Fall Preschool Science: Apple Volcanoes
Any experiment that involves baking soda and vinegar is a hit with toddlers and preschoolers. You truly can’t go wrong when you reinvent this over and over. Seeing their face as they observe the chemical reaction is one of the best parts.
The perfect way to wow your preschooler this Fall is by conducting this preschool science experiment; apple volcanoes!
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What to look for in a Preschool Science Experiment?
When doing science experiments with your toddlers and preschoolers, remember to keep it simple as possible. Your kids are naturally curious and doing science experiments with them is a perfect way to get them thinking and exploring.
Keep your materials to a minimum so you don’t overwhelm them. Remember, repeating activities in new ways is a great place to start with experiments!
How to Make Apple Volcanoes
A little bit of prep goes a long way when doing preschool science activities. For this apple volcano experiment, gather your materials ahead of time.
You will need:
- a tin or bin to keep everything in
- baking soda
- white vinegar
- fine motor tools like a turkey baster or pipette
- two apples for each child (I like to use one red and one green so we can compare and contrast)
- green food coloring (optional)
- knife to cut the apple
- plastic bowl to keep the baking soda in
- measuring cup
When you are ready to conduct this experiment with your toddler or preschooler, cut the middle out of your apples ahead of time. Make sure that the whole is about halfway down in your apple.
Then, it is time to explore! Invite your child to put a few spoonfuls of baking soda inside of the apple. Add a few drops of your green food coloring if you want to at this time to give your child a colorful surprise!
Once your apple is full of food coloring and baking soda, it’s time to make the eruption! You can choose to do the vinegar a few different ways.
If you are doing this with younger toddlers, I would pour the vinegar into a separate cup and allow them to slowly pour it. Or you can put the vinegar into a measuring cup and have your toddler or preschooler use a pipette or turkey baster to suck up the vinegar and drop onto the apple.
Now it’s time for your kids to explore and have fun! They are sure to be so wowed once the vinegar hits the baking soda and the eruption occurs. Make sure to encourage them to keep adding more vinegar so the apple continues to erupt.
HINT! Secret Ingredient:
If you want to add onto the experiment, you can add dish soap to the apple and baking soda to watch how that changes the look of the eruption. You can do this from the beginning of the experiment or halfway through to notice the difference.
Your preschooler is sure to become a science experiment fan after this one!
If you’re looking for more Fall fun to do with your toddler or preschooler, make sure to check out my Toddler learn and play packets where you can play all month long!
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