15 Fun Science Projects for Kids
- Fun Learning Games at Home

When it comes to learning science, there can be nothing more fun than science projects for kids. 

Sure, you can learn a lot more in a shorter amount of time by reading through a textbook, but think about your understanding of science: You remember more of the experiments you did than of the studying you did (unless you are a chemist or professional scientist) ;-)

All those fun science fair projects for kids, kids science projects at home, the easy science projects you did at school, and the science activities for kids that you did when you were young stuck in your head way better than the kids science worksheets or tests you had.

If you really want your kids to learn real science 4 kids, you will find that the kids science projects and kids science fair projects are the best way to teach them.

If you can spend some time preparing these science fair ideas for kids, reading science articles for kids, and doing these kid science projects, you can make it so much more fun for your kids to learn about the potentially dull subject that is science.

Exciting Ways to Make Science for Kids Fun

Making science projects for kids fun can be a challenge, especially if you are a busy parent.

Don't know what to do to make it fun for your kid?

Here are a few simple ideas that you can try:

Hit the Museum but Don't Expect to See It all

There are museums in pretty much every city in the country, and you will find that taking time to visit some of these museums will be the way to go to make science fun for your kids.

Lower your ambitions in relation to seeing everything there. Focus on one section in-depth as your child's attention and focus is probably going to be short but intense while it lasts.

The good thing about seeing only a small part of the museum, means that there'll be a lot more to come back to next time. :-)

A visit to the museum will be totally worth it to help spark your child's interest in science.

Do Experiments and Projects ... And Get Your Hands Dirty

Nothing is more fun than science projects where they can get their hands and clothes dirty with real live experiments - so have fun testing all kinds of fun science stuff with your kid.

Use the list of fun science projects for kids below to help you come up with great ideas of fun experiments you can do with your child.

Get a Science Kit to Play with at Home

Just because your child may not be interested in science now, it doesn't mean that he or she will never be.

Why not get them a science kit and use it to do fun experiments? It may be just what they need to turn them on to the many joys of science.

Making science fun is important, so do what you can to make it a thrill for your kids in order to help them to learn.

Making Kids Science Safe - Tips for Preparation and Safety

Science can be dangerous business, so it's important to take a few precautions to be safe while doing science experiments:

• Always wear goggles and gloves when doing experiments involving chemicals as strong as or stronger than vinegar and baking soda
  
  
  
• Avoid tasting any kind of chemical, no matter how awesome it looks to have a tongue that glows in the dark.
  
  
  
• Make sure that your child has his or her hair well out of the way, and keep it under a hat or tied back.
  
  
  
• Be certain that the experiments are only ever conducted when you are present.
  
  
  
• Make sure to wash all containers after use, as chemicals can cause problems if they get in the water or the food.
  
  
  
• Be wary with all kinds of acids, chemicals, solutions, soaps, and substances that may cause harm.

... Avoid the use of these things with small children.

Being safe with science is actually a lot easier than you might think, but taking these precautions can help to ensure that you are always as safe as possible.

15 Fun and Easy Science Projects to Do at Home

If you want to help your child learn all about science, here are some fun science projects for kids that you can use to teach them about science at home:

1) Floating Ball

Using a hair dryer and a ping pong ball, you can teach your kids all about how hot air makes stuff float.

How does it work?

Step 1: Make sure the hair dryer is plugged in and turn the power on.

Step 2: Set the hair dryer on the most powerful setting it has, and point it into the air.

Step 3: Hold the ping pong ball an inch or two above the hair dryer.

Step 4: Release the ball and see it float straight up into the air.

The scientific explanation behind this one science project for kids:

The reason it works is because the hot air is being blown at the ball, which is itself filled with air.

The ball will float straight up because the air is creating a wall of pressure around the ball that pushes it inwards towards the center of the air stream.

2) Balloon Speakers

Did you know that you can make a balloon work like a speaker set that will make sounds louder?

Here is how to do this fun experiment:

Step 1: Inflate the balloon using your lungs.

Step 2: Place the balloon against one of your ears.

Step 3: Use your finger to tap the side of the balloon opposite to your ear.

The scientific explanation behind this science project:

You should hear the sound much louder through the balloon, as the sound is vibrating through the molecules trapped inside the balloon and forcing them to conduct the sound.

It will be much louder due to the molecules being tightly packed together inside the balloon.

3) Secret Spy Ink

If you want to have fun teaching your kids about acids and their reaction to certain ingredients, try teaching them how to make invisible ink using lemon juice:

Step 1: Squeeze one fresh lemon into a cup, and add a bit of water to thin the juice out.

