Get smart curated videos delivered to your inbox.   SUBSCRIBE
The Kid Should See This

How to make Reindeer Rockets

Watch more with these video collections:

If you want to study the physics of flying reindeer (and make a super fun mess in the process), make Reindeer Rockets. Maddie Moate and Greg Foot combine small plastic bottles with sports caps, some Alka-Seltzer or fizzy vitamin C tablets, and some reindeer craftwork to see those reindeer fly. Moate explains:

Because we’re putting the lid on, what’s going to happen is pressure is going to build up inside the bottle because that carbon dioxide gas… it has nowhere to go. So that pressure eventually is going to push the sports cap of the lid down, and when that cap pushes down, it’s going to push against the bench and that’s going to make the bottle whoosh up in the air. And if the liquid comes down, that’s only going to push the bottle up higher.

A reminder: “Make sure to be careful and stand back once you’ve put on the reindeer rockets lids! You never know when they might blow!”

reindeer rockets
Related watching: How to make a rocket, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 crashes & landings, and The Chemistry of Rockets: How do rockets work?

Plus: Salt crystal snowflakes, DIY candy canes, & more holiday science projects with Greg Foot.

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.

Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.

🌈 Watch these videos next...

Why is it so hard to catch a fly? A visit to The Robot Zoo

Rion Nakaya

Why do we get car sick?

Rion Nakaya

Why Do Hot Things Glow?

Rion Nakaya

Underwater Adventure in Bali with Maddie and Greg

Rion Nakaya

The World’s First Poo Museum

Rion Nakaya

The Egg Wizard, a DIY LEGO and cardboard egg-decorating machine

Rion Nakaya

The Chemistry of Rockets: How do rockets work?

Rion Nakaya

SpaceX’s Grasshopper: “What it feels like to ride a rocket.”

Rion Nakaya

SpaceX’s Grasshopper hover and landing (October 2013)

Rion Nakaya