Home Experiment #1: Chemical Reactions

School cancelled? I will be posting fun STEM activities for all ages that can be done with household materials. (Don’t worry - you won’t need toilet paper for any of them!) Your child can participate more or less depending on their age. I’ve included discussion questions for before, during, and after the activity. 

Home Experiment #1: Chemical Reactions

Materials:

Spoon

Eye dropper or medicine syringe (you aren’t using anything dangerous, so you can rinse out the syringe when you’re done and stick it back in the children’s acetaminophen box)

Water

Vinegar

Baking soda

Baking powder

Flour

Computer or paper/pencil for recording observations 

Procedure:

  1. Put a spoonful of each of the white powders on a plate. Keep them separate and remember where you put each one. Record your observations.

  2. Using the dropper or syringe, add a few drops of water to each powder. Record your observations. 

  3. Using the dropper or syringe, add a few drops of vinegar to each powder. If you’d like, use a new spoonful of each powder. Record your observations. 

  4. Consider repeating the experiment with other household materials. 

  5. Clean up!

Questions for Discussion (Consider researching the answers together!)

Preschool and Elementary 

Before: What does powder look like? Can you tell the difference? What is a chemical reaction?

During: What did you see when we added the water? What did you see when we added the vinegar?

After: Which powder(s) had a chemical reaction with each liquid? How do you know?

Middle School

Before: What observations can you make before we start? How do you know when a chemical reaction occurs? After reading the procedure, what hypotheses can you make?

During: What is a sign a chemical reaction is occurring? How do the materials change throughout the experiment?

After: If we lose the labels in our kitchen, how can we use these chemical reactions to identify white powders in the kitchen? Did your observations support your hypothesis? What other chemicals do you think would cause reactions with these powders? Why?

High School

Before: After reading the procedure, what hypotheses can you make? How do you know when a chemical reaction occurs? Can you make observations about physical and chemical properties before, during, and after this activity? What are the chemical formulas baking soda and vinegar?

During: Which chemical reactions have you observed? Why might certain powders react with water and some only react with vinegar?

After: Can you predict what other household materials might cause reactions with these powders? Can you write and balance a chemical equation for baking soda and vinegar? Were your hypotheses supported by your observations? How could you improve the procedure?

Robin Satty