Baking Soda Art for Preschoolers

My 4 year old is a bit, um, destructive. So keeping him within eyesight is a priority, preferrably not destroying an entire room or three of the house as the ultimate goal. If Dean is happy? That's a trifecta!

To avoid a big mess and lots of clean up I used a deep tub with only a small layer of baking soda covering the bottom. I broke up any baking soda chunks with a kiddie fork (that he can later use to play with if he wants).  I dyed a small cup of vinegar blue because that's what Dean chose - he wanted to make blue snowflakes.

I gave him a small medicine dropper and showed him that a few drops of the liquid creates blue bubbling mountains! He was ENTHRALLED!  After about 45 minutes he dumped the whole cup in the bin and played with the slushy putty it made.

Clean up was a breeze (compared to some of his favorite sensory projects) - wash out the tub and his hands. Done.  He loved it so much that we did it again this morning - with red vinegar.  Then a few hours later with green.  So glad baking soda and vinegar are cheap!