We care for our children every day. But in 20 years it won’t be the everyday tasks we performed for them that they’ll remember. Instead, it will be the moments we spent together.
We put together a selection of the best science experiments that will both tear you away from your concerns and fascinate your children. They don’t require any special preparations or knowledge, but the satisfaction you and your kids will get from them will be high indeed.
Hard liquid
You will need:
- Starch
- Water
- A plastic container
- Food coloring, a wooden board, a hammer, and some nails for additional experimentation
Mix the water and the starch together in the container until the mixture turns viscous in its consistency. You’ll end up with what’s called a “non-Newtonian fluid.” You can stick your fingers into it, but if you rap the surface of it with a fist you’ll feel that it’s actually hard. Place the wooden board on the liquid’s surface, and you’ll be able to drive a nail into it with ease as if it were solid. Yet dipping one corner of the board will lead it to sink to the bottom. To make the experiment more fun, you can add in some food coloring.
Homemade kinetic sand
You will need:
- 4 teaspoons of boric acid
- 2 teaspoons of ordinary paper glue
- 1 teaspoon of coloring
- 100 g of chinchilla bathing sand
- A glass bowl
Pour all the liquid components into a bowl, add the sand, and thoroughly mix them together. Done!
Glowing water
You will need:
- 2-3 highlighters
- Pliers
- A measuring cup
- Tweezers
- A UV Light
Pour water into a few glasses (2-3 in number), filling them about 2/3 of the way. Then take your highlighters and pliers and pull out the bottom of the pen. Grab the highlighter ink with your tweezers. Set each ink tube inside the water and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then take the ink tubes out. Grab your UV light and turn off the lights and you’ve got your glowing water!
Making a Pharaoh snake
You will need:
- Sand
- Alcoholic spirit
- Soda
- Sugar
- Matches
- A plate for the “snake“
Sprinkle the sand onto the plate, and saturate it with the alcoholic spirit. Mix the sugar and soda together, and add them over the top. Light it using a match. The ”snake” will grow in an instant!
Making an electric train with some wire and a battery
You will need:
- A skein of thick copper wire (the bigger it is, the longer your “train tunnel“ will be)
- 1 AA battery
- 2 round neodymium magnets of the same diameter as the battery
- An ordinary pen
Coil the wire around your pen so that it forms a long spring. Attach the magnets to both ends of the battery. Launch your ”train.” It will move all by itself!
A rubber egg
You will need:
- A fresh egg
- A glass jar
- White vinegar
Place the egg into the glass jar and cover it with vinegar. You’ll see bubbles appearing on the egg’s surface — that’s alright. Let it stay this way for a week, replacing the vinegar halfway. In the end, you’ll get a rubbery, translucent egg without a shell, which will bounce a little if you drop it on a hard surface.
A seesaw made from a burning candle
You will need:
- A candle
- A thick needle
- A cigarette lighter
- 2 wine glasses
- A knife
- Flat-nose pliers
Cut off about 1.5 cm from the bottom end of the candle in order to expose the wick. Grasp the needle using the pliers, heat it up using the lighter, and then drive it into the middle of the candle. Place it on the edge of the 2 glasses, and light the candle from both ends. Rock it slightly, and the candle will begin to move by itself.
A rainbow made from paper towels
You will need:
- Various food colorings
- Paper towels
- 5 glasses
- Water
Place the glasses in a row, and pour water into the 1st, 3rd, and 5th. In the 1st and 5th, add a few drops of red food coloring; in the 3rd add yellow; in the 5th, once again, add dark blue. Fold 4 paper towels 4 times, so that you end up with long strips, and then fold them in half. Place the ends in different glasses: one between the 1st and 2nd glass, another between the 2nd and 3rd glass, and so on. In a few hours, you’ll have a rainbow!
Toothpaste for an elephant
You will need:
- 3/4 of a glass of water
- 1 teaspoon of potassium permanganate
- 1 tablespoon of liquid soap
- Hydrogen peroxide
- A glass bottle
- Some single-use rubber gloves
Dissolve the potassium permanganate in water, add the liquid soap, and then transfer the mixture to the glass bottle. Carefully but quickly pour in the hydrogen peroxide. The rapidly rising foam will spill out over the top of the bottle. It’s like toothpaste but for an elephant!
A very slow-moving ball
You will need:
- A steel ball
- A spherical container made from clear plastic that splits into 2 halves
- Liquid honey
Place the steel ball inside the container, pour in the honey, and seal the ball. Set it rolling on a sloped surface, and watch what happens!
