I am big on the “no such thing as bad weather….” philosophy, but sometimes it really is too cold to be outdoors for more than short busts (as I am typing this it currently feels like -17F outside). What to do with your sensory seeking, snow loving kiddos?! Today we tested out some icy twists on the classic baking soda and vinegar experiment that I’ve seen floating around my social feeds. My kids are big fans of anything remotely potions play related, so they were very excited to try this fun twist, three different ways.

Fizzy Ice: Colorful Soda Cubes

For this fizzy ice version 1, the night before I added liquid watercolors and baking soda to water and froze in ice cube trays. I did not measure, just added enough baking soda that not quite all of it would dissolve. After freezing, I added the ice cubes to a tray and handed the boys a cup of vinegar with pipettes. The first time that we tried this, we did it outdoors and it ended up being cold enough out that the ice stayed too frozen and the fizzle, while it worked, was a little underwhelming. It worked out a lot better when we moved to a warmer indoors. Still, with the ice cubes only slowly melting, while there was the benefit of long lasting fizz, you don’t get that full eruption excitement one gets when the baking soda is not trapped in ice (I could see this activity working really well outside in the summer, especially with the addition of dish soap to the vinegar). Which led us to fizzy ice version 2….

Fizzy Ice: Soda Sprinkle

If you are looking for that more exciting eruption moment, that works indoors AND out, simply sprinkle baking soda over top of a pile of ice cubes along with some drops of food coloring or liquid watercolors. Then, pipette or pour soapy vinegar over the ice and watch it bubble and swirl with colorful icy foam. We added dish soap to the vinegar this time to increase the bubbling effect even more. This version was much more satisfying for my kiddos, which sparked my genius version 3 idea!

Fizzy Ice: Magic Color Revealing Snow

I know I’ve seen some version of this floating around somewhere, so it is not a completely novel idea, but here goes. Grab a muffin tin and fill the bottom of each section with a small scoop of baking soda and a couple drops of coloring. Then, fill the tins up the rest of the way with snow! The baking soda and color is now hidden. That’s it! Now watch your kids’s excitement while they add soapy vinegar to each snow section to reveal the color hidden inside. You can also do this color revealing activity without snow by first adding a couple drops of color to the bottom of a muffin tin and then covering up the color with a pile of baking soda over top. Pro tip: Make sure to have some towels on hand as the muffin tin is sure to overflow.

Take aways: While there is something about the coldness of the ice and snow that slows the eruption effect, which was somewhat underwhelming, the ice also maximizes the foamy-ness creating more of a rootbeer float effect, if you will, which was neat and a satisfying tactile element that you don’t usually get with this activity. We will for sure be adding ice and/or snow to our next potions making session! ENJOY!