Step 2: Stir the juice well with the water, and dip a Q-tip into the juice to absorb it into the cotton.

Step 3: Use the cotton tip to write on a piece of paper, and dip repeatedly to ensure the message clear.

Step 4: Let the water and juice dry, and notice how it becomes invisible.

Step 5: Once the ink has dried, let it sit for a few hours with the invisible message written on it.

Step 6: After time has passed, use your stove or a hair dryer to heat up the paper and watch the ink become visible.

The scientific explanation:

So how does this experiment work?

Simple: the acid of the lemon juice turns brown and oxidizes when you heat it up.

By adding the water, you make the ink almost impossible to see on a piece of white paper, thus it looks as if there is nothing on the piece of paper until heat is applied.

4) Ice Melting Overflow

Ice is just water that has turned into a solid, but it also expands.

Will ice overflow a cup of water once it melts?

Here is an experiment to test this question:

Step 1: Fill a cup 3/4 of the way with water.

Step 2: Add ice until the water level is at the brim.

Step 3: Set the glass aside and let time pass as the ice melts.

Step 4: Come back hours later to check whether the water has overflowed or not.

The scientific explanation:

In fact, the water will not overflow the cup, as the mass of the water produced by melting the ice is less than the mass of the ice cube itself.

Ice takes up more space, but water is denser.

5) Vinegar and Steel

Rust can be dangerous, and this nifty experiment can be a great way to teach your kids all about rust and how important it is to be careful around it:

Step 1: Get a brand new piece of steel wool from its package, and place it in a metal bowl or a glass container.

Step 2: Pour vinegar into the bowl or container, and let the steel wool soak in the vinegar for a minute or two.

Step 3: Drain the vinegar, place a thermometer in the steel wool, and place both in the container covered with an airtight lid.

Step 4: Watch as the temperature inside the container climbs after just a few minutes.

The quick scientific explanation behind this one of science experiments for kids:

So how does this work?

The vinegar is an acid that will cause the steel wool to oxidize (rust), and this oxidation actually causes a chemical reaction which produces heat.

This heat increases the temperature inside the container, and is an exothermic chemical reaction that produces heat that radiates outward.

6) Straw Bending Illusion

Water has amazing properties, but did you know that water can trick your eyes and make you see things that aren't' really real?

Here is a cool experiment to try:

Step 1: Fill a glass nearly full with water.

Step 2: Place a straw inside the glass and see how the straw appears to bend when it makes contact with the surface of the water in the cup.

The quick scientific explanation behind this science project for kids:

Light travels through air one way, but it travels through water a completely different way. When we see light through water, it looks totally different than it does when we see light in the atmosphere.

Air barely refracts light, while water is much more refractive and thus the straw appears to be bent.

7) Water Creatures

Did you know that there are tiny creatures all around us, in the ground, the air, and the water? You can teach your kids about the tiny creatures by doing this experiment:

Step 1: Set up a microscope, and set it on the highest setting to ensure that you can see things as small as possible.

Step 2: Get some water from different sources (the pond, the water fountain, the drinking water, the tap water, the sink, the shower, etc.), and put a drop of each kind of water on a slide.

Step 3: Set each slide under the microscope in turn, and see what kind of creatures are in each kind of water, how they move, and what they look like.

You might be surprised to find that there are creatures in water that you thought was perfectly clean, but don't worry.

Not all water creatures are harmful, but you can identify which creatures will do you harm and which are beneficial.

8) Water Music

Did you know that you can make music with water?

Try this fun and simple experiment and see how many tunes you can play:

Step 1: Fill glass cups or bottles with different amounts of water.

Step 2: Use a pencil or a wooden stick to hit each one in turn, and hear how each glass sounds different.

The scientific explanation behind this science project:

The reason that the glasses sound different is that the vibrations of each glass will cause sounds waves to travel through the water in the glass.

The glasses with the most water will have very low sounds due to the water dampening the waves, while the glasses with the least water will have higher sounds thanks to the lack of water dampening the sound.

9) Potato Stabbing

It is amazing what pressure can do, and you can actually stab a straw into a potato by using air pressure.

Want to know how it works?

Step 1: Hold your thumb over the end of a straw, and stab the other end into a potato.

Step 2: Remove your thumb from the end of the straw, and stab it into the potato again.

The scientific explanation:

So what happens?

