How To Make Elephant Toothpaste (STEM Activity)

This simple STEM activity will create a giant foaming reaction that will amaze your kids! With just a few everyday ingredients, you can make something that’s big enough that it looks like toothpaste for elephants being squeezed from a tube! Follow this tutorial to learn how to make elephant toothpaste!

I love doing science experiments and STEM activities with my kids. We’ve done some cool ones, such as making magic milk and watching dancing raisins.

Now we have a new one! Have you ever heard of elephant toothpaste? It’s a super fun experiment that does a great job of demonstrating concepts of exothermic reactions & catalysts.

To be clear, elephant toothpaste is a kind of foam that looks like large foamy strings as it flows out of a cylindrical container – sort of like toothpaste squirting out of a tube.

NOTE: This version of elephant toothpaste is safe, but it definitely wouldn’t taste very good. Please don’t let your kids put it in their mouth!

Elephant toothpaste is a perfect experiment to explore decomposition and exothermic reactions! Decomposition is a word we use when something breaks down.

If you want more exciting STEM experiments to try, check out our

• Snow Volcano Experiment
• Magic Milk STEM Experiment
• Easy Earth Day Science Experiment

Supplies Needed

You’ll need to gather a few simple household ingredients for this fun science experiment:

• Yeast Packet – 0.25 oz
• Dish Soap – any brand, use what you have on hand
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Warm Water
• Food Coloring
• Measuring Cup
• Funnel
• Empty Water Bottle
• Cake Pan – 9 x 13 inch pan is perfect to catch overflow from the bottle
• Small Bowl
• Measuring Spoon – 1 tablespoon
• Small Spoon
• Safety Glasses – sunglasses or goggles

How To Make Elephant Toothpaste

Important Safety Tip: Adults and children should wear safety goggles and plastic gloves at all times when making elephant toothpaste.

Step 1 – Prepare Plastic Bottle and Pan

Place an empty plastic water bottle in the center of a cake pan. Put on safety goggles before proceeding.

Step 2 – Make a Hypothesis

Take a few minutes to let the children hypothesize about what will happen with the ingredients are combined.

Step 3 – Add Hydrogen Peroxide

Now, pour the hydrogen peroxide into the empty bottle. Using a funnel will make this step much simpler.

Step 4 – Add Dish Soap

Squirt about 1 tablespoon of dish soap into the water bottle.

Step 5 – Combine Ingredients

Carefully pick up the bottle and gently swirl to combine the ingredients.

Step 6 – Food Coloring

Add in a few drops of food coloring. The more food coloring you add, the darker the mixture will be.

Step 7 – Swirl to Combine

Carefully swirl the bottle to combine the food coloring and dish soap mixture.

Step 8 – Add Yeast To Water

Pour the packet of yeast into a small bowl.

Add water to the yeast.

Stir the water and yeast until completely dissolved. It will look similar to chocolate milk when dissolved.

Step 9 – Pour into Bottle

Pour the yeast mixture into the bottle using the funnel. Remove the funnel quickly and watch the chemical reaction and creation of elephant toothpaste.

Elephant Toothpaste Experiment Notes And Expert Tips

• Place your bottle in the middle of a tray with sides – it will contain the mess from the foam and make cleanup so much easier.
• Beware that the bottles can tip easily! Make sure that the kids hold the bottle steady after the hydrogen peroxide has been poured into the bottles so it does not fall over and spill.
• SAFETY TIP: The foam is HOT! Avoid touching the foam until it cools down. Keep gloves on until everything is finished and cleaned up.

What Happened?

How does this work? Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is just like water (H₂O), except that it has one extra oxygen atom. The extra oxygen causes the chemical to be unstable, because it wants to give the extra oxygen away and decompose.

This oxygen is released as a gas, but since it can be hard to see, we add dish soap to increase the surface tension and trap the oxygen in the form of bubbles. This process usually happens slowly, so we added a catalyst to make the reaction happen much faster. 

The catalyst in this experiment is yeast! The yeast contains an enzyme called Catalase that breaks down hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) into oxygen gas and water. When the extra oxygen breaks off from the hydrogen peroxide, all of the energy used to hold the two together is released and lets off heat, causing an exothermic reaction.

Plus, as the oxygen atoms break off and forms bubbles, the soap traps them so they don’t burst right away. Instead, they form a foamy concoction that pours out of the top of the bottle.

NOTE: If you try this same experiment without dish soap, the reaction will still make bubbles, but not foam.

Elephant Toothpaste Fun Facts

• Hydrogen peroxide is pretty unstable when exposed to light, which is why it is usually stored in dark brown containers. Light decomposes it into oxygen (O₂) and water (H₂O).
• Hydrogen peroxide has been used as an antiseptic for about 200 years, which means that it can kill bacteria.
• The enzyme Catalase can also be found in potatoes and living things, like dogs – and people!
• You see 3% hydrogen peroxide bubble when you put it on a cut or scrape because our bodies also have the enzyme Catalase. The oxygen that gets released when we pour hydrogen peroxide on cuts is what kills the germs and prevents infection.

Variations Of Elephant Toothpaste To Try

Try doing this exciting science experiment with different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. The higher the concentration, the more incredible the reaction will be – check out the images below! Check Amazon for:

• 6% hydrogen peroxide
• 12% hydrogen peroxide

Elephant Toothpaste Safety Precautions

Additional safety precautions and adult supervision are required when working with higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide:

• Wear protective gloves and clothing to prevent hydrogen peroxide from getting on your skin.

• Make sure you wear eye protection.

• Do this experiment outside because the foam will shoot up very high out of the bottle!

• Don’t touch the elephant toothpaste foam, because it can still contain some unreacted hydrogen peroxide, which can burn the skin.

More Fun Experiments and Activities

• DIY Dinosaur Sensory Bin
• Easy Rainbow Walking Water Experiment
• Glow in the Dark Slime
• Outdoor DIY Puffy Paint
• Easy DIY Rainbow Spaghetti Noodles
• Salt Dough Dinosaur Fossils
• Homemade Playdough