~ Science Experiments For Kids ~

[MysteRy]

Cut Ice Cubes in Half Like Magic

Speed up the melting process of ice with the help of a little pressure. Cut a piece of ice in half like magic while learning how the process relates to ice skating.

What you'll need:

One ice cube
A piece of fishing line with a weight (the heavier the better) tied to each end
A container
Some kind of tray to keep things from getting wet
 

Instructions:

Turn the container upside down and put it on the tray.
Place the ice cube on top of the upside down container.
Rest the fishing line over the ice cube so that the weights are left dangling over the side of the container.
Watch it for around 5 minutes.
 

What's happening?

The pressure from the two weights pulls the string through the ice cube by melting the ice directly under the fishing line. This is similar to ice skating where the blades of a skater melt the ice directly underneath, allowing the skater to move smoothly on a thin layer of water.

[MysteRy]

Static Electricity Experiment

They say opposites attract and that couldn't be truer with these fun static electricity experiments. Find out about positively and negatively charged particles using a few basic items, can you control if they will be attracted or unattracted to each other?

What you'll need:

2 inflated balloons with string attached
Your hair
Aluminium can
Woolen fabric
 

Instructions:

Rub the 2 balloons one by one against the woolen fabric, then try moving the balloons together, do they want to or are they unattracted to each other?
Rub 1 of the balloons back and forth on your hair then slowly it pull it away, ask someone nearby what they can see or if there's nobody else around try looking in a mirror.
Put the aluminium can on its side on a table, after rubbing the balloon on your hair again hold the balloon close to the can and watch as it rolls towards it, slowly move the balloon away from the can and it will follow.
 

What's happening?

Rubbing the balloons against the woolen fabric or your hair creates static electricity. This involves negatively charged particles (electrons) jumping to positively charged objects. When you rub the balloons against your hair or the fabric they become negatively charged, they have taken some of the electrons from the hair/fabric and left them positively charged.

They say opposites attract and that is certainly the case in these experiments, your positively charged hair is attracted to the negatively charged balloon and starts to rise up to meet it. This is similar to the aluminium can which is drawn to the negatively charged balloon as the area near it becomes positively charged, once again opposites attract.

In the first experiment both the balloons were negatively charged after rubbing them against the woolen fabric, because of this they were unattracted to each other.

[MysteRy]

Does an Orange Float or Sink?

Does an orange float or sink when placed in water? Seems like a fairly straight forward question, but is it? Give this fun density science experiment for kids a try and answer the question while learning a unique characteristic of oranges.

What you'll need:

An orange
A deep bowl or container
Water
 

Instructions:

Fill the bowl with water.
Put the orange in the water and watch what happens.
Peel the rind from the orange and try the experiment again, what happens this time?
 

What's happening?

The first time you put the orange in the bowl of water it probably floated on the surface, after you removed the rind however, it probably sunk to the bottom, why?

The rind of an orange is full of tiny air pockets which help give it a lower density than water, making it float to the surface. Removing the rind (and all the air pockets) from the orange increases its density higher than that of water, making it sink.

Density is the mass of an object relative to its volume. Objects with a lot of matter in a certain volume have a high density, while objects with a small amount of matter in the same volume have a low density.

[MysteRy]

What Absorbs More Heat?

When you're out in the sun on a hot summers day it pays to wear some light colored clothes, but why is that? Experiment with light, color, heat and some water to find out.

What you'll need:

2 identical drinking glasses or jars
Water
Thermometer
2 elastic bands or some sellotape
White paper
Black paper
 

Instructions:

Wrap the white paper around one of the glasses using an elastic band or sellotape to hold it on.
Do the same with the black paper and the other glass.
Fill the glasses with the exact same amount of water.
Leave the glasses out in the sun for a couple of hours before returning to measure the temperature of the water in each.
 

What's happening?

Dark surfaces such as the black paper absorb more light and heat than the lighter ones such as the white paper. After measuring the temperatures of the water, the glass with the black paper around it should be hotter than the other. Lighter surfaces reflect more light, that's why people where lighter colored clothes in the summer, it keeps them cooler.

[MysteRy]

Water Molecules on the Move

This experiment is great for testing if hot water molecules really move faster than cold ones. Pour some water, drop in some food coloring and compare results.

What you'll need:

A clear glass filled with hot water
A clear glass filled with cold water
Food coloring
An eye dropper
 

Instructions:

Fill the glasses with the same amount of water, one cold and one hot.
Put one drop of food coloring into both glasses as quickly as possible.
Watch what happens to the food colouring.
 