When you cover the end of the straw, the air inside the straw is trapped and compressed, which stiffens the walls of the straw and makes it powerful enough to stab into a potato. Without the air pressure, the straw will bend and flex too easily.

10) Spinning Water

Centrifugal force is a powerful one, and it is important that your children understand it so they know how it affects them in many areas of their life.

Here is a neat trick to teach them all about it:

Step 1: Get a bucket that has a strong handle, and fill it ¼ with water.

Step 2: Make sure all of your kids are standing back, and spin around quickly with the bucket of water.

Step 3: Start off spinning slowly, keeping the bucket near the ground. Work up the speed of the spinning bucket, and start spinning it up high, over your head, etc.

The quick scientific explanation behind this science project:

The force of gravity is pulling the water towards the edges of the bucket, and the water will stay that way until you stop spinning. Your children will be amazed as you spin the bucket over your head and none of the water falls out – thanks to centrifugal force.

11) Salt Crystals

Teaching your children about crystals can be lots of fun, especially if you use the experiment below to teach them about salt crystals:

Step 1: Boil a saucepan with drinking water, making sure the water is properly boiling.

Step 2: Add a lot of salt to the water, and be certain that all of the salt crystals have been properly dissolved into the water.

Step 3: Pour the salt water into a glass jar. Cut a piece of thread roughly long enough to go around the largest three fingers of your hand once.

Step 4: Tie one end of the thread to a pencil roughly 2/3 of the way from the end, and tie the other end two inches away.

Step 5: Place the pencil on top of the jar, allowing the thread to dangle in the salt water.

Step 6: Let the jar of water sit for a few hours to a few days.

The scientific explanation behind this one of science activities for kids:

As the salt in the water cools down, it will harden. Some of the salt crystals will stick to the thread, and you will be able to pull out the thread and see the long string of shining crystals that your child has made.

12) Rainbow Creator

Making your own rainbow is actually quite easy, though it won't be on the same scale as the rainbows you see stretched across the sky on a rainy day.

Step 1: Fill a glass with drinking water to 3/4.

Step 2: Grab a piece of white paper and bring it and the glass of water to the nearest window where the sun is shining through.

Step 3: Hold the glass of water up to the sun light, and place the piece of paper behind it.

The quick scientific explanation:

When you hold the glass of water up to the light, the rays of the sun pass through it and refract (separate).

The white piece of paper behind the glass will show you how the colors separate as the light passes through the glass, and thus you will be able to see your rainbow.

13) Rising Air

This is a neat trick that you can use to teach your kids about hot air, how it rises, and how it is used to make hot air balloons float.

Step 1: Get a regular balloon and an empty plastic soda bottle.

Step 2: Put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

Step 3: Stretch the mouth of the balloon over the mouth of the soda bottle, but don't inflate the balloon.

Step 4: Place the bottle in the hot water, and use a pair of tongs to hold the bottle there.

Step 5: When the water heats up the air inside the empty soda bottle, the hot air will rise, and the balloon will expand with the air from the bottle.

You can use this experiment to teach your kids about how hot air rises, which is why the second floor of your home is always hotter than the first floor.

You can also explain how the hot air balloons fill with the air that causes them to drift upwards.

14) Water and Electricity

This is a cool experiment that you can do to show your kids how static electricity can cause water to bend:

Step 1: Go to the kitchen sink and turn the water on to a thin trickle (no more than 1/3 inch across).

Step 2: Get a plastic comb and run it through your hair 15 times (just like you would when brushing your hair) or rub it on a sweater for 15 seconds.

Step 3: Place the teeth of the comb near the stream of water.

The quick scientific explanation:

The static electricity in the comb will pull the water molecules towards it, and it will make the stream of water appear as if it were bending.

15) Science Projects for Kids: Toy Parachute

The project below is an interesting one that can help you to teach your children about wind resistance and how drag is created when the wind pulls on large objects:

Step 1: Use a pair of scissors to trim the edges from a plastic shopping bag and make a large square.

Step 2: Tape four strings 4 inches long to the four corners of your square.

Step 3: Stand on a chair and drop a plastic toy to the floor. Have your children record how long it takes to fall.

Step 4: Tape the four strings onto the plastic toy, and drop it from the chair. Have your kids count how long it takes to fall.

Step 5: Repeat the same experiment from a high place, such as from a window.

The quick scientific explanation behind this one of science experiments for kids:

When the parachute spreads out, it creates resistance that prevents it from falling too fast, which is why parachutes are used to slow falling people.

Your Positive Parenting Ally,
Birgitte

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