What experiment can i do

Drop Pop Rocks into a bottle of soda and then place a balloon onto the opening to watch it inflate. Discover how to keep your pennies shiny by experimenting with different cleaning solutions. Make " elephant toothpaste " a. This glitter does more than shine, it sparks a scientific experiment to see how far germs can spread. Learn about surface tension by dropping food coloring into milk and watch as the colors move when you add some soap.

Make a Rube Goldberg machine featuring a series of moving pieces that affect one another: marbles, dominoes, books, and most any surface. Build a rocket balloon car using a Styrofoam tray, a balloon, and a straw; watch how air pressure moves it across the table. Looking for hands-on science experiments? Ask your kids to do simple tasks with their hands, feet, and eyes like grab a ball, stand on one foot, or wink to see which side is dominant.

Test your reaction time by having a friend drop a ruler between two almost closed fingers. See how fast you can grab it. Explore the scientific concept of density while taking a bath. Ivory soap boats do more than just float, they demonstrate density.

All ages can enjoy tower building. Find your blind spot by moving a card with a speck on it until you can no longer see the spot. Build a miniature windmill using a few simple objects. Watch it spin faster or slower based on the direction of the "blades.

Bounce a ball on top of another to watch how the energy transfers to the top ball and leaves the bottom one "dead. Demonstrate centripetal force by spinning a bucket of water on a rope in a vertical circle. Build a container for an egg that protects it from breaking and then test it out by dropping it from on high. Fashion your own bouncy balls with this recipe to see how various shapes bounce differently.

Budding meteorologists can create shaving cream storm clouds and Technicolor raindrops. Make static electricity by rubbing balloons on clothing or shuffling on the carpet with socks, then zap someone with a quick touch. Grow gummy bears with a special science solution. Build your own periscope using a milk container and carefully angled mirrors that allow you to see things above or behind you. Be a DIY spy with this fun fingerprint experiment. Collect fingerprints using one of these methods , and then dive a little deeper with a forensic study of fingerprint patterns.

Fill a plastic bottle to the brim with water and put it in the freezer; in a few hours the bottle will crack because ice expands. This article may contain some affiliate links, which means we might earn a small commission if you make a purchase. There is no extra cost to the reader.

We only recommend products and services that we have personally used or have thoroughly researched. This article was first published in , but it has since been updated. Additional reporting and photos by Ally Noel except where noted.

Things To Do. Family Travel. City Guides. HOME - Anywhere. Activity Calendar. Sign up for our free newsletters. Thanksgiving Activities Guide for Families in The best part? Getting to eat the cookies! Teach kids the importance of smell with this activity that asks them to use only their noses to identify objects.

Can they sniff out the fish oil over the garlic cloves? The lemon juice over the orange oil? Homeschooling blogger Ana has the instructions at Babble Dabble Do. Pour one type of juice into each glass. Send your partner out of the room. Record the number, juice type, and color in each glass on a piece of paper. Call your partner back. Ask her to unplug her nose, close her eyes, and sniff the juice before drinking it.

Her guesses should be on target now. All hail the mighty schnoz! Available online. With this fun video from They Might Be Giants , kids can learn that shooting stars are not stars, they're meteorites. Then, take it out back for a fun backyard stargazing session. Dyes are fiber reactive, so there's a chemical reaction between the dye and the fabric.

You can do this experiment with everything from paper to t-shirts. We've got a great list of tie-dye projects here. Unravel the mysteries of time. Or at least figure out the basics by setting up a sundial outside. Dry ice is already cool enough on its own yes, pun intended but it takes science to turn them a rad overflow of bubbles.

When you add water, it changes the temperature of the dry ice, causing the ice to go from solid to gas. Head to crafty blog Simply Modern Mom to get the full tutorial.

But be careful: Dry ice can cause serious skin burns, so make sure your kids are well supervised and know not to touch the ice. Did the candy melt or disappear? Click here for the instructions on how to recreate this mind-warping experiment. Your whistler has the basics of air pressure down just by using their mouth to blow. And now you can amaze them with this egg-cellent experiment. Want to test it out? Head over to Steve Spangler Science for the tutorial. Fortunately, lemon juice only oxidizes when in contact with heat.

