Sparkly New Year’s Eve Science Experiment

It’s hard to believe that before long, it’ll be time to ring in the new year! And while New Year’s Eve may not seem like the most kid-friendly celebration, there are lots of fun ways to celebrate the final day of the year with your kiddos well before the clock strikes midnight.

This simple science activity—creating sparkly NYE fizzy eruptions—has become one of our favourites over the years.

It’s fun, it’s easy to pull together and I find that baking soda and vinegar reactions always pack a big wow, despite their simplicity—win!

You Will Need:

• stemmed glasses (plastic party glasses are available at most dollar stores if you’d prefer not to use glass)
• dish soap
• baking soda
• white vinegar
• glitter, sequins and other embellishments
• a serving tray

Instructions:

1. Line up the stemmed glasses on a serving tray. This tray will play an important role in containing the (wonderful) mess this activity tends to involve, so I highly recommend using one that has a significant lip around the edge.

2. Squirt a small amount of dish soap into each of your stemmed glasses and add a tablespoon or so of baking soda on top. 

Don’t be afraid to get your little ones involved here! Often, setting up an activity is just as much fun as doing it. In this case, there's some great measuring and pouring practice to be had in the set-up phase.

3. Now for the fun part! Take your glitter, sequins and other embellishments and add a generous helping of glittery goodness to each glass.

While you’re at it, go ahead and add some glitter the tray too. The sparklier the better—NYE is a time for celebration, after all.

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4. Now to actually create your sparkly fizzy eruptions.

Invite your little one to add a pour of vinegar to each glass (this step can be done with a turkey baster or squirt bottle) and watch the magic happen!

Before you know it, you’ll have thick, sparkly eruptions flowing up out of the glasses and bubbling their way down onto the tray. 

As long as you have several glasses prepped and ready to go, this is a great time for little ones to experiment by adding a lot of vinegar vs. a little, pouring it slowly vs. pouring it quickly, etc. and seeing how it affects the eruptions.

5. If the thought of a glitter-covered child doesn’t bother you, the fun can continue long after the glasses of baking soda have all been erupted. The sparkly, liquidy foam left over in the tray is perfect for some messy sensory play and if your little one is anything like mine, she will probably get in there with both her hands and feet.

If you have more baking soda on hand, now’s a good time to bring it out, as we find we can often make more fizzy eruptions by simply sprinkling some onto the leftover liquid on the tray.

Well, that’s it! A simple, fun celebratory activity that’s perfect for ringing in the New Year. 

Wishing you and yours all the best!