Underwater Volcano (and other magic potions)

Over the past couple weeks, my son has been staying up late (from nap time) to work on his science experiments. He claims that it is much more fun than school!

He made liquids change color using acids, bases and red cabbage juice powder, he made jiggly crystals out of polyacrylamide crystals, and an "under water volcano" in a test tube. I really love the one on one time with him- I think he loves the pipette, the measuring and mixing all by himself. We have only tried one experiment that he disliked- cornstarch mixed with water to form a non-Newtonian fluid. 

He said it smelled like Ostrich poo. Hmm. Interesting observation.

Here are the polyacrylamide crystals that soaked up colored water.

 Here is his "underwater volcano." The ingredients are: water, baking soda, red cabbage juice powder and oil. We counted down "Three! Two! One!" and then he added a small scoop of citric acid which sank to the bottom and created a chemical reaction with the baking soda. Carbon dioxide bubbles! Color change! Fizz! I think my kid liked it too ;)
I decided to photograph some oil and water experiments of my own. Using red cabbage juice powder, baking soda and citric acid, I changed the color of the water several times, with varying results. I showed you one of the photos from this simple experiment on Monday- here are some more!

All I need now is a potion that perfects my photography!