This is the week that my children would normally have participated in a summer fun program, in which they get to choose classes based on their interests and learn at the public school for three hours each day. My oldest son and I were both supposed to teach STE(A)M classes; I, for Kindergarteners, and he, for grades one through six. He was so excited to be teaching this year, but unfortunately, it was all canceled. Instead of dwelling on the cancelations, we thought we’d incorporate this as part of our family-fun challenge. After all, it can be difficult to keep kids learning throughout the summer, but it’s also important! This first day, I thought we’d start with fun, already tried-and tested, science experiments for kids.
Now, remember, this is family fun! I recommend getting the supplies to do each of these experiments as a family in one science-themed evening. And because I understand that the Internet is also filled with science experiments that don’t exactly get the results you were hoping for (we’ve completed a few duds!), the five science experiments for kids that I’m including have been done by our family already, so we know they work!
I also highly recommend using the proper safety equipment. Yes, most of these ingredients are found in your kitchen, but you may be dealing with a small “explosion” and it’s good to just get in the habit of at least wearing safety glasses!
I’ll include links to the instructions, but also a printable master list of ingredients so if you need to go to the store, you can do so easily.
I also know that many people are hurting financially right now, due to their businesses and places of employment being closed. If you’re in that position, I am truly sorry and I have so much compassion for you. Most of these activities are quite inexpensive and give you a solid bang for your buck (literally!) as far as the entertainment factor goes. I hope you’ll find it to be a very inexpensive family activity overall!
Now, on to the experiments!
- Water-bottle “bomb”—
I could not find a link to the instructions for this one because my son developed this himself…ONLY in the name of teaching science experiments for kids to elementary-aged children! Don’t worry, he’s not building bombs in the basement!
So, I’ll do my best to walk you through the steps clearly, though this post was not meant to be a full tutorial, so I don’t have any pictures of him actually doing this. For the record, this is an experiment that you can have an older child prepare, and younger children can enjoy the result. Because of the speed needed, it won’t work well having younger children do the actual work.
What you need:
Poor quality, disposable water bottle (we’re talking the crinkly, Great Value ones)
Baking soda (basically, the more you use, the bigger the explosion)
Vinegar (again, the more you use, the bigger the explosion)
A razor blade (ideal) or knife (will work)
Steps:
- Using the razor blade, slightly score a few lines on the sides of the water bottle. DO NOT cut all the way through. You’re just lightly scoring in order to create “weak spots.”
- Fill the bottle approximately 1/3 of the way with vinegar.
- Screw on the lid.
- In the middle of the bottle twist it hard a couple of times, while keeping the lid on (for extra pressure). The cheaper quality plastic bottles will twist much more easily!
- Fill the rest of the bottle with baking soda, keeping that twist in the middle (the twist is very important! You need a tight seal!)
- When you’re ready to show your children the result, QUICKLY untwist the bottle, shake, and throw. You’ll want it to be a fair distance from the kids, as the lid will probably blow off. It makes a loud boom and sprays baking soda and vinegar everywhere.
For extra fun: Color the vinegar with food coloring. Lay out some wrapping paper (using the backside), or freezer paper, or an old, white sheet, and throw your bottle on it to create a “painted” effect. You can continue using many different colors!
- Naked Egg Experiment—
This one is incredibly easy, but takes a few days to get the results. All you need to do is place an egg in a cup full of vinegar. Your kids will be amazed when they see a naked egg, that can even bounce! Here’s a link, in case you need more instructions than that! This one adds food coloring to color the eggs, but we have done it without the food coloring. I find that the kids like it without food coloring because the colored ones look like Jell-O to them, and they have a hard time believing it’s an actual egg.
- Magic Milk—
Have you tried this one? It really does work! My kids find it to be mesmerizing and this is one that is a lot of fun to include your younger children in preparing. This one is so cool that I’m trying to figure out a Biblical object lesson that it could tie to so that my son could use it to teach a children’s lesson in church. I’ll have to keep working on that, I guess, but in the meantime, do try this one! It is one of our favorite science experiments for kids!
- Sensory Bottle—
This three-ingredient sensory bottle is not only beautiful, but it can have an extremely calming effect on children who have sensory overload issues. We made this earlier this year and all of my children will walk by and just give it a little shake and watch it for a moment. True confession: I love it too! This one is worth it and your little helpers can easily pour in the ingredients using a funnel. (I did use a clear water bottle for ours, which was a nicer size!)
- Exploding Stick Bomb—
These are so fun! They really never get old because there is always the challenge of, “Can you make it bigger?” “Can you make it more explosive by adding more sticks?” They are a bit difficult, so more fun for older kids to make and younger kids to watch; however, there are also simpler versions that younger kids can make. I would start with making the easier versions and then make a more difficult version that will give your younger children something to aspire to!
Here is a tutorial for the easier version.
And here is one more complicated.
Your children will learn and giggle and your beautiful family will create a memory! Our plan for family-fun-science night is to try out a few more experiments so I can share more tried-and-true projects with you down the road. And I didn’t even add the classic Diet Coke and Mentos experiment, but if you haven’t done that one with your kids, you must! That is the experiment that sparked an interest in science for each of my children! (One thing I didn’t know until my son told me this year is that you can get a lot more Mentos in the bottle if you hot glue them together first!)
I hope you’ll take this STEM challenge on and have a great time with it! Let me know if you tried it!
RElated: Support Your Child’s Interests
