Lava Lamp Science Project – How to Make a Lava Lamp

This is such a fun science experiment! These Lava Lamp Bottles are easy to put together and great for kids of any age.  Lava Lamp Bottles are a fun science project children of all ages can make and experiment with! Get ready to inspire your little scientists with this super cool beginner Chemistry experiment. Your children will want to keep this bubbling hands-on activity going as long as possible. Have Fun!

Lava Lamp Bottles

Easy to Make Lava Lamp Science Experiment

This is a safe and fun science experiment you can do at home or in a classroom. It’s a lot of fun if you have a group of children; each child can have their own supplies. 

Lava Lamp Science Project

What you will need to make your Lava Lamp Science Experiment is in this picture below. However, I have it displayed in list form towards the bottom of the page. Have Fun!

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This lava lamp experiment is super cool and your kids will love exploring the different colored water and oil. Have fun with hands on science projects. 

How to Make Lava Lamp Bottles

Start your experiment by filling each empty bottle about ¾ of the way full with oil. Then, fill it the rest of the way with water until it gets to be about 2 inches from the top.

Next, add in 4-5 drops of food coloring into each bottle. Kids love doing these few steps. Finally, have your child drop an antacid tablet into each bottle and watch all the bubbles start up and float all around like a lava lamp. These are such fun and easy lava lamp bottles.

After the tablets were all dissolved, and the bubbles calmed down, we added another tablet to each of the bottles and repeated the lava effect. The kids loved it and the more bubbles, the better for them.

Lava Lamp Experiment

 

If you want to discuss Chemistry with your kids and need a simple explanation, try this.

Oil and Water don’t mix because they can not form any chemical bonds together.
Alka-Seltzer tablets contain sodium bicarbonate and citric acid so when you mix them with water, they react by producing bubbling carbon dioxide.
Add that all together, and you get a fun DIY Lava Lamp.

Lava Lamp Science Project Video

 

Lava Lamp Bottles

What’s Needed

2 Empty Water Bottles or Gatorade Bottles
Oil (vegetable or canola)
Antacid Tablets, like Alka-Seltzer
Food Coloring, 2 colors
Water

Directions

1. Fill each empty bottle about ¾ of the way full with oil.
2. Fill the rest the way with water until about 2 inches from the top.
3. Put in 4-5 drops of food coloring into each bottle.
4. Drop an antacid tablet into each bottle and watch all the bubbles start up and float all around like a lava lamp.
5. After the tablets were all dissolved, and the bubbles calmed down, I added another tablet to the bottles and repeated the lava effect.

Fun Science experiment for kids to do!

Science Books for Kids

 

Fun Lava Science Experiment

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