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    Home » Learning Activities » Exploding Milk Experiment

    Exploding Milk Experiment

    Published: May 20, 2013 · Modified: May 2, 2022 by Vicky

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    Have you ever started out doing one thing and ended up with something totally different? That's what happened when we tried an exploding milk experiment. It started off as a completely innocent experiment using milk, food coloring and dish soap and ended up as a bubbly, fizzy adventure. We did all of these activities at once but you can split them up over a series of days culminating with this bubbling milk activity. If you are in the mood for more science activities for kids, try our Making Color Disappear experiment.

    Find out how to make Exploding Milk in vibrant colors. My kids were amazed!

    You will need:

    • Milk
    • Dish soap in a small cup
    • Food coloring
    • Tooth picks
    • Baking soda
    • Vinegar
    • Bowl or container for milk

    milk, food coloring soap and container

    We started out by adding a few drops of food coloring to some milk.

    food coloring in milk

    Then we dipped a toothpick in some dish soap and touched it to the food coloring in the milk. My daughter was so impressed with the reaction that took place between the dish soap and the liquid. I think it's pretty impressive, don't you?

    milk experiment

    Next, she tried stirring it up with her toothpick.

    Food coloring in milk

    My other daughter worked with blue food coloring.

    food coloring in milk

    She had the same cool result when the dish soap made contact with the liquid.

    mixing food coloring and milk

    Then she added lots of different colors for a rainbow effect.

    rainbow milk

    At this point I had the idea to add baking soda and vinegar to the milk and food coloring mixture. I didn't know if the milk would curdle. I was surprised when the baking soda and vinegar acted as they normally did and caused a bubbling, fizzy eruption. Apparently the milk made no difference. As you can see my youngest was surprised as well.

    Exploding Milk Experiment

    We loved how the resulting foam was colored from the food coloring. We added some more food coloring to the mixture along with more baking soda and vinegar and it was fun watching the colors bubble up.

    foaming milk

    We also tried adding food coloring on top of the bubbled mixture and using a spoon to make beautiful swirls.

    Exploding Milk
    Color Mixing

    The kids really loved all the experiments we did with the milk and food coloring but the watching the milk erupt was by far their favorite. They kept asking me to add more vinegar and baking soda, so you want to make sure you have a good sized container for the exploding milk experiment so the milk doesn't overflow.

    For more fun science experiments check out:

    Colorful Dancing Milk

    Chemical Reactions for Preschoolers

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Cranberry Morning

      May 20, 2013 at 11:46 am

      I love your chemistry class! I suppose I'm too old to enroll? 🙂 What fun your girls have - while you're teaching them so many things and giving them opportunities other kids never get.

    2. OneMommy

      May 20, 2013 at 7:08 pm

      This looks like so much fun!
      Definitely pinning it for later!

    3. Louanne

      May 20, 2013 at 9:36 pm

      I love the surprised look on her face!! We will try this for sure! Thanks.

    4. Jaime JJ

      May 22, 2013 at 12:06 am

      love this. i will have to do this with my boys! they will have a lot of fun with this. I love your daughters face that is priceless:-)

    5. Melinda

      May 22, 2013 at 9:14 pm

      We did this in class yesterday and my kids
      loved it!

      M 🙂

    6. thubbard

      May 25, 2013 at 7:19 pm

      I am looking for small science projects to do with my kids this summer. This one will be perfect. We will do ours outside, just in case. Thanks for posting.

    7. Melanie at raiseaboy.com

      May 26, 2013 at 4:17 am

      Her expression is priceless! We've been playing with baking soda and vinegar a lot lately so next time I'll add milk for a great variation.

    8. Katie

      January 24, 2015 at 10:53 pm

      Thanks for the idea. I did it with my boys (3 and 4) and they had a blast. They're obsessed with Sid the Science Kid right now so they always want to do "experiments".

    9. Valerie

      October 15, 2015 at 8:54 am

      This is really cool!! How much baking soda and vinegar did you put to the milk

    10. Vicky

      October 19, 2015 at 12:52 pm

      Hi Valerie, 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup will work.

    11. Sarah Pletcher

      December 14, 2015 at 9:12 am

      Hi, do you pour the baking soda into the milk first and stir and then pour the vinegar in? Or do you mix the baking soda and vinegar together first before pouring it in?
      Thank you!

    12. Vicky

      December 20, 2015 at 9:25 pm

      Hi Sarah,

      We added the baking soda first and then the milk. Hope that helps!

    13. Jackson Christiana

      July 27, 2016 at 3:15 am

      I love this. Thumb's up!

    14. Mariliz Salazar

      August 13, 2017 at 7:16 am

      Hi! My son wants to do this experiments en his school. Which are the scientific principles for this experiments?

    15. Vicky

      August 14, 2017 at 11:26 am

      Here are the principles http://www.nipissingu.ca/education/jeffs/4284winter/pdfs/magicmilk.pdf It is also a basic reaction between vinegar and baking soda.

    Trackbacks

    1. Fun Backyard Activities for Little Ones - Kinder Buddies Oakville Daycare says:
      May 1, 2020 at 2:37 pm

      […] Exploding Milk […]

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    Hi, I'm Vicky, founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find it at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

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