Bursting In Air! Exploding Paint Bags!

4th of July is approaching!

Do you want something that will 'burst in air' but is safe for kids and free of fire?!

Try...

Exploding Paint Bags!

Kourtney Payton of Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergarteners shared a great exploding paint bags 'tutorial' she stumbled upon on YouTube with me- knowing my boys would like ANYTHING that explodes!

The actual video she shared has a message stating it is 'unlisted' and cannot be shared, but I found others that give the general idea!  I asked the owner of the original video permission to share and once I hear back from her I will update this post and links!

So I grabbed the supplies needed:

*sandwich size ziploc bags

*vinegar

*baking soda

*paint

*spoons, plastic bowls and trays!

The video advises using a drop cloth- I decided to line large gift boxes with white tissue paper.

My thinking...

The box would 'contain' the mess and the tissue paper could be used to make another project tomorrow when it is supposed to be an rainy & stormy day!

Here's the 'how to:'

1. Fill each of the bags with some vinegar.  I will be honest- I did not measure for this one.  It was an impromptu 'lets try this' and I didn't get specific!

2. Squirt some paint into each bag.

My boys said it looked like I put worms in there!

I filled a small plastic bowl with baking soda, grabbed some spoons and put the bags all on a tray and we took this operation outside!

3. 'Mash'/'Smush' the vinegar and paint together

This worked best when I held the top of the bag and then squeezed the bottom.  The bags were not closed at this point so when they tried it solo we had some vinegar spill on toes!

Now that all the bags are mixed its time for the exploding magic!

Put 2-4 scoops of baking soda into the bag and QUICKLY seal it up!  You want any air that is in there to remain in there.

Give it a little shake...

Throw it in the box...

And watch it explode/pop/fizz!

This one didn't even make it in- it exploded right in his hands!  I had him dump the remaining baking soda into the bag since it was the last one...ooops!

Once all the bags are done exploding, take the bags and tissue paper out to let the paper dry

Tomorrow we'll use this 'fancy homemade' paper to make another fun project!

We used all different colors, but had I thought of it in advance, we may have just done red and blue so that we'd have red, white & blue paper to make fun 4th of July streamers attached to paper towel rolls for a festive flag holder!

We may just need to break out the bags, vinegar, paint and baking soda one more time then!

Have fun and Happy 4th of July!

Until next post,