Easy Baking Soda and Vinegar Sensory Play for Toddlers

Ever have a day where everyone is melting down, the whining won’t stop… and you just need something to save the day? This baking soda and vinegar sensory play is that activity!

If you’ve been here for a while, you know I am a big fan of sensory play. There are SO many benefits (I’ll get to that in a minute), plus it’s FUN! This particular activity first proved to be a hit with my family in December 2022. I was eight months pregnant with my second daughter… and my husband, my older daughter, and I all had Covid.

As you can imagine, emotions were running high, and no one was having a particularly good time. I think I had just cried for the second or third time that day when I finally mustered up the energy to set up an activity for my then-three-year-old daughter, Ella.

pinterest pin for baking soda and vinegar sensory play

Enter baking soda and vinegar sensory play.

I put food coloring in the bottom of a muffin tin, added baking soda on top, and gave her a squirt bottle full of vinegar. I also set out some favorite toys (Paw Patrol pups are always a win).

Ella squirted, experimented, and played for well over an hour, and the mood shifted in our house. I sat with her and we laughed and enjoyed this fun STEM activity, and I swear the rest of the day just flowed better after that. This activity really did save the day!

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Benefits of Sensory Play

Wondering about some of the reasons I love sensory play so much? As a former teacher and now mom to two young girls, I am a huge advocate for sensory play. Some of the benefits of sensory play include that it…

Enhances cognitive development
Improves fine motor skills
Supports emotional regulation
Encourages creativity and imagination
Boosts language skills
Facilitates exploration and curiosity
Strengthens the parent-child bond

On that fateful day in December 2022, this activity checked pretty much every one of these boxes!

Materials Needed

Baking soda – a generous amount. I eventually ended up buying a 15-pound bag of baking soda, which seems excessive, but it never goes bad and we’re always ready for some fizzy fun!
Vinegar – You’ll also want a good amount of this available.
Food coloring
Small toys – choose some of your child’s favorites
A muffin tin
A squirt bottle, syringe, and/or pipette (a peri bottle works so perfectly for this… IYKYK ;))
Measuring spoons, cups, a funnel, and any other tools you want to throw in

Setting Up the Activity

This activity can get messy, but it’s the best kind of mess – easy to clean up and, since baking soda and vinegar are often used as cleaning supplies, it will leave your area even cleaner than you started with!

That being said, you may choose to set up the activity outdoors, or on an easy-to-clean surface. We played on my laminate kitchen floor, and I laid a towel down to catch most of the mess. You could also lay down newspaper or even a plastic tablecloth to make cleaning up even easier.

adding food coloring to a muffin tin for sensory play set up

Prep the activity by adding a few drops of food coloring to each compartment in a muffin tin. Varying the colors adds to the fun because your little one will love trying to guess what color they’ll find next!

Cover the food coloring in each compartment with baking soda (enough to fully cover the food coloring – a few tablespoons per compartment).

muffin tin with baking soda and vinegar set up for sensory play

Pour your vinegar into a squirt bottle or pour it into a small bowl and provide a pipette.

Set out your prepared muffin tin, vinegar, and tools and toys for exploration.

The Fizzy Fun

Now comes the fun part! Show your little one the set up and tell them that something interesting will happen when they add vinegar to the baking soda. Encourage them to add some vinegar to the first compartment in the muffin tin.

ella playing with baking soda and vinegar sensory play

Not only will the mixture bubble and fizz, but it will reveal a hidden color! You and your toddler may want to use a spoon to stir and create more fizz. This is all about exploration!

Ask your child what color they think they’ll find next. As they explore, discuss what they see, feel, and hear.

In our house, Ella eventually started involving her toys in the play. At one point, the fizzy mixture was a magic potion; later, her ponies were trapped in it and her pups had to come rescue them!

Educational Benefits

Science Exploration: As you and your child play, you can talk about when two things mix together and change to make something new (like when you mix baking soda and vinegar, they make bubbles and fizz!). This is a toddler-friendly way to explain chemical reactions!
Fine Motor Skills: Squeezing bottles and using droppers helps develop muscles in little hands as well as hand-eye coordination.
Sensory Experience: The different textures in this activity provide such a fun sensory experience!
Language Development: Encourage toddlers to describe what they see, hear, and feel, which naturally encourages the use of language.

Cleanup Tips

When we did this activity, most of our mess was contained on the towel I had placed on the floor. I threw it right in the wash to avoid any food coloring staining (it cleaned up beautifully).

Everything else went right in the sink, and I used a second towel to wipe my kitchen floor.

Cleanup from this activity really is super easy, but I do recommend cleaning up relatively quickly – the longer materials sit, the more challenging they may be to clean up!

More sensory play fun

If you and your little one enjoyed this activity, be sure to check out these other great sensory play ideas!

I really hope this simple baking soda and vinegar sensory play activity brings your family as much joy as it did ours!

If you try it, I would LOVE to hear about it! Comment below or tag me on Instagram to tell me all about it!