Tinkering with TinkerLab: DIY Lava Lamp

I am so happy to be a part of TinkerLab’s Blog Tour for Rachelle’s new book, Tinkerlab: A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors. I have been a big fan of the TinkerLab blog for many years and love the perspective that Rachelle Doorley brings to her work as a previous art and museum educator. All of the activities that she shares encourage open-ended discovery and experimentation.

In fact, I had the opportunity to meet her in person a couple of years ago during a visit to California (we share the same publisher) and can attest that she is just as inspiring in person as she is in her writing!

Being that my daughters think lava lamps are super cool, we decided to try making our own! The instructions were very clear, easy to follow, and included great facts about the chemical reactions that were taking place.

The girls loved creating their lava lamp concoction and returned again and again to experiment with it many times over the next couple of days.

To create your own lava lamp, follow the steps below…

Fill your bottle 3/4 of the way with oil.
Add water to your bottle leaving 1 to 2 inches of empty space up top. Wait until the water reaches the bottom of the bottle.
Add 3 to 4 drops of food coloring.
Cut the antacid tablet into 4 pieces and start out by adding 1/4 of a tablet at a time. Then get wild and crazy and add bigger pieces!

Bonus: For extra excitement you can place a LED light or a flashlight under or behind your bottle to see what happens…

For a great review on why oil and water don’t mix, click here.

For more details on this activity and many more, make sure to check out, Tinkerlab: A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors.