Snowman Eruptions

Kids will love this fun snowman activity that allows them to sneak in a little science to a cold, winter day! Snowman eruptions are so easy, and this is such a cute project for toddler, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade students. In these winter science experiments children will watch the effect of baking soda and vinegar in a silly and outrageously FUN snow experiments.

Winter science experiments

This winter science experiment couldn’t be any more simple. You will make a happy water bottle snowman craft. Then we will watch a chemical reaction in this baking soda and vinegar experiment to make the winter snowman erupt! It is basically like making a snowman volcano with your toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and grade 1 students. Trust me, this is a easy science experiment for winter your children will want to do over and over again all through the Christmas holiday season in December into January and February for a winter activity for kids.

Make a snowman

The first part of this is to make your cute snowman craft for kids. You will only need a couple simple craft materials you probably already have on hand.

Supplies:

empty water bottle or tall plastic container (any size)
8 small buttons (we used 5 black buttons for the mouth and 3 for the body)
12″ of ribbon to use as a scarf
orange carrot sticker or orange felt to cut into a triangle nose
2 google eyes stickers or eyes and glue to affix
hat optional

Snowman Crafts for Kids

Use glue to affix your decorations to make your easy snowman craft. (We like to use a glue gun to make it ready for eruptions sooner, but clear Elmer’s glue works great too, you will just need to let it dry before moving on to the activity part.).

How cute is your snowman project! Now it’s time to add the fun winter science project part to this snowman activity.

Snowman Activities

In a small bowl mix together the following mixture:

about 2 tablespoons dish soap – any kind will do
food coloring (optional) – it just makes it pop a little more
1/2 cup baking soda
1-2 tablespoons warm water

Now using a funnel, fill the inside of the snowman bottle with the mixture:

When you are ready….poor 1 cup of distilled white vinegar into the snowman and watch the bubbles start to swell and fill the bottle. See how they are just coming out of the top of the bottle. Keep watching, the eruption gets even better.

Winter Science Experiments for Preschoolers

So how does this vinegar and baking soda experiment work? Basically the baking soda and the vinegar create an ACID-BASE reaction; the two chemicals work together to create a gas called carbon dioxide. As the gas is created it expands and fills up more space in the snowman bottle propelling the dish soap solution up and out.

How cool is your erupting snowman, right!

Winter science preschool

Is your child begging to try this winter science experiments for toddlers again? No worries. Just rinse out the bottle and you are ready to create more snowman eruptions – over and over again!

HINT: Want a bigger reaction? Try adding more dish soap to make more bubbles, more baking soda and vinegar to make a longer eruption. Want more dramatic? Make sure your bottle has a smaller opening to push the eruption through.