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In a rush? Here's a quick breakdown:
When planning science experiments for kids, you need activities that are open-ended enough to follow their interests, while also provoking fascination, curiosity and wonder about the big wide world.
That’s why we’ve scoured the internet to find the perfect science activities for young children. These activities are particularly stimulating because they’re short, they provide a dramatic reaction, and the children are able to grow their understanding of the world by learning through play.
The activities are also designed to be cost-effective, drawing on common household items as the key ingredients. They’re also simple to demonstrate and perfectly safe under supervision.
Done right, these experiments should come with lots of discussion during the activity to help the little ones think about what’s happening, why it happens this way, and how it can help us. With any luck, the children’s fascination will also provoke plenty of questions and new interests which you can follow up on in future activities, to keep it children-led.
Float or Sink by Happy Hooligans
This classic experiment:
An interesting investigation into buoyancy, with just a few simple supplies.
Bring out a tray of water and a mix of different items (some that you know will float and some that you know will sink). Hold up each item in turn and have the children share their ideas about whether the item will float or sink. Then pop it in the water and talk to the children about what's happening. Don't forget to introduce science vocabulary as you go.
To mix things up, why not try different liquids?
What you need:
Magic Dancing Milk by Mess For Less
This easy science activity:
Turn milk into dancing, colorful art! You’ll need a shallow dish, such as an empty pie dish or baking tray. Submerge the bottom of the tray by pouring room-temperature milk into it. Add a few drops of food coloring (the children can do this part) and then hand each child a toothpick dipped in dish soap. Now watch the colors dance!
Scientific concepts don't have to be complicated - what's happening is a chemical reaction, but easy science experiments like this one make it simple... and so much fun!
What you need:
Why Do Flowers Change Color in Food Colouring? by Go Science Girls
This colorful science activity:
Simple science activities don't come much more simple than this! You’ll need only the most basic supplies: three cups containing water with a different color food dye in each, and some celery.
Red, blue, and dark green food coloring usually gives the most visual effect. Add a celery stick or a white flower to each cup and wait for the change! The capillaries carry water up through the plant, clearly shown with the help of the food coloring - talk about real STEM activities!
What you need:
Cloud In A Jar by Fun Learning For Kids
This simple science experiment:
Ok, it’s not the most accurate scientific method, but this easy science experiment demonstrates – we’ll use that term loosely here! - why it rains. Explaining that clouds are actually tiny droplets of moisture rather than solid, puffy, cushions can be a little challenging!
Using a glass of water to demonstrate the “sky”, create a cloud to hover at the top by using shaving cream. Now, use a medicine dropper or a pipette to drip little droplets of food coloring into the cloud. Eventually, the food coloring will seep through the cloud to demonstrate rain.
What you need:
Rainbow Eruption by Learn, Play, Imagine
This colorful science activity:
A science experiment with simple ingredients and an impressive result is always a win when considering fun STEM activities. This is a twist on the traditional baking soda and vinegar experiment, where a 'volcano' is created by the chemical reaction between these two ingredients.
Start by lining up a few paper cups, each with its own food coloring – red, yellow, green, blue and a mixture of red and blue (to make purple). Add a scoop of baking soda and then pour in a little vinegar. There you have it – it’s magic (or science)!
What you need:
Why We Use Soap by Life With More Babies
This easy science experiment:
Simple science concepts are all around us, even in daily routines like hand-washing. This simple science experiment demonstrates the cleaning power of soap and offers children a better understanding of why it’s so important.
Place milk in a shallow dish, a few centimeters deep. Add a few splotches of fine glitter – you can use many colors or just one or two. Using a toothpick with soap on it, place the soap in the middle of the glitter and, like magic, the “germs” (the glitter) will disperse! This experiment demonstrates how soap cleans the germs from our hands.
What you need:
Dancing Worm Activity by Living Life And Learning
This simple science activity:
You’ll need a glass of warm tap water with three tablespoons of baking soda stirred in - this is your worm disco. You’ll also need a glass of white vinegar, gummy worms, an empty glass, a spoon for stirring, and a knife or scissors. Carefully chop the gummy worms and add them to your glass of warm water with baking soda and stir again. Then leave it to rest for 15 minutes.
After the allotted time, ask the first little scientist to take a gummy worm from the water and drop it into the glass of vinegar – there will be a dramatic pause before they start to dance around.
Top tip: tell the children that dancing worms no longer taste good – just in case there are any sneaky fingers.
What you need:
Make a bubble machine by Engineering Emily
This fun science activity:
Hands on activities really are the best. This is also one of the easiest science activities for you to prepare.
The paper cup bubble machine activity demonstrates how increasing air pressure in a container can have really cool effects. This experiment requires only the very basics - bendy straws, paper cups, duct tape, water, and dishwashing liquid or some other foaming liquid (like for a bubble bath).
Place the straw through the cup somewhere near the bottom and use the duct tape to seal the hole. The soapy water should submerge the straw in the cup – and voila1 – it’s ready for blowing bubbles! This experiment is probably one for the older children only, as you don’t want a budding scientist to test sipping instead of blowing!
What you need:
This simple science activity:
No robot science kits needed here, just good old bendy straws and construction paper! This STEM activity is ideal for children from the age of three as it's a little more fiddly than some of the others.
Trace a hand shape onto the construction paper and cut the hand outline out with scissors - depending on ages and stages, the children can make their own. Cut the straws into smaller pieces and tape them onto the hand, and one onto the wrist (follow the picture for guidance).
Next, cut five strands of string pieces long enough to thread all the way up each finger and knot one end of each piece. Thread one string through each finger and all the strings through the straw at the wrist. Next, have fun playing with the robot hand!
What you need:
Guidance from the Danish Health Ministry, translated in full to English.
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The full recommendations from a working group of over 70 nursery chains in the UK.
Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.
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