Baking Soda Painted Leaves

Baking soda painted leaves are a super way to combine art and science. Explore the baking soda and vinegar reaction and color mixing in this fun activity for kids.

The first step is to head outside to collect some leaves. Trace them onto white paper and cut them out.

Supplies You’ll Need:

white paper cut out into leaf shapes
washable paint (yellow, red, and blue)
baking soda
vinegar
spoons
water
containers
paint brushes

Start by covering your work area as painting can be messy. Next, you’ll want to mix your paint with baking soda or vinegar. We mixed yellow tempera paint with baking soda and a little water until it was the consistency we liked. We mixed red washable liquid watercolors with vinegar. We mixed blue washable liquid watercolors with vinegar as well. Some paints don’t mix very well with vinegar (and they might react and fizz) but the activity still works just fine.

You’ll want a container for mixing your paint colors that is larger than your leaves. We used a medium sized glass baking dish. Aiden started by painting the container yellow. Then he added in the red. When the paints combine, the baking soda and vinegar will react and you’ll see bubbles. [The baking soda and vinegar react to form carbon dioxide (the bubbles), water, and a salt.]

It’s super fun to mix the fizzy paint together exploring the different shades of yellow, orange, and red. Once you have a shade you like, dip a paper leaf into the paint. Pull it out and allow it to dry.

Aiden wanted purple leaves as well, so he added in some blue paint until he got the color he wanted. He declared the purple leaves his favorite.