The Great Balloon Blowup - Keeping Busy At Home

After making our Volcano eruption last week, Mila and I looked up other ways we could have fun with vinegar + baking soda! Turns out, you can make balloons inflate by combining the two. We set out to do so and color coordinated our balloons to our bottles. We called it The Great Balloon Blowup and it has been one of our favorite activities so far. It was actually really fun and we’ve done it a few times since! I tried explaining to Mila just why baking soda + vinegar react the way they do. How when they come together a gas forms and that is why they fizzle and can inflate the balloons. But, Mila truly just cares about watching rather than learning the science behind it. If you and your little ones are curious this activity is really exciting!

All you need are plastic bottles, balloons, baking soda, and vinegar. We decided to glue colored paper around our bottles to match the color of our balloons. Mostly because it looks a bit more fun and gave Mila something extra to do ;)

Start by filling each of your bottles about a 1/3 of the way with vinegar. The amount of vinegar you need will depend on how big your plastic bottles are.

Then use a small measuring spoon to add baking soda into each balloon. I added about one tablespoon each. It helps if you fold down the opening of the balloon and then pinch it open with your fingers to pour in the baking soda.

Next place the balloons on top of each bottle by stretching the opening of the balloon over the opening of the bottle.

When you are ready lift the balloon and with your hands help move the baking soda down into the bottle. The balloons will start to inflate as soon as the baking soda hits the vinegar! It happens pretty fast. Once they are blown up, you can always remove the balloons and start again!

They all went off and started to blow up, except the yellow one! The balloon had the smallest hole and it ended up exploding out through hole and making a huge mess. Mila’s face is priceless haha! Mess and all it was pretty exciting and really fun. (Just check your balloons first for holes ;) Let us know if you end up doing your own Great Balloon Blowup!