Fizzy dough is a fun variation on other sensory doughs! It feels cold to the touch so it is perfect for mimicking snow and it fizzes when it comes into contact with vinegar! Kids of all ages will love making, playing with, and “melting” this dough.
VINEGAR SAFETY: Vinegar is an irritant. Be sure to let your child know not to squeeze vinegar near their eyes and to use caution when touching the dissolved snow as vinegar can irritate sensitive skin.
Fizzy Dough Materials
- 2 Cups Baking Soda
- 1/3 Cup White Conditioner
- Mixing Bowl & Spoon
- Vinegar
- Squeeze bottle/ recycled condiment bottle/ pipettes
- Food Coloring
- Tray
- Small cups or silicone molds (optional)
Fizzy Dough Instructions
Time needed: 15 minutes.
Fizzy dough is fun sensory play material with a scientific surprise!
- Add ingredients
Empty 1 small box of baking soda (approximately 2 cups) into a large bowl. Add 1/3 cup of conditioner and stir to combine
- Knead the dough
Knead the dough with your hands to combine. When mixed it should feel like snow!
- Shape the dough
Place a tray on the table. Make shapes out of your dough! Put the dough in plastic cups or silicone molds to form it into shapes or simply mold it with your hands. Can you make a snowman?
- Make it fizz!
Add vinegar to an empty squeeze bottle or condiment bottle. Add a few drops of food coloring onto the bottle and shake to combine. Squeeze vinegar on your shapes. The baking soda and vinegar will react and cause the shapes to fizz and foam. If you are using pipettes, mix up the red, blue, and yellow vinegar in small bowls. Use pipettes to squeeze the colored vinegar on the dough.
- Mix colors (optional)
Make squeeze bottles filled with vinegar in the primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. Squeeze the different colors onto your dough and make the secondary colors appear.
- Keep mixing and squeezing
Play until all your baking soda has been activated.
- VARIATION: Use shampoo instead of conditioner
You may substitute shampoo for the conditioner. The dough will be less foamy but is still fun to play with!
Play Ideas for your Fizzy Dough
Make a Small World
Double the recipe above to make enough dough to create a small world. Place the dough on a tray to mimic snow and add in small toys and figurines to create a snowy scene.
Set up a Rescue Mission
Ask your child to pack the dough around a figurine or car to make a “ball” a hidden object at the center. Use the vinegar to “rescue” the object at the center of the ball!
Make Volcanoes
Mold volcanoes out of your fizzy dough, carve out a hole in the center, and add vinegar!
What’s the STEAM?
The Science
What you have just witnessed is a chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar. During a chemical reaction two ingredients are mixed together and then break apart to form a new substance. Adding conditioner to the dough makes the reaction last longer and appear more soapy than the classic vinegar and baking soda reaction.
The Art
As we love to do by limiting our palette to the primary colors, this is a fun way to explore color mixing! Challenge your kids to see if they can create a rainbow of colors out of their dough and the primary colors.
More
If you enjoyed this fizzy project be sure to try making Lemon Volcanoes!
If you’d like to try another fun and easy to make sensory material try Cloud Dough
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