Lemon volcano experiment

What you need

• A lemon (cut in half) Food colouring
• Washing up liquid Bicarbonate soda/baking soda
• Lemon juice Stick/small spoon

Benefits

This activity provides an opportunity for your child to mix ingredients to create a different type of effects and is a great way to talk about predictions - a crucial element of science experiments!

The experience

Prepare a space for your scientist to work!

• Cut off one of the ends of your lemon.
• Cut out the middle of the lemon and use a stick to pull it out, leaving a lemon bowl.
• Add food colouring in the middle of the lemon. Add some washing up liquid
• Add 2 spoons of bicarbonate soda/baking soda and…watch it explode!
• Add some lemon juice to make a better foamy effect...
• You could even repeat this experiment using different colouring to make many different coloured explosions.

Good luck with your scientific volcanic eruption!

As you go through each step, ask your child - ‘what do you think might happen next?’ ‘What do you think is going to change when we add…?’ Talk about how in a science experiment, we make predictions and think about what could happen next and share these thoughts and ideas.