This method works with baking soda and milk too. Click here to find out how to write secret messages with your little spy. Now add a drop of food coloring which is heavier than oil and a fizzy tablet and watch the air bubbles take coloring with them to the top. Head on over to S. This germ-growing experiment, which will help kids understand how even the cleanest-looking surfaces and hands can be filled with germs, is one of the easiest science experiments for kids we've found.

Get the fun and yucky instructions at kidsactivitiesblog. After figuring out this simple experiment your sidekick will want to play Houdini with all her friends.

All it takes is an apple, vanilla extract, and a cotton ball to pull one over on her tastebuds. After the water cools down and evaporates, the sugar turns back into a solid. And with a little help of your sugar-soaked string, the crystals will find a home to grow upon and become rock candy.

Learn how to make your smart sweets with these instructions from the Exploratorium. Harness the power of the sun to make your favorite campfire treat! With just a few common household items you can create an eco-friendly oven just for melting marshmallows and chocolate, plus you can teach kids about the power of the sun. Click here to learn how. A lesson in: Chemistry and specifically, spherification.

This futuristic experiment will leave your little scientist wanting to know more about chemistry. Plain old fresh-squeezed lemonade is so last year. Boost the fun quotient and learn a simple science concept simultaneously when you recreate this edible Fizzy Lemonade drink from Learn With Play at Home. A great alternative to the baking soda-vinegar volcano, it shows kids what happens when an acid and base are mixed together.

This easy little experiment doesn't take much: just two empty and clear 2-liter bottles, a metal washer, water and duct tape. Food coloring is optional. Fill one bottle with about two-thirds water.

Place the washer on the bottle and line up the empty bottle on top of the water-filled one. Wrap the duct tape around the middle securing the two bottles together. Then, turn the bottles upside down. Does the water go straight down or do you see a mini whirlpool Swirl the top or bottom a bit for a better effect.

The spinning water is called a vortex, and all tornadoes, hurricanes and typhoons are examples of air vortexes. As the water spins faster, it pushes to the outside of the bottle creating a hole in the middle. The air from the bottom of the bottle comes up the middle and the water from the top flows back down through the hole.

Visit T he Homeschool Scientist to get going. And click here for five more gumdrop-themed challenges. Sure, anyone can do the old baking soda and vinegar volcano, but what about creating a boat that is propelled by this classic chemical reaction?

Keep your little Einsteins busy this afternoon with this cool experiment that doesn't require a lot of prep. Get the step-by-step here. This awe-inspiring project is deceptively simple and inexpensive to achieve, and requires just a wee bit of patience to see the results—kids will love checking in on the progress. Visit Schooling a Monkey now to get started.

This experiment is one you'll definitely want to do outside. Different colors have different heat absorbing capacities. Black has the greatest heat-absorbing capacity, which results in ice melting quicker than on white, which reflects the most light. Get more sidewalk science ideas here. Can you make water float? We bet you can. Photo by Mike Adamick. Used by permission of the publisher.

All rights reserved. This grow-your-own experiment that lets you grow crystals inside an egg shell. Be sure to get alum powder that contains potassium, or else you won't get any crystal growth. Adding drops of food dye to the growing solution yields some super cool crystals. A perfectly formed geode takes about hours to grow, making this a great weekend project. Check out more of Art and Soul's gorgeous eggs over at their blog!

They use elephant toothpaste! Find out how to mix your own and figure out the science behind this dynamic exothermic heat releasing reaction from Asia Citro at Fun at Home With Kids. Our favorite part? This static electricity science experiment couldn't be any easier. In fact, other than a balloon or going down the slide, it might be the easiest way to teach kids about electrical currents.

This takes down the need to scour the internet for ideas. It's like looking for a recipe on the internet, so many options that often times it is less overwhelming to look in a book on the shelf than stress about too many options. They have proven to me that I CAN be that mom that does cool and creative things with her kids!

And those cool and creative things can actually be quite simple! What a revelation. Thank you!! I feel like a new mama having so many fun ideas.

I used to dread the afternoon, after naps, as it was so boring doing the same thing day after day but now I look forward to our "play" time! You have changed how I spend time with my kid in so many positive ways! I am now one happy dad that no longer wonders what I am going to do with this little guy for the next 12 hours :P Your site was this first time dad life saver!

It is hard to think of things to keep the 3 year old entertained and engaged while taking care of the baby. Everything we have tried so far from your website, the three year old has loved. Your ideas are so simple and he can do them for hours. Shop eBooks of Planned weeks of activities. Get activity plans delivered to your inbox, every week!