What's happening?

If you watch closely you will notice that the food coloring spreads faster throughout the hot water than in the cold. The molecules in the hot water move at a faster rate, spreading the food coloring faster than the cold water molecules which mover slower.

[MysteRy]

Plant Seeds & Watch Them Grow

Learn about seed germination with this fun science experiment for kids. Plant some seeds and follow the growth of the seedlings as they sprout from the soil while making sure to take proper care of them with just the right amount of light, heat and water. Have fun growing plants with this cool science project for children.


What you'll need:

Fresh seeds of your choice such as pumpkins seeds, sunflower seeds, lima beans or pinto beans.
Good quality soil (loose, aerated, lots of peat moss), if you don’t have any you can buy some potting soil at your local garden store.
A container to hold the soil and your seeds.
Water.
Light and heat.
 

Instructions:

Fill the container with soil.
Plant the seeds inside the soil.
Place the container somewhere warm, sunlight is good but try to avoid too much direct sunlight, a window sill is a good spot.
Keep the soil moist by watering it everyday (be careful not to use too much water).
Record your observations as the seeds germinate and seedlings begin to sprout from the seeds.
 

What's happening?

Hopefully after a week of looking after them, your seedlings will be on their way. Germination is the process of a plant emerging from a seed and beginning to grow. For seedlings to grow properly from a seed they need the right conditions. Water and oxygen are required for seeds to germinate. Many seeds germinate at a temperature just above normal room temperature but others respond better to warmer temperatures, cooler temperatures or even changes in temperature. While light can be an important trigger for germination, some seeds actually need darkness to germinate, if you buy seeds it should mention the requirements for that specific type of seed in the instructions.

Continue to look after your seedlings and monitor their growth. For further experiments you could compare the growth rates of different types of seeds or the effect of different conditions on their growth.

 

[MysteRy]

Taste Testing Without Smell

We all know that some foods taste better than others but what gives us the ability to experience all these unique flavours? This simple experiment shows that there's a lot more to taste than you might have first thought.

What you'll need:

A small piece of peeled potato
A small piece of peeled apple (same shape as the potato so you can't tell the difference)
 

Instructions:

Close your eyes and mix up the piece of potato and the piece of apple so you don't know which is which.
Hold your nose and eat each piece, can you tell the difference?
 

What's happening?

Holding your nose while tasting the potato and apple makes it hard to tell the difference between the two. Your nose and mouth are connected through the same airway which means that you taste and smell foods at the same time. Your sense of taste can recognize salty, sweet, bitter and sour but when you combine this with your sense of smell you can recognize many other individual 'tastes'. Take away your smell (and sight) and you limit your brains ability to tell the difference between certain foods.

[MysteRy]

Escaping Water

Water can certainly move in mysterious ways, get the water from one cup to make its way up hill and back down into a second empty cup with the help of paper towels and an interesting scientific process.

What you'll need:

A glass of water
An empty glass
Some paper towels
 

Instructions:

Twist a couple of pieces of paper towel together until it forms something that looks a little like a piece of rope, this will be the 'wick' that will absorb and transfer the water (a bit like the wick on a candle transferring the wax to the flame).
Place one end of the paper towels into the glass filled with water and the other into the empty glass.
Watch what happens (this experiment takes a little bit of patience).
 

What's happening?

Your paper towel rope (or wick) starts getting wet, after a few minutes you will notice that the empty glass is starting to fill with water, it keeps filling until there is an even amount of water in each glass, how does this happen?

This process is called 'capillary action', the water uses this process to move along the tiny gaps in the fibre of the paper towels. It occurs due to the adhesive force between the water and the paper towel being stronger than the cohesive forces inside the water itself. This process can also be seen in plants where moisture travels from the roots to the rest of the plant.

[MysteRy]

Microscopic Creatures in Water

Water can be home to a lot of interesting creatures and microorganisms, especially if it's dirty water found in ponds or near plants. Take some samples, view them under a microscope and see what you can find. How clean is the water from your tap compared to the water found in a pond? Experiment and see what kind of microscopic creatures you can find!


What you'll need:

A concave slide
A dropper
A microscope
Different samples of water (tap water, pond water, muddy water etc). Near plants or in the mud are good places to take samples as they usually contain more microorganisms.
 

Instructions:

Set up you microscope, preferably using its highest setting.

Use the dropper to take some water from one of your samples and put it on the concave slide. Focus the microscope, what can you see? Be patient if you can't see anything. If you still can't see anything and have checked that you are in focus, try a different water sample.

