It’s fun and easy to do science experiments at home!
This exploding baggie science experiment is a twist on the classic baking soda and vinegar reaction. Kids love it because it ends with an explosion and it simple enough to do again and again.
Exploding Baggie Experiment:
- sandwich bag
- tissue
- 3 tablespoons baking soda
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1/2 cup of vinegar
- liquid watercolors or food coloring (optional)
Add the water, vinegar and any coloring to the bag . Then unfold a tissue and add the baking soda to the center of the tissue. Fold it into a little square so none of the baking soda falls out.
Go outside or set the baggie somewhere that can get a little messy. Open the corner of the bag and stick the tissue with the baking soda in it inside. Quickly re-seal the bag and stand back to watch!
As the tissue gets wet the baking soda begins to mix with the vinegar and the bag starts to inflate with carbon dioxide.
Until the pressure pops the bag and it “explodes”!
Such an easy and cool way to get kids excited about science experiments at home!
Join me and Erica from What Do We Do All Day? each Thursday this summer for a free Summer Science Camp. We are sharing classic science experiments that your kids will love!
Head over to see what they made this week!
Don’t let the fun and discovery stop there!
We have TONS of science experiments your kids will love on our Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids page!
Take me to the experiments –> Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids
Adding food coloring to the bag is a nice touch! I’ve never been brave enough for this one 🙂
This is only a suggestion, but it would be nice if you would tell what this experiment shows. Then the parents could actually teach there children. Not just show them.
Hi Debbie! I love the idea of teaching the kids. It’s a chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar. When the tissue gets soaked through the two elements react and carbon dioxide is released causing the “explosion”!
Did this with my students last year at the end of the year and did it on the playground. I used different colors in the vinegar or water. talked about it being a chemical reaction. 44 of them went off. Kids loved it. Then we did a physical reaction with diet coke and mentos. I do this at the end of every 5th grade year. They really enjoy it and we do it for the 1st and 2nd graders, as they are the only 3 grades left in the school at that time.
That sounds awesome!!!! I bet the kids love it!
Ours did NOT EXPLODE but only make a pinhole in the baggy ! We tried several times!
Really??? I’m so intrigued by why. This one has always worked for us. What was the weather like? I wonder if that makes a difference?
Ours expanded to big ziploc bags but they didn’t explode or burst 🙁
Hmmmm…did you use a “freezer” ziploc bag? Those may be too strongly sealed to explode. The other thing I would suggest trying a thinner tissue or even cheap toilet paper if you have some!
Ours did not explode. The baggie was a push close and came undone. We will try it again with a zip lock bag. I also used toilet paper instead of a tissue and it was to thick to dissolve quickly. When I did get up the nerve to squish it, it did react but the back came open instead of exploding. We will definitely try this one again with different items.
That is a bummer! If you don’t find thinner tissue (I can’t remember what I used this time) then maybe increasing the amount of baking soda and vinegar would work!
i’m going to try at home
Ours didn’t work 🙁
What happened? Maybe I can help you figure it out!
After our first go around with expansion but no pops, I found that if the “packs” of baking soda weren’t tightly folded, that it worked better. Also, we didn’t include the water the second time. Thanks for the fun!
Good to know! Thank you!
Do you have a printable version of these instructions I could access for my sons teacher? He is in charge of a science experiment next week in class that she helps with ☺️
There is no printable with this activity. You can print the page if needed though!
We did this experiment as part of our homeschool lesson today. The kleenex tissue was either too thick, or wrapped to tightly (or both)…but we gave the baggie a little kick, and got a nice little explosion when they mixed. 🙂
HA! Sounds like that may have made it even more fun!