This variation on classic baking soda-and-vinegar eruptions had a beautiful artistic side to it, worked fine motor skills for my toddler (thanks to eye droppers), and came with a heaping dose of imagination (for my 6-year-old). Needless to say, big kid and little kid alike were enraptured until we’d gone through – yes – an entire box of baking soda and bottle of white vinegar.

Technically you don’t need to use that much. Fill a tray or pie pan with about 1 cup baking soda, or more if desired, then add drops of food coloring at intervals. The more you space out and vary the colors, the prettier the result!

I then handed each kid a cup of white vinegar and a pipette and showed them how to squirt directly onto the dots of color.

Of course fizzy reactions occur immediately, and the more your kids fill in the tray, the more it starts to look like a work of art.

Then Travis wanted to trap a few Lego toys in the bubbles. Here’s where the imagination came into play, with a big game going on in his head!

At this point, we dropped caution to the wind and started adding lots more of everything. First we squirted in additional drops of food coloring. Then, the kids started pouring in the vinegar straight from the cups.

Their glee was so evident, and I loved watching them tackle the project together, seeing how many fizzy explosions they could make at once.

Needless to say, it was a bubbly fizzy wonderland.

This activity was so simple, but a delight for all ages.