Santa Claus Exploding Baggie Science Experiment

It’s fun to do simple science experiments with kids year-round by taking a classic experiment and tailoring it for a certain season or holiday. By drawing Santa Claus faces on zip-top baggies, we turned the exploding baggie science experiment into a fun and interesting winter science experiment the kids loved!

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Getting Ready

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I gathered a couple of crafting supplies to easily make our Santa Claus exploding baggies:

• Zip-top sandwich bags
• Permanent markers
• Santa Claus Faces template (available for free at the end of this post)

Since I’m no artist, I needed some help drawing a Santa face. I printed off a copy of the Santa Faces template and then my daughter used black and red Sharpies to trace a face onto each sandwich baggie. They turned out so cute!

Once our Santa Claus baggies were ready we headed outside. Making an exploding baggie can be a bit messy! I gathered the following supplies to take outside:

• 1/2 Cup Measure
• 1 Tablespoon Measure
• Vinegar
• Food Coloring
• Baking Soda
• Toilet Tissue

We were ready to do our exploding baggie science experiment!

Santa Claus Exploding Baggie

We measured 1/2 cup vinegar into the sandwich baggie and added a couple of drops of food coloring. The food coloring is completely optional, but a little color always makes things more fun!

My daughter placed 1 tablespoon baking soda on top of a couple squares of toilet tissue. She folded it up to make a little pouch full of baking soda.

She dropped the baking soda pouch into the Santa Claus baggie while my son quickly zipped it up. Once it was zipped up we could immediately watch how quickly the baggie expanded!

We placed the baggie on the ground and watched as it expanded until it finally burst open! The anticipation waiting for the baggie to explode was so fun!

The kids loved making their own Santa Claus exploding baggie. We repeated this simple science experiment several times in various colors and it was just as exciting each and every time!

Exploding Baggie Science Explained

Baking soda and vinegar mix to produce carbon dioxide gas. The carbon dioxide bubbles up through the mixture and creates more pressure inside the sandwich baggie. This makes the baggie stretch, expand, tip over, and eventually pop!

Download the Santa Claus Faces traceable template below to get started!

More Winter STEM for Kids –>