Inside: Kids will love this dinosaur STEM activity where they “hatch” baking soda eggs and vinegar to uncover a plastic dinosaur toy. Check out all our awesome dinosaur activities for kids here.
For most kids, there are few things more exciting than hatching eggs and dinosaurs.
Put those two things together and you have yourself a super engaging science activity for kids.
Today I’m sharing the steps to make your own colorful baking soda dinosaur eggs.
It’s a fizzy, messy, colorful outdoor activity your children will love!
Read on to see how to make these with your kids.
Dinosaur STEM Activity
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Dinosaur Eggs For Kids Supplies:
- Baking Soda
- Cornstarch
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Ziploc Bags
- Kids Nitrile Gloves
- Mini Plastic Dinosaurs
- Vinegar
- Plastic Medicine Droppers
- Activity Trays
How To Make Dinosaur Eggs:
1. Add 3 heaping tablespoons of baking soda and 1 heaping teaspoon of cornstarch to a Ziploc bag.
2. Add one tablespoon of water and a couple of drops of food coloring to the bag. Close the bag. On a covered surface, gently knead the bag to mix the ingredients.
3. Once the ingredients have created a paste-like liquid and all the food coloring is mixed in well, stop kneading.
4. Repeat the steps above for a variety of colors.
5. Using gloves ( it’s very important you use gloves to avoid staining your hands), remove the mixture from the bags onto a cookie sheet.
6. Pat together one half of an egg shape, add a mini plastic dinosaur and pat more of the baking soda mixture on top of the dinosaur.
7. Gently shape the baking soda mixture into an egg shape.
8. Add the shaped eggs into a small container and put in your freezer.
9. Freeze for about 2-3 hours, until hard.
10. Place the eggs into a plastic activity tray.
11. Give your children a bowl with vinegar in it and plastic medicine droppers. Let them squeeze vinegar onto the dinosaur eggs and watch the chemical reaction! The eggs will fizz and bubble and reveal the mini plastic dinosaurs inside.
If you’d like the mixture to foam even more, add a bit of dish soap to the pan before you place the eggs into it.
Note: I strongly suggest having your children wear play clothes and gloves for this experiment to avoid stained clothes and hands. In the video below I used gel food coloring and it did not stain hands or clothes.
This activity is so entertaining, but beware it can become quite messy!
If you’d rather not deal with the food coloring getting on hands or clothes, simply leave it out – your kids will have just as much fun.
More Easy Dinosaur Activities
- Dinosaur Handprint Art Activity
- Printable Dinosaur Pattern Block Mats
- Dinosaur Color By Number Printables
Do you think I could use washable paint as the color in the egg?
Hmm, I’m really not sure, sorry. But if you try it, let me know how it works!
Omgosh this did not work for me at all!!! I followed exactly what the recipe said but the mixture was way too tummy. I added another tablespoon of soda and more cornstarch but it was still way too much water! (Used about three tablespoons and eventually less than two and they still were runny!). I really don’t know what went wrong!
Ahhh, Linda, so sorry it didn’t work for you! I’m not sure what would have happened….Did it work out after they froze or could you not get it to freeze?
How many eggs were able to make from this recipe? Thanks!
We got three medium sized eggs from one batch. Hope this helps 🙂
When you say add dish soap to the pan, are you referring to the cookie sheet? Do u just drip some under each spot were you place an egg? About how much?
Hi Abigail! Sorry that was unclear. I meant add the dish soap to the activity tray when your child is about to play with the dino eggs. If you look at the picture right under step 9, you’ll see we drizzled the soap under the eggs. This will add bubbles when your child plays with it. It’s totally optional. Does this make sense?