Kids will love this wacky science experiment for kids! Hot ice is a novelty any time of year. Learn the no-fail way for how to make hot ice here!
We watch a lot of science-themed YouTube videos, so of course, when we saw this video, we knew we had to try and make our own hot ice.
We thought the hot ice science experiment would be easy, but it turns out, there is a trick to it!
You’ll also want to check out the ultimate list of summer STEM activities and the ultimate list of summer science experiments.
Related: STEM Activities for Kids of All Ages
How to Make HOT Ice!
Making hot ice isn’t difficult, but if you don’t follow the steps correctly, your project will be messed up and you will have to start over.
You want to get it right the first time because this experiment takes MASSIVE amounts of vinegar.
What you’ll need to make hot ice:
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How to Make Hot Ice Directions
Wear gloves and eye protection when doing this experiment to keep safe.
To make hot ice, you must boil vinegar and baking soda.
Mix 6 cups of vinegar and 6 tablespoons of baking soda in a pot. Add the baking soda slowly, because you don’t want too big of a reaction. This will create sodium acetate, which can eventually form crystals.
Your experiment might not work the first time (ours didn’t) so keep trying!
We used about a gallon of vinegar before we finally got the experiment to work. We felt like real scientists having to work so hard to make something happen!
Now, boil your sodium acetate mixture down until there is only about 1-2 cups left. Keep the heat as low as you can, otherwise it will turn yellow.
We boiled our vinegar too hot, so our ice turned a bit yellow. That doesn’t affect results, but it does make it look less like ice.
Our crystals finally formed after boiling our fifth batch.
Put your reduced mixture in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to encourage crystals to form. You may not be able to see them until you pour off the liquid.
Save the liquid for later!
Rinsing the crystals with rubbing alcohol will get rid of some of the yellow color (but not all).
Can you believe this started as six cups of vinegar?
You’ll want to be careful when moving the mixture from the refrigerator to where you plan to pour it out, because if you bump it too much, it could harden in the cup.
Place a few of the crystals on a plate to “seed” your hot ice structures.
Let the kids pour out the vinegar mixture and watch it harden right before your eyes! Pour very carefully to stack the crystals.
After pouring it out, the kids can shape it and play in it safely (wear latex gloves for maximum protection).
Next time, we’ll try making a giant batch for even more hot ice fun!
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