Dry Ice Science Experiment With Kids

Soooo...We had some dry ice. Not your typical every day item but we had gotten in a refrigerated shipment and at the bottom was a huge section of dry ice! "I can not let this go to waste" I thought! I remember the class mom coming in around halloween with a bubbling cauldron of dry ice. So I did a lil' google'ing and watched a lil youtube and this is what I came up with. (you can pick up dry ice at your local grocer.)

First I collected some empty glass containers I had lying around the kitchen. Then I added some hot water and food coloring. It is important to use Hot water not cold..the hotter the water the stronger the effect. After the water begins to cool the show is wrapping up.

Meanwhile...my husband was breaking the ice into smaller chunks.

Then we took our supplies outside to avoid a huge mess in the house. However, when cleaning up we put everything in the kitchen sink and got some cool, mess free results as well.

I let the kids add some dish soap to our dry ice and hot water.

The kids can get close as long as the just don't reach into the glass. Remember safety 1st! Dry ice is 110 degrees below zero, OUCH! Be sure there is always a responsible adult with the proper tools, gloves &  metal tongs, to handle the dry ice.