We want to provide you and your child with some out-of-this-world fun! And your child will love making this baking soda rocket. You will most likely have the simple materials needed to build this rocket with items in your home.

What you will need:

• 2l empty and rinsed pop bottle
• Materials to decorate the rocket – paper, paint, pipe cleaners, stickers, markers, etc.
• 1-2 cups of vinegar
• 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda
• Paper towel
• Wine cork or something similar to quickly cover the opening of the bottle
• Lego or Duplo blocks

First things first, let’s decorate the rocket. Grab the coloured paper, markers, paint and stickers and get decorating. Make sure the opening of the bottle is the bottom of the rocket!

Next, it’s time to build the launch pad. For this your child can use Lego or Duplo blocks to create a way to hold the bottle rocket upside down steadily for it to launch.

So, now we have the rocket decorated, the launchpad built, it’s now time for the rocket fuel. Pour one to two tablespoons of vinegar into the bottle. Now, we need to add the baking soda. Cut the paper towel into about 4 inches square. Place a heaping tablespoon of baking soda in the centre of the paper towel. Fold the paper towel so the baking soda is wrapped up inside, and add it into the bottle so that it fits snuggly inside the mouth of the bottle. Insert the wine cork into the pop bottle and make sure it’s in there tightly. Keep the bottle wine cork side up!

The vinegar and baking soda once mixed will cause a chemical reaction causing Carbon Dioxide to build up inside the bottle and can make the rocket fly as high as 30-50 feet in the air! So make sure to take your rocket outside and into a nice open space. You will need to act fast for this next part, flip the bottle over and QUICKLY place it in the launchpad, and RUN!

Once the vinegar meets the baking soda the chemical reaction will start and you can start your launch countdown.

Make sure you rinse everything well with water afterwards so it doesn’t damage anything.

Our Rocket Fuel content box has a lot of cool other options for rocket experiments that will ‘Wow’ your child! So why not take a look at our subscriptions and see which one will suit you and your child!