5 Science Experiments Your Kids Will Love

Whether you are a Parent, Teacher, or just looking to have fun, these cheap and easy science experiments will inspire the Einstein within you. They’re cheap, easy and will knock your science socks off. Children are losing their interest in science more and more every day. Show your kids Science can be fun and thrilling. 

The Grower

It’s a slow one but it’s worth the results. It practices responsibility, and patience. The fact that it’s slow only gives you time to do more things in between. There are convenient plant seed stands in grocery or hardware stores everywhere. Ask the kids which plant they’d like. Sunflowers, lima beans, potatoes, cucumbers, you name it! Use cheap clay or plastic pots, and paint them. Use the opportunity to get some art juices flowing. Make sure the pots are big enough for the given plant.

Once you have your seeds and artsy pots, all you need is potting soil from your local garden store, or loose, aerated soil from your backyard. Fill the pot with soil, and plant the seeds. Place the pot where winds won’t ravage it, and away from direct sunlight. Next to the window is always a recommended spot, as the plant gets enough sunlight, but not enough to scorch it. Plants like their soil moist so water it every day but don’t drown it. 

Remind the kids how photosynthesis works and record your observations as the plant begins to sprout. Explain how different plants grow under different conditions, which is why we have so many different kinds of flora in the world, varying upon condition.

Mt. Vesuvius

  

This really is another classic. Use a large baking pan with sides to avoid a big mess. Tape an empty bottle of water to the center of the pan. In a large bowl, mix six cups of flour, two cups of salt, and four tablespoons of vegetable oil. This will make somewhat firm dough, which can now be molded around the empty bottle of water to resemble a volcano. Paint the surrounding area of the volcano and add dinosaurs or toy soldiers. This is where you can show off your crafting skills. Make sure the dough stays out of the bottle, and that you leave the mouth of the bottle open. Let it dry, and in the meantime, get to work on your lava. 

Heat some water until warm and pour red food coloring in. That should make for a more realistic eruption.  Use a kettle or a funnel to avoid spills when you fill the water bottle, almost to the top, with the water. Pour baking soda in, and wait until you’re ready for your eruption. You can refer to this as magma.  Once you’re ready, all you have to do is slowly pour vinegar into your volcano, and voila! You have your very own Mount Vesuvius. Discuss the cause of real volcano eruptions, and why your volcano erupted. 

Magma is molten rock, it presses against the earth’s crust. Volcanoes are spots on the earth’s crust where magma can push out. Once Magma is halfway up the main vent of the volcano, it becomes Lava.  On the other hand, Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) which is a base, and Vinegar (Acetic acid) at the opposite end of the pH spectrum, react when mixed. They form carbonic acid, in turn very unstable. It immediately breaks apart into carbon dioxide and water causing it to fizz madly.

Musical waters

Benjamin Franklin was inspired to invent his famous Glass Harmonica after seeing an old chap at Cambridge play music with water filled wine glasses. All you need is water, a pencil, and five or more drinking-or wine-glasses. Fill the glasses with different amounts of water. Start with a little bit, and the next should have more than the last. Hit the glasses with a pencil, and enjoy.

Explore the interesting music you and your child can make together. Music through science will always deliver. When you hit the glass you set off vibrations thus creating sound waves that travel through water. Variations in tone occur in the glasses, because more water means slower vibrations ergo deeper tones. In a sense, sound waves “swim”. You could also add food coloring to the water, so you can see the vibrations more easily. 

Earth’s Rotation

Heraclides of Pontus, a Greek Philosopher and Astronomer, is remembered for proposing the Earth rotated on its axis, from east to west, once a day, and that was why stars appeared to move the way they did. For this experiment, you will need a dark colored umbrella, and a few star shaped stickers. 

Stick the stickers to the inside of the umbrella in the shape of the big dipper. In the center of the umbrella, use another sticker to represent the North Star (Polaris). Now tell your child to stand under the umbrella, turn counterclockwise and look up. They will notice how Polaris stays still, yet the other stars circle it.

This is because, like your child did, earth turns. Most stars appear to move, but the North Star is right above the North Pole and therefore the earth’s axis. So it appears to stay still.

Bond, Bubba Bond

Kids are fascinated by spies. Isn't everyone? Give your kids cool Bond like names, and let them have fun with them. It’s a fun and simple way of learning about oxidation, a chemical reaction in which an element loses electrons, when two or more substances come together.  Lemon juice oxidizes when heated, so it turns brown. The same happens when you leave apple slices at the mercy of oxygen, you can use lemon juice to make sure your apple slices or other fruit won’t brown as well. For this secret agent experiment, all you need is a lemon and a few more materials you’ll find around the house.

Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl and add half a tablespoon of water. Make sure the water and lemon juice are mixed together. Dip a cotton bud or cotton swap into the bowl, and write a secret message on a white sheet of paper. Wait until it dries and when you’re ready to show your young spy the message, heat the sheet of paper by holding it near a light bulb. 

Science is taken for granted more and more by kids as they grow older. Arousing their interest in it will keep them aware of the world around them. Science can be used in everyday life, and kids aware of that can use their knowledge to solve everyday problems. You may get a young scientist as a result, and who knows, maybe one day they can be in a Thomas Dolby music video.