Get ready for the EASIEST – I’m talking 2 ingredient – activity you can do with your toddler. I bought a couple extra lemons this week, so I decided to do this experiment with my 3 year old and it did not disappoint! We had a so much fun making chemical reactions using just lemons and baking soda!
I’ve had this activity on my to-do list for years. With as much as my kids love baking soda and vinegar chemical reactions, I knew they would love this experiment just as much, but we never got around to it. In this activity kids create an acid (lemon) and base (baking soda) chemical reaction, similar to the chemical reaction we see between baking soda and vinegar.
Two lemons allowed us to repeat the activity 4 times! My toddler would have loved to do more times, but I didn’t have any more lemons, unfortunately. But the two lemons gave us a good 30+ minutes of play which was fun for both of us.
So grab your lemons and baking soda and come do this easy activity with us!
Watch the Activity:
I’ve posted videos of the activity on both my YouTube channel and Instagram account! I haven’t posted on our YouTube channel in almost two years, but I’m hoping to get back to posting regularly on Youtube this summer (my older kids have requested for me to start making YouTube videos again), so follow my channel @engineeringemily so you don’t miss any!
Along with YouTube, I will continue posting on my @engineering_emily Instagram account. The videos I posted on Youtube and Instagram aren’t the same, but they do both show the step-by-step instructions to do the activity. They were from different recordings, and the Instagram video is shorter and has background music, while the YouTube video lists the steps. Which format do you prefer?
Overview:
Create a chemical reaction that bubbles, foams, and overflows like a volcano using just two ingredients: lemon and baking soda. This activity is perfect for toddlers who are learning fine motor skills and enjoy sensory play. It’s also a great activity to teach older kids about chemical reactions. This activity is recommend for children ages 3+.
Materials:
- Lemon
- Baking soda
- Knife (to cut the lemon)
- Fork
- Teaspoon
- Plate or bowl (to do the experiment on)
Safety:
The lemon and baking soda are both edible ingredients, but I do NOT recommend eating the baking soda alone or the lemon once it has been coated in baking soda in this activity. An adult should carefully cut the lemons using proper knife handling techniques to prevent accidental cuts. Adult supervision is recommended when working in the kitchen with children to prevent accidents.
A chemical reaction occurs in this activity which creates CO2 bubbles. There is very small chance that the lemon juice or baking soda used in this activity can splash into your eyes. If this happens, immediately flush the eyes with water until no longer irritated. To prevent this unlikely event don’t observe the reaction too closely, and/or wear eye protection.
Procedure:
- Adult – Carefully cut the lemon in half.
- Adult – Carefully cut the tips off each end of the lemon (so it will sit flat on your plate). Try to cut the lemon as close to the end, so the lemon flesh is not exposed.
- Place one lemon half on a plate or bowl (middle cut facing up).
- Use a fork to gently loosen the lemon flesh and make it more juicy (be careful not to poke the fork through the bottom or sides of the lemon or the volcano will leak).
- Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of baking soda onto the lemon. It will immediately start to foam.
- To really get the volcano going try the following:
- Use the fork to mix the baking soda into the lemon flesh and juice.
- Squeeze the outside of the lemon with your hands to extract more lemon juice to mix with the baking soda.
- Watch the lemon volcano erupt on your plate.
- Repeat steps 3-7 with the other half of the lemon.
STEAM Concepts Learned:
The lemon volcano eruption was a chemical reaction! Lemons are acidic and baking soda is a base, so this was a classic acid/base chemical reaction that resulted in the release of carbon dioxide gas. The CO2 gas escapes the lemon juice in bubbles, which you see as the foam and bubbles that overflow out of the lemon.
We did additional experimentation and play time with the lemons after the initial reaction slowed down. My daughter used the fork and her fingers to mix in more baking soda, she also picked up the lemon and had fun squeezing out all the foam juice. I collected the juice from the plate in a cup and put it back into the lemon so she could do this over, and over, and over again!
My daughter loved this activity and has been asking me to the “lemon science experiment” daily ever since we did it. It’s easy enough that I’m happy to do it whenever she wants (as long as I have extra lemons at home). So add a bag of lemons to your shopping list this week and you will have some happy kids at home when you do this activity with them!
Have you ever made a lemon volcano at home before? Let us know how it goes when you try this activity.
If you liked this activity and want to have the instructions in your hand anytime, you can purchase a pdf download from my store! With the download you get the same content in a more concise format with no background stories, pictures, or ads. It’s available as a single-activity download for $0.99, or as part of the Chemical Reaction and Food Ingredient value packs!
