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Do you need some very simple science experiments for kids? We’ve gathered together a collection of awesome science activities for you to enjoy. They are easy to set up and use stuff you have around the house. Perfect for family night or homeschoolers! Get ready to impress your kids and earn the title of coolest parent on the block.
Mooooom! My son’s yell reverberated around the house. Fearing some disaster, I ran to investigate. Jumping with excitement, he pointed at small aquarium of tadpoles.
“Look!” he exclaimed. “Our tadpoles are growing legs.”
Living in the country is fantastic place to raise kids. I was constantly called to witness some marvel of nature. rocks with sparkles, fungus on a rotting log, or a mop crawling with earwigs. (Ugh! That memory still makes me shudder!)
Kids love science
Ever noticed how kids love science? For starters they’re always experimenting with something. From building towers, to digging for worms, or throwing spaghetti against the wall. I loved doing science with my boys. It was such a joy watching them learn and have fun at the same time.
The good news is that we don’t need a bunch of expensive stuff to do experiments with our kids. We can do loads of things with the stuff from around our house. The best part? Science experiments are a SUREFIRE HIT with kids of all ages. They are really easy to set up and may earn you the title of the coolest parent on the block!
Okay, I know what you are thinking. I never made it past basic chemistry at school! How on earth can I do science with my kiddos? Don’t worry! It’s easier than you think. I’ve scoured the Internet and picked out 50 very simple science activities for you to enjoy together. Here’s my criteria
- They must be simple to set up and do.
- They must use stuff that you probably have already.
So, let’s get down to business- are you ready to have fun?
5 Simple Science Experiments That Are Totally Gross
Let’s be honest, children are fascinated by mold and other gross science. In fact the ickier the better. The following activities have the all-important yuck factor.
- Bottle Composter | Busy Mommy Media (decomposition in action).
- Moldy Bread Experiment from Apple and Thyme (shows the importance of washing hands).
- Make a Rot Museum| Teach Beside Me (Fascinating and disgusting)
- Fake Snot | Little Bins With Little Hands.
- Slug Race| Lemon Lime adventure (with real slugs *shudders*)
While you are waiting for things to rot or mould to grow, head over to You Tube. Here is a time-lapse video of a rotting watermelon. It is delightfully disgusting!
10 Very simple Science Experiments Involving Water
Water experiments are the easiest activities to set up. Most of us have easy access to water. Add a few basic supplies and you have some impressive science fun!
- Crawling Colors| Parenting Chaos
- Simple Refraction Science| Look We’re Learning
- Exploring The Density of Liquids |Buggy and Buddy
- Water and Ice Science| Sixth Bloom
- Simple Water Displacement Experiment|Life with Moore Babies
- The Amazing Leak-Proof Bag|Hand On As We Grow
- Measuring Buoyancy Experiment – KC Edventures
- Water Bottle Fountain| Learn With Play At Home
- Water Whistles|My Baba
- How To Make a Lava Lamp|Coffee Cups and Crayons
10 Simple Science Experiments Using Baking Soda
Baking soda + acid = an explosive reaction that always impresses! Kids love the fizzy chemistry and all you need is some acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and baking soda. Easy peasy fun!
- Vinegar and Baking Soda Rocket| Frugal Fun For Boys And Girls
- Exploding Paint Bags| Growing a Jeweled Rose
- Baking Soda Powered Boat as seen on Science Sparks.
- Easy Lemon Volcano|Sixth Bloom
- Fizzing Green Eggs|Preschool Power Packets
- Fun Volcano Science|Rainy Day Mom
- Baking Soda And Vinegar Balloon Experiment| Little Bins for Little Hands.
- Baking Soda and Vinegar With Color Experiment |Hands On As We Grow.
- Jumping Apple Seeds Experiment | JDaniel4s Mom.
- Fizzy Lemonade|Learn With Play At Home
I am definitely going to try the exploding bags with my children’s group at the library.
5 Easy Static Electricity Experiments
Static electricity is fun. I haven’t met a child who isn’t fascinated by the strange powers of the electrical charges. Heck I find them amazing!
- Bending Water|A Dab Of Glue Will Do
- Balloon Experiment|Kids Activities Blog
- Magic Light Bulb| Happy Brown House
- Jumping Goop| Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls
- Magic Spoon Experiment| The Science Kiddo
Check out these awesome tricks science tricks that use static electricity
10 Simple Experiments With Plants
These simple science experiments will help kids learn about how plants grow. Your kids may also develop a love of gardening at the same time.
- Dyed Flowers Science Experiment|the Imagination Tree
- Cress Heads| Red Ted Art
- Growing Seeds Experiment|Nurture Store
- How Does a Leaf Breathe? |Edventures With Kids
- Growing Beans in a Bag| Science Kiddo
- Sorting and Comparing Seeds| How Wee Learn
- Easy Fall Leaf Experiment| A Little Pinch of Perfect
- Why Do Pine Cones Open And Close|Parenting chaos
- Regrowing Celery|Housing a Forest
- Plant Light Maze|Kiwi Co (Confession time- this one doesn’t really meet the simple criteria, but it is super cool)
10 Very Simple Experiments With Candy
Science experiments are always a hit, but add candy into the mix and you are guaranteed a winner.
