How To Make a Witch’s Brew

In the spirit of October and the upcoming Halloween holiday, we decided to kick off our first science experiment with Witch’s Brew. The idea of a Witch’s Brew can be adapted into many different forms but for this week, we wanted to do a quick science experiment! We are planning to make our Witch’s Brew out of baking soda, vinegar, and some food coloring!

Colors and Chemical Reactions

I thought I would take a moment to share what we did because it was quick and simple. The very first time I did this activity with my oldest she had so much fun telling us about the bubbling that happened. When we first did this activity we used a cupcake pan and she would drip some vinegar on the baking soda and watch it fizz. We adapted this some last winter and put food coloring under the baking soda. When my children would put the vinegar on the baking soda, they would take turns guessing which color would start bubbling through. 

Combining Colors

Today, I decided to do something a little different. It is the beginning of October, so why not pretend to make some witch’s brew? I grabbed a couple of small Halloween containers from the dollar store but this could absolutely be done with any items at home. We place some dye (food coloring, water colors, etc) at the base of the container. We then covered this with baking soda. When we added the vinegar on top this time, not only did we have the fun of the chemical reaction but we also learned a little bit about mixing colors. If the blue was next to red, it would turn purple in between, etc. In order to keep with the theme of Halloween and making a Witch’s Brew, we used your typical Halloween colors at the base of the container. Then we absolutely did this experiment again with our favorite colors! 

This was such a simple and fun activity for my children and it occupied them for quite some time! Obviously the more vinegar and baking soda you have the longer it lasts!

Supplies:

Recipe:

1. Place a couple of drops of food coloring at the bottom of the tray.
2. Sprinkle just enough baking soda to cover the colors without any showing through.
3. Use droppers to squirt vinegar on baking soda til bubbling colors peek through.
   1. The more volume and faster you do it the bigger the bubbling!