Science Saturday: Homemade lava lamps

I took the kiddos to the stories and science time at the Wilsonville library this week, and Alex really liked the bubbling lava lamp experiment they did. We picked up some Alka-Seltzer tablets on the way home since that was the only ingredient we didn't have on hand so we could do it on our own. It was a super simple experiment with some fun results. Give it a try. You probably have most of the ingredients right in your house!

How to make Bubbling lava lamps (homemade)

Ingredients:

• Vegetable Oil
• Alka-seltzer tablets
• A plastic or glass bottle (the library used a 2-litre bottle so it was big for all to see, instead we opted for a smaller glass bottle to use up less oil)
• Water
• A flashlight
• Food coloring

Put the oil in the bottle. Fill it about 3/4 full. Add water to fill the bottle the rest of the way. Add several drops of food coloring (just watching the food coloring go down is fun!). After that settles add some alka seltzer tabs. Shine the flashlight from the top, and watch the magic!

We still have the bottle on the window sill to do again when Alex gets the urge to see it again.