We have a really entertaining science activity today for little ones! And – I bet you already have all the ingredients in your cupboard. Follow our steps to make your popping corn become HOPPING corn!
This corn will hop up and down repeatedly in your container for over an hour. It’s so much fun to watch (mesmerizing would be the best word to describe it) and it creates a great opportunity to talk about gases, liquids, and solids with your child.
You Will Need:
- a clear glass container
- popping corn
- 2 1/2 – 3 cups of water
- 2 Tbsp. of baking soda
- 6 Tbsp. of white vinegar
- food colouring (optional)
That’s it! I told you you probably had it in your kitchen already.
Instructions:
- Fill your jar with water and add a couple drops of food colouring.
- Add your baking soda and stir well until it is all dissolved.
- Add a small handful of popping corn kernels.
- Add the vinegar and watch the corn start to hop up and down!
Onetime, my 3 year old son, really enjoyed this activity. We measured all the ingredients out together and then he was responsible for adding them into the jar at the right time.
Talk about a terrific way to work on measurement concepts, listening skills, and practising patience too!
Although it wasn’t necessary to stir the corn once it was hopping, Onetime wanted to do this to see what would happen!
I always try to encourage Onetime’s natural curiosity with these type of activities. I knew that the stirring wasn’t going to “mess up” the reaction – so my response is Go for it! and What do you think will happen when you stir the water? Let’s experiment!
(All the extra stirring did was get the corn going a little faster for a bit!)
Basically the science behind the activity is that when the baking soda and vinegar combine, they react to form carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. The gas forms bubbles in the water which circle around the corn kernels. The bubbles lift the kernels up to the surface and when they get there they pop and the kernels sink again.
The “hopping” continues until the vinegar and baking soda have finished reacting. For us, it lasted over an hour!
PLEASE PIN ME & SHARE THE FUN!
What a fun activity! We even kept our Hopping Corn jar on the table with us at lunchtime so we could continue to enjoy the view as we ate!
If you enjoy this activity, you may also want to try making a Hurricane in a Jar. 
If you’re interested in finding even more simple science experiments and activities for young children, check out our SCIENCE ACTIVITIES page.
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Happy hopping!
Thanks for the fun experiment. we did it , it was fun ….
That’s great Kavita! Thanks for dropping by with a comment!
I can’t believe the hopping lasted over an hour! What a fun experiment!
I was really surprised too Emma! We even left the corn, went for a bath, came back and it was STILL going!!! Thanks for dropping by!
Another fun way to play with baking soda and vinegar!
Yep – there are so many cool experiments to do with these simple ingredients! We’ve got another one coming next week too that changes colour! Thanks for dropping by Ashley!
My son loved this!!
That’s great Tracy! Thanks so much for letting me know. We had so much fun too! Thanks for dropping by!
Best, Sue
Love it!
Thanks Tricia! Hope you have fun with this! Thanks for dropping by!
Thank goodness that the only thing I didn’t have is the optional food coloring! I will be entertaining my 4 year old tomorrow.
Thanks for dropping by Leona! Hope you have fun with this!
Hi Sue, we tried this today and my toddler and preschooler loved it. Thanks for the fun idea!!!
That’s awesome Katie! So glad to hear they both had fun! Thanks for dropping by!
We tried it at OSHC and the pop corn didn’t move :/ wonder why it didn’t worl
That’s strange Amber. I’m thinking that maybe the baking soda was really old? Or maybe there was too much water in relation to the baking soda and vinegar? Was there a reaction at all? Were there bubbles – but they just didn’t lift the corn? Hmmm….something must have been different. We’ve done this a few times now and it always worked out really well. Maybe try again, but double the amounts of baking soda and vinegar. Hopefully that will work! Thanks for dropping by!
We tried but could hardly see the corn due to the baking soda. How many ml of water are you supposed to use?
Hi Connie – thanks for dropping by. I used 2 1/2 cups water with the 2 Tbsp of baking soda and 6 Tbsp vinegar. Hope this helps and that you try it again. It was really fun. Thanks for asking for clarification – I updated the post to show the amount of water. Sue
Hi Sue! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my query! It is much appreciated. We will be trying it again later. Regards Connie
Great! Hope it works out for you!
Tried it today since my 3yo asked for an experiment and I had nothing prepared. The popcorn didnt move but we did make a mess of water/vinegar all over the dining room. Still fun and my son played with popcorn and measuring cups for 30 mins afterwards!
Thanks for taking the time to comment Laura! Glad you still both had fun with this activity. I’m not sure why it seems to work sometimes and not others. I think it may have a lot to do with how old the baking soda is because it does lose some of its strength over time. Sounds like you made the best of the situation! Kudos to you mom!
That’s a good one! My kid will love it.
Thanks for dropping by Alicia – hope you guys have fun with this! We did! Sue
Hi Sue, I LOVE this activity and my kids LOVED this activity when we did it. Thanks for sharing it at the Love to Learn Linky. I am so glad you will start hosting it right here on One Time Through every Thursday! 🙂
Glad you guys had fun with it! Looking forward to joining in on the linky next Thursday! Have a great one this week!
Going to see if this might work with something other than popping corn, like maybe seashells with blue food coloring. What a neat idea. 🙂
Great idea Patti! I’ve seen this done with raisins as well, but nothing bigger. Maybe those tiny little seashells? You’ve got me curious now! Let me know how it goes! Best, Sue
Awesome idea!! Thanks so much for sharing. My preschool class of older two’s are going to love this!
Hope you have fun with it Kimmie! Thanks for dropping by! Best, Sue
This is an excellent idea. I will be trying it with my kids soon. I pinned it and I would love it if you would link up at the Geeky educational link up!
http://www.morethanacouponqueen.com/search/label/Geeky%20Educational%20Link%20Up
Will do Meagan. Thanks for dropping by and have fun with the hopping corn! Best, Sue
We tried this today and I didn’t have popping corn so we pooped a bag of popcorn and used the left over kernels for the experiment. FYI – the kernels just float at the top of the mixture! Ha!!! We look forward to trying again after we buy popping corn! 🙂
Thanks for the FYI Jennifer. You’re just building the kids’ anticipation! LOL Thanks for dropping by, Best, Sue
Thank you so much for the experiment! Just did this with 1st graders and kindergartners, it kept 40 kiddos very intrigued! It really got them making observations and hypothesis! Will be doing it again with next years kiddos!!!
That’s so great to hear Holly. It sounds like you guys had fun! Thanks so much for dropping by and taking the time to comment. Best, Sue
Help! We couldn’t get this to work! The potion overflowed as soon as we added the vinegar, and it made a huge mess! What did we do wrong?
Oh no Cathy! I’m sorry things didn’t work out well for you. I think you must have had some very fresh baking soda. Did you try using a much larger container to contain the reaction? Was all the baking soda completely dissolved before you added the vinegar? I hope you try it again and have success! Hopefully it was a learning experience for the kids!