Smoke rings
You will need:
- A plastic bottle (0.5 l)
- A balloon
- An incense stick
- A cigarette lighter
- Scissors
Cut off the bottom of the plastic bottle, and cut the balloon in half. Stretch the larger half of the balloon over the hole in the bottle. Light and place the incense stick in the bottle, and cover the opening with your hand while it fills up with smoke. You can now produce smoke rings by tapping sharply on the balloon covering the bottom of the bottle.
Self-inflating balloons
You will need:
- 4 plastic bottles
- Vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of soda
- 3 balloons
- Liquid food coloring
Cut off the upper part of one plastic bottle, then stretch the balloon over the neck of the removed part. Using it as a funnel, sprinkle a tablespoon of baking soda into the balloon. Carefully remove it, and do the same with the other balloons. Pour some vinegar into the remaining bottles, and add a few drops of food coloring. Now carefully stretch the balloons over each of the bottles’ necks, taking care not to spill the baking soda inside them. Then just lift up the balloons with your hands so that the baking soda drops down into the vinegar. The soda will react with the vinegar, and the balloons will inflate by themselves.
A vinegar and soda-fuelled rocket
You will need:
- A plastic bottle (2 l)
- 3 ordinary pencils
- 2 tablespoons of soda
- 200 ml of vinegar (9%)
- Wide sticky tape
- A cork from a wine bottle
- Paper towels
Make sure beforehand that the cork fits tightly into the neck of the bottle. Using the sticky tape, attach the pencils to the top part of the bottle in a way that makes it possible to hold the bottle upright upside down on them like “legs.“ Pour the vinegar into it. Carefully wrap up the baking soda inside a paper towel, and twist together its ends. Having gone out onto the street, drop the parcel of baking soda into the bottle and place the cork into the neck. One end of the paper towel should be pressed against the neck by the cork. Turn the bottle upside down, placing it on its ”legs” (the pencils) on the ground, and run away! You should observe the “lift-off” from no less than 15-20 meters away.
Cubic soap bubbles
You will need:
- 100 ml of glycerin
- 200 ml of liquid dish soap
- 12 cocktail straws for the cube, and 1 more for blowing the bubbles
- Pipe cleaners (6 pieces each around 30 cm long)
- A large plastic container filled with water
Add the dish soap to the water, and stir it. Gradually pour in the glycerin, and stir again. Cut the straws and the pipe cleaners in half. Twist the pipe cleaner pieces 3 times at each tip, and bend/straighten them out as required so that they form right-angled pieces. Pass a straw piece over each piece of pipe cleaner, and twist the still-exposed ends of 4 pieces to form a cube. Lower the cube into the soapy liquid. Once it’s fully submerged, carefully remove it — there will now be soapy film stretched across each plane. If one side is bent in a certain direction, the opposite sides of the “bubble” will stick together. If you drive a straw into the center of the cube with a small round soap bubble on one end, it will soon take on a square shape as well.
Making your own toothpaste
You will need:
- 100 g coconut oil
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- Lemon aroma
Put the coconut oil in a bowl, add baking soda and a few drops of essential oil. Simply mix it all up, and you’ve got your very own toothpaste that is easy on your teeth and 100% natural!
A trick with colored water and a candle
You will need:
- A candle
- A bowl
- A clear glass container
- Colored water
Place the candle in the bowl with the colored water, light it, and cover it with the glass container. Soon, the candle will go out, and the container will drag in all the water.
The magic rainbow trick
You will need:
- A plastic file
- 2 sheets of copy paper
- A black alcohol-based felt tip pen
- Highlighter pens
Draw a rainbow and some clouds using the marker, and color them in. Place the piece of paper with the drawing inside the plastic file, and trace over the top of it with the marker directly onto the plastic file. Now insert the second, blank piece of paper over the top. All your child has to do is slide the top piece of paper in and out of the file, and the rainbow will go from black and white to colorful.
How to make a chameleon
You will need:
- 2 single-use paper plates
- A metallic button snap from a piece of clothing
- Paint
- Paintbrushes
- Scissors
- A pencil
Get your child to paint one of the plates in any colors they wish, while you draw the silhouette of a chameleon on the second one. Cut out the silhouette. Join your 2 plates together using the button snap. Now your child can rotate the plates and the chameleon will change color!
A rainbow made from Skittles
You will need:
- A large flat plate
- A packet of Skittles
- Water
Place the candy in a circle around the circumference of the plate, then pour a little water into the center. Get ready to see a rainbow!