Look at how the creatures move. After observing their movements you might like to record their behaviors and draw them.

 

What are you looking at?

Some of the creatures and microorganisms you might be able to see include:

Euglenas - These are between a plant and an animal, they have a long tail called a flagellum which allows them to move.

Protozoa - They have a flagella (tail) which can be hard to see, the difference between protozoa and algae is often hard to define.

Amoebas - These microorganisms swim by wobbling. They also surround their food like a blob in order to eat it.

Algae - Not considered to be plants by most scientists, these organisms might be colored yellowish, greenish or reddish. They may also be found by themselves or in chains.

There might even my larger creatures such as worms or brine shrimp in your water samples, depending on where you took them from.

[MysteRy]

Bend a Straw with Your Eyes

Using the power of your eyes, bend a straw sitting in half a glass of water without even touching it! It sounds like magic but it's really another amazing scientific principle at work.

What you'll need:

A glass half filled with water
A straw
2 eyes (preferably yours)
 

Instructions:

Look at the straw from the top and bottom of the glass.
Look at the straw from the side of the glass, focus on the point where the straw enters the water, what is strange about what you see?
 

What's happening?

Our eyes are using light to see various objects all the time, but when this light travels through different mediums (such as water & air) it changes direction slightly. Light refracts (or bends) when it passes from water to air. The straw looks bent because you are seeing the bottom part through the water and air but the top part through the air only. Air has a refractive index of around 1.0003 while water has a refractive index of about 1.33.

 

[MysteRy]

Egg Bubbles

This fun science experiment for kids focuses on some of the interesting characteristics of eggs. Prove the existence of a small air pocket inside an egg as well as thousands of small holes in the shell called pores, while learning what air does as it is heated.

 What you'll need:

A clear glass or jar
Hot water (adult supervision is a good idea when using hot water)
An egg
A magnifying glass
 

Instructions:

Place the egg carefully into the glass or jar.
Carefully pour hot water into the glass or jar until it is nearly full.
Leave the glass or jar on a table or flat surface and watch the egg closely for a few minutes (the glass may become hot so be careful).
Use your magnifying glass to closely examine what is happening.
 

What's happening?

After surrounding the egg with hot water you will notice tiny bubbles forming on the egg shell which eventually bubble their way to the surface.

An egg contains a small air pocket at its larger end between the shell and egg white. When the air trapped inside this small pocket begins to heat up it expands and tries to find a way out of the shell, but how does it escape?

They're too small to see under normal conditions but with the help of a magnifying glass you can see that egg shells contain thousands of small holes called pores (human skin has pores too).

The pores allow air to pass through the shell, making it look like the egg is breathing as the air expands and is forced through the shell.

[MysteRy]

Make Your Own Rainbow

Learn how to make a rainbow with this fun science experiment for kids. Using just a few simple everyday items you can find out how rainbows work while enjoying an interactive, hands on activity that’s perfect for kids.

What you'll need:

A glass of water (about three quarters full)
White paper
A sunny day
 

Instructions:

Take the glass of water and paper to a part of the room with sunlight (near a window is good).
Hold the glass of water (being careful not to spill it) above the paper and watch as sunlight passes through the glass of water, refracts (bends) and forms a rainbow of colors on your sheet of paper.
Try holding the glass of water at different heights and angles to see if it has a different effect.
 

What's happening?

While you normally see a rainbow as an arc of color in the sky, they can also form in other situations. You may have seen a rainbow in a water fountain or in the mist of a waterfall and you can even make your own such as you did in this experiment.

Rainbows form in the sky when sunlight refracts (bends) as it passes through raindrops, it acts in the same way when it passes through your glass of water. The sunlight refracts, separating it into the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

[MysteRy]

Warm Air Needs More Room

As its temperature rises, air starts to act a little differently. Find out what happens to a balloon when the air inside it heats up with this fun science experiment for kids.

What you'll need:

Empty bottle
Balloon
Pot of hot water (not boiling)
 

Instructions:

Stretch the balloon over the mouth of the empty bottle.
Put the bottle in the pot of hot water, let it stand for a few minutes and watch what happens.
 

What's happening?

As the air inside the balloon heats up it starts to expand. The molecules begin to move faster and further apart from each other. This is what makes the balloon stretch. There is still the same amount of air inside the balloon and bottle, it has just expanded as it heats up.

Warm air therefore takes up more space than the same amount of cold air, it also weighs less than cold air occupying the same space. You might have seen this principle in action if you've flown in or watched a hot air balloon.