The trend toward inquiry-based learning is providing today's students with a more enriching education. When implementing inquiry it is important to recognize the great number of safety concerns that accompany this paradigm shift. Fortunately, with some consideration, teachers can shape students' laboratory experiments into safe and valuable learning experiences. A teacher should always consider two factors when determining whether or not a particular demonstration or laboratory experiment should be performed: what does it teach and what are the safety concerns? One very popular demonstration is the flame test. The traditional method of this experiment uses methanol, which holds its own safety risks. Here the author describes an alternative method that allows a safer way for students to actively perform flame tests and identify ions in solutions.