- Rainbow Science Activity| Fun With Mama
- Growing Rock Candy|Instructables
- Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag|What Do We Do All Day
- Exploding Peep Geyser. |Housing a Forest
- Floating M From M&M Candy |Little Bins for Little Hands
- Skittles Science|Homeschool Preschool
- Growing Gummy Bears|Playdough to Plato
- Candy Potions|Housing a forest
- Blow Up A Ballooon With Candy and Soda|Learn Play Imagine
- Skittles Rainbow|Playdough to Plato
10 Easy Experiments
Here’s a bunch of experiments that don’t quite fit into any of my categories, but are still fun.
- Making a Penny turn Green|Buggy and Buddy
- Invisible Ink|Step Momming
- Eggshell Geode Crystal Experiment|Sweet Paul
- Magic Milk|Happy Hooligans
- Butterfly Chromatography craft |Buggy and Buddy
- Homemade Butter |Happy Hooligans
- Solar Power Oven|Motherhood On a dime
- Dancing Oobleck|Housing a Forest
- Making Ice Grow |Teach Preschool
- Underwater Sound Experiment for Kids |Still Playing School
If you are still looking for more science fun, you can find some here and here.
Some gentle reminders
These activities are meant to help you spend time with your kids and make memories. The emphasis should be on having fun together. Enjoy learning more if your child shows an interest in the science behind the activity. Don’t force it if they are not interested. Learning will happen anyway, but having a good time together is important too.
Sometimes the science experiments won’t work according to plan. That’s okay all scientists have experiments that do not work as expected. Did you know that the discovery of antibiotics came from an experiment that went wrong? Failure can lead to all kinds of discoveries.
Safety First: Follow any safety recommendations given. Adults should supervise any science activities. You must decide if an experiment is appropriate for your children. Please keep your children’s safety in mind at all times.
Now it’s your turn
What kinds of science activities have you enjoyed with your children? Please share your links in the comments below.
Want more?
Check out all my science activities
Intrigued by the exploding paint bag, I guess that is an outside activity! I’ve pinned you post so I can refer back to it so we can try it lol, sounds like something the kids will love. I love the look of dying flowers too.
Paint bags are definitely an outside activity! They look like a lot of fun. thanks for pinning my post. I hope you have fun with the experiments you choose to try. Send me a link if you blog about it:)
You’ve listed some great experiments, including a couple I haven’t seen – thanks.
I agree about making memories. My kids are 8 and 9 and science here is all about having fun and engaging curiosity. We investigated hydraulic forces this week, and last week we made hovercrafts. My kids love machines but their favourite science is “potions” of course!
ohhh hovercrafts sound like fun! How did you make them? My boys also loved potions! They were always mixing up weird concoctions!
I love watching the colours change in flowers in food dye. So pretty.
Thanks for the great reminders 🙂
Me too! They look so pretty 🙂
My kids would love doing these science experiments, and they really do look like a lot of fun. I think I will pin these for future reference. Thanks for sharing!
Have fun with them. If you blog about it please send me the links 🙂
Really cool ideas – my three year old is just at the right age to start introducing these! Will be bookmarking Ta!!!
Hello from #teamIBOT
Oh you are going to have so much fun! Enjoy!
These look like science experiments that are fun and fairly simple. Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic activities for the older kids, I would sure remember these if I were a kid. Fun!
I think these particular experiments would be pretty memorable!
Oh, I love the idea of a bottle composter! Thanks for sharing with Afterschool!
Great ideas, thanks for linking up to the Parenting Pin-it Party.
Thank you so much for sharing these great ideas.
Featuring at Family Fun Friday! Monica
http://www.happyandblessedhome.com/category/family-fun/
Thank you Monica 🙂
Thanks for this great round up of science activities! We love seeing those at the After School linky.
Thanks for linking to What’d You Do This Weekend.
Linda @ Tumbleweed Contessa
These look some fun hands-on science experiments. You can never get enough hands-on science in my opinion. Thank you for sharing and for linking up this week to the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop.
Love these ideas! We’re going to try the carnation experiment soon. We did the exploding paint bags and it was a lot of fun! My daughter isn’t real interested in the science behind it, but she likes to see ‘cool’ stuff happen. 🙂
I saw the post you wrote about the exploding paint bags. It looked like you had a lot of fun. I love to see cool stuff happen too! The scientific understanding can come later can come later.
These are GREAT ideas! I am such a science geek and all my boys are the same way. We love to experiment with anything and everything.
The flower and colors experiment is classic! One fun thing to do with that is to split the stem three ways and place each piece in a different primary color. The result is awesome.
ohh I would love to see all those colors in the carnation. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
I love these! I totally forgot about flower dying but I loved that as a kid! I think I will have try this soon! Thanks for stopping by Family Fridays!
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