Erupting Pumpkin Science Experiment
This Erupting Pumpkin Science Experiment mixes the magic of fall with the excitement of what happens when vinegar and baking soda meet! This experiment is perfect for all ages!
Begin by gathering your supplies! All you need is vinegar, baking soda, a pumpkin, tools from a pumpkin carving kit, and a plastic bin to contain the mess (optional). Notice we did this activity outside – ha!
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Empty out the guts of the pumpkin. (I think that’s the first time I’ve ever used the words guts in this space…and I will do my best to make sure it never happens again.)
We used a very small pumpkin: To the bottom of our pumpkin we added about a half a cup of baking soda. To make the pumpkin erupt, we poured about a cup of vinegar in on top of the baking soda. Our pumpkin bubbled up and over, and our little ones cheered wildly!
We then emptied out our pumpkin and tried the experiment again. Only this time we used about a cup of baking soda and almost two cups of vinegar. We wanted to see if using more of the ingredients would result in a larger eruption, and it did (just don’t tell your kids this part ahead of time).
You may want to use an even larger pumpkin, which would of course require more baking soda and more vinegar. Don’t be afraid to let your kids play around with the amounts – That’s part of the fun of this experiment!
Around here, I always keep an extra-large bag of baking soda (from Sam’s) and an extra-large jug of vinegar (from Target) on hand. Not only are these ingredients great for science experiments, but I also use a mixture of the two in my laundry as well as when I’m cleaning in the kitchen.
For a little extra fun, you can do this same experiment inside a jack-o-lantern. The eruption will come out of the mouth of your carved pumpkin and your kids will think that’s pretty cool…unless they’re squeamish, then they might think it’s gross.
Do whatever your crew would love – Have fun!
Interested in more information about homeschooling your preschooler? I offer the following posts:
- Two-Year-Old Homeschool Preschool
- Three-Year-Old Homeschool Pre-school
- Four-Year-Old Homeschool Pre-school
as well as a free Homeschool Preschool e-course designed to encourage you as you get started!
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This looks SO fun! Now This makes me want to start putting my decorations up and buy a pumpkin! I’m going to have to try this. I laughed about using the word..guts…ha!
LOL! We still need to go grab our pumpkins!