Bubble Painting – Fun with Science

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Today we have more Valentine’s Day Science fun for you – Bubble Painting. Love it when Science meets Art – and not only do you get to play with the effects of baking soda and vinegar, you get to explore some colour theory AND create some wonderful art. Over to Trisha, for her great Valentine’s Day activity as part of the 31 Days of Love series. Today we have  a great addition to our Valentine’s Day Science Activities! But we also have lost more ideas for you to browse: Valentine Crafts for Preschoolers, Valentine Day Treats, Valentine Decorations and Valentine Cards for Kids! Enjoy.

TrishaHi! I’m Trisha, and I blog at Inspiration Laboratories where I love sharing science activities and other ideas for kids and parents. You can also find me on Facebook and Pinterest. I’m a mom, a science educator, and a believer in learning through play.

Combining science with art is one of our favorite things to do. In this activity, we explore the baking soda and vinegar reaction, color mixing, and create a fun craft. Use the Valentine hearts in a card or hang them up as a decoration.

Valentine's Day Science activity

Valentine Hearts Painting with Baking Soda and Vinegar

Here are the supplies you’ll need for your Bubble Painting:

  • white paper (printer paper, watercolor paper, cardstock, etc.)
  • heart cookie cutters or stencils (or draw freehand)
  • pencil or other writing utensil
  • liquid watercolors – red and blue (tempera or acrylic paints also work)
  • glitter (optional)
  • baking soda
  • vinegar
  • paint brushes
  • paint containers
  • large container for your work area (a plastic storage bin or a baking pan will work well)

How to Create Your Valentine Hearts Bubble Painting

  1. You’ll want to cover your work surface or do this activity in a large container as it can get messy.
  2. Draw or trace heart shapes onto white paper and cut out the hearts.
  3. Add liquid watercolors to two containers (one for red, one for blue).
  4. Add 1-2 teaspoons of baking soda to one color (we chose blue). Stir to dissolve the baking soda. It’s okay if all of the baking soda doesn’t dissolve. If your liquid watercolor is too dark, you can add some water to lighten the color a bit.
  5. Add about 1/4 cup of vinegar to the other color (red for us). You may want to play with the amounts of liquid watercolor and vinegar used to create the color you want. Too little watercolor results in a very light painting. Too much watercolor resulted in a dark purple for us.
  6. You can add glitter to the paints if you wish. The glitter may fall off after the hearts are dry, but they add a fun touch to the painting process.

If you don’t have liquid watercolors, you can use tempera or acrylic paint. We used tempera paint when creating our baking soda painted Christmas trees. Not all types of paint will mix well with vinegar, but the painting activity still works and the end result is nice.

Bubble Paint the Hearts

Place the paint, brushes, and a paper heart inside your container. Have your child use the baking soda and vinegar paints to paint the hearts.

paint-set-up

As the paints combine, you’ll see bubbles. The baking soda and vinegar react to form carbon dioxide (the bubbles), water, and a salt. You can also talk about how the colors mixed. When we mix red and blue together, what color do we get? Purple!

bubbles

You can also paint directly into the container and make a print.

bubble-painting

Place the paper heart on top of the paint in the container. This is especially useful if your paper doesn’t hold up well to all of the liquid your child wants to place on top of it.

Set the painted hearts aside to dry on a safe surface (I used another piece of paper.)

After they are dry, you may have baking soda left on top. If you don’t like the powdery, slightly shimmery effect, it easily brushes off (probably along with your glitter).

dark-painted-heart

Arrange your hearts into a new piece of art, add them to cards, or simply hang them up as is.

Valentine-hearts1

The amounts of paint used, the location of the paints, and the brushstrokes all contribute to the end piece of art.

Valentine-hearts2

More Valentine Ideas from Inspiration Laboratories

Valentine science  frozen vinegar hearts Valentine heart craft

Valentine’s Day Science Experiments and Activities – See all of our Valentine’s Science ideas in one place.
Try out our most popular Valentine’s idea – frozen vinegar hearts.
Turn this simple Valentine heart craft into a learning activity.

Thanks for letting me share today!

Fancy some more Valentine’s Day Science Ideas? Take a look at these easy to do and implement projects! LOVE:

STEAM Valentines Activities

Great STEAM Ideas for Valentine’s Day! Nurturing Little Thinkers!

You may enjoy these 25 Valentine’s Day Treats! Take a peak

25 Sweet Valentine's Day Treat Ideas

Enjoy!