
- ½ cup warm water
- 1½ cups oil
Procedure:
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- Pour ½ cup of warm water into a recycled container.
- Next, pour in 1½ cups of oil.
- Add the food coloring (as many drops as you want).
- Drop the antacid tablets into the container.
- Watch it bubble!
Good questions to ask your child while doing this experiment:
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- Does the oil and water mix?
- How many bubbles do you see? (after dropping in the antacid tablets)
- Are the bubbles big/small?
- What color is it?
Why this experiment works:
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- The water and oil do not mix because the oil is not as dense as water.
- The antacid tablets contain sodium bicarbonate (like baking soda) and citric acid, so when the tablets mix with the water they react and create bubbles.
Key learning for children ages 3-5 |
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| Skills: | How this activity helps your child’s development: | How this helps later on: |
| Language and communication | Your child can practice these skills by talking and listening. | Language and communication are important for kindergarten readiness. |
| Scientific inquiry | Your child can observe and describe this phenomena and practice their scientific talk. | This lays the groundwork for (and interest in) scientific reasoning and thinking. |
| Initiative and curiosity | Your child will show interest in and curiosity about the world around them. | Interest and curiosity are two skills that help us throughout our lives! Our early years are a great time to develop our confidence in learning. |
| Relationships with adults | Your child will engage in and maintain positive interactions and relationships when you do this activity together. | Social-emotional development is the core foundation for our future. Positive relationships are central to that development. |
Click here to download a one-pager of this experiment.
This video was filmed and edited by Jamie Nunamaker-Dukuray.
Meet the at-home science experiments collaboration team of Schoenbaum and Crane staff: Katie Filibeck, Jamie Nunamaker-Dukuray, Logan Pelfrey, and DeVaughn Croxton.
