Self Inflating Valentine Balloon Experiment - Little Bins for Little Hands

To show you just how simple science can be for the holidays or special occasion days like Valentine’s Day, I took our classic baking soda and vinegar balloon experiment and gave it a theme for this month. We turned it into a Valentine balloon science experiment with just a little bit of creativity.

SELF INFLATING BALLOON VALENTINE EXPERIMENT

Easy Valentine balloon science experiment blowing up balloons with baking soda and vinegar

VALENTINE’S DAY SCIENCE

Let’s keep it basic for our younger or junior scientists! Chemistry is all about the way different materials are put together, and how they are made up including atoms and molecules. It’s also how these materials act under different conditions. Chemistry is often a base for physics so you will see overlap!

What might you experiment with in chemistry? Classically we think of a mad scientist and lots of bubbling beakers, and yes there is a reaction between bases and acids to enjoy! Also, chemistry involves matter, changes, solutions, and the list goes on and on. Check out our Valentine’s Day erupting lava lamp!

We will be exploring simple chemistry you can do at home or in the classroom that isn’t too crazy, but is still lots of fun for kids! You can check out some more Valentine science experiments.

VALENTINE BALLOON EXPERIMENT

Kids are always amazed by this super simple science experiment, and it’s also fun to draw designs on the balloon. Make it a STEAM activity. STEM + Art = STEAM. What’s even more interesting is if you blow up another balloon with your own air and compare the two!

SUPPLIES:

Baking Soda
Vinegar
Empty Water Bottles
Balloons
Measuring Spoons
Markers
Funnel {optional but helpful)

My son suggested we try different amounts of baking soda in our Valentine balloon science experiment to see what would happen. Always encourage your kids to ask questions and wonder about what will happen if…

This is a great way to encourage inquiry, observation skills, and critical thinking skills. You can read more about teaching the scientific method to young kids here.

LET’S GET STARTED WITH VALENTINE BALLOON BAKING SODA SCIENCE!

Blow up the balloon a bit to stretch it out some.
Use the funnel and teaspoon to add baking soda to the balloon. We started with 2 teaspoons and added a teaspoon for each balloon.
Fill the container halfway with vinegar.
When your balloons are all made attach to containers making sure you have a good seal!
Lift up the balloon to dump baking soda into the container of vinegar.
Watch the balloon fill up.
To get the most gas out of it, we swirled around the container to get it all going!

heart drawn on balloon science project with Sharpie marker

Go ahead and use a sharpie to draw hearts or arrows or other fun Valentine’s Day theme pictures on your balloons before filling them with baking soda.

Adding vinegar to plastic bottle for baking soda balloon science experiment

EASY SCIENCE EXPERIMENT BLOWING UP A BALLOON WITH BAKING SODA STEPS

For each bottle you will want to set up the following measurements:

Add about 3 tablespoons of baking soda to a balloon. A funnel helps but also a friend can help stretch open the balloon. Here’s where you can experiment as well by trying different amounts of baking soda and recording the results.

You can easily set up multiple bottles and let them all blow up at the same time

Fill your bottle about 1/3rd of the way full with vinegar.

Carefully attach the balloon to the bottle opening without letting any of the baking soda fall into the bottle ahead of time.

When you are ready, lift up the balloon and let the baking soda fall into the bottle. Watch what happens.

You can measure each balloon and record the results if you are blowing up multiple balloons and testing multiple measurements. Remember in a good science experiment project, you only want to change one variable at a time.

change up the amount of baking soda or vinegar
switch out the vinegar for lemon juice
compare with baking powder and water (also a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide)

baking soda filled balloon attached to bottle filled with vinegar

There you have it! A balloon is blown up with a chemical reaction. Makes a great self-inflating balloon science project for kids including a great simple science fair project idea.

SIMPLE SCIENCE: BLOWING UP BALLOONS WITH CO2

The science, behind this balloon baking soda experiment, is the chemical reaction between the base {baking soda} and the acid {vinegar}. When the two ingredients mix together the balloon baking soda experiment gets it’s lift!

That lift is the gas produced from the two ingredients is carbon dioxide or CO2. As the gas tries to leave the plastic container, it goes up into the balloon because of the tight seal you have created. Because the gas has nowhere to go and is pushing against the balloon it inflates it! Similarly, we exhale carbon dioxide when we blow up balloons.

balloon blown up using baking soda and vinegar

BLOWING UP BALLOONS WITHOUT VINEGAR

Don’t have vinegar? Try a citric acid like lemon juice and check out our citrus experiments here. Turn it into an experiment!

Do be cautious with the amount of baking soda you add, as the reaction will get bigger each time. Safety goggles are always great for scientists!

You could definitely see the difference in the amount of baking soda we put in the balloons! The red balloon with the least baking soda inflated the least. The blue balloon with the most inflated the most.