Lava Lamps!!!

So over the past two weeks I've been having the kids bring in clear, empty water, soda, whatever bottles for us to make homemade lava lamps!  We've had some interruptions with things going on at school, and I was sick one day and out another for a training, and we had a professional development day, and of course the kids would forget their supplies, so needless to say we didn't get this done in a very timely fashion.  BUT we did get to do it today and it was a huge success, the pictures really don't do it justice at all.


If you want to try lava lamps in your class, or even at your house because they were super easy, there are only a few supplies you will need.

• 1 clear plastic bottle WITH a lid, a 16.9oz water bottle works the best, but 20oz works pretty good too, we tried a big Gatorade bottle, but it was a fail

• cooking oil (vegetable, canola, sunflower, olive, etc...)

• food coloring

• Alka Seltzer tablets, I used Walmart brand and they worked just fine

Here is the procedure:

1. Fill your bottle up 3/4 the way with oil (about to the top of the label worked great, be sure to tear the label off though so you can see!!)
2. Choose your color and put several drops of food coloring in
3. Fill the bottle ALMOST the rest of the way with water, leave a little room at the top
4. Add ONE alka seltzer tablet and QUICKLY put your lid back on
5. ENJOY!!!!!  you may need to swirl it around a little bit if you try to make teal or orange and want your colors to mix

The kids really loved this, and here are some pics of our finished products.  Blue, lime green, and orange :)

One thing I definitely want to do next year to up the rigor of the experiment is to have a control and many different variables.  Such as using less oil and more water, and does a certain color work better, does namebrand Alka Seltzer work better than the generic, does a certain kind of oil (canola, olive, vegetable, etc.) work better, does a certain brand (Crisco, Great Value, Kroger, etc.) work better, and I'm sure there are tons more we could think of.  I used this in my 9th grade class, but I think it would be great for any grade level and even at home if you're bored one day!!!