Kids start off fascinated by the world around them and lose some of that wonder as they grow older. By using common household items to perform awesome and silly science experiments, you can get them excited about science again and parents, teachers, and babysitters can get in on the fun, too!
Homemade Flubber
What You’ll Need:
3/4 cup cold water
1 cup white glue
liquid food coloring
1/2 cup hot water
1 teaspoon borax
What to Do:
In one bowl, mix together the glue, cold water, and food coloring, then set aside that bowl.
In another bowl, mix the borax and hot water until the borax is dissolved completely.
Add the glue mixture from bowl 1 slowly into the borax mixture and mix the whole thing well. Pour any excess water off.
Now you have flubber. It’s fun to play with and great for textile manipulation and hands-on activities. Just be sure that whoever mixes the chemical wears safety goggles!
Underwater Magic Sand
What You’ll Need:
colored sand
fabric protector spray
medium container
large vase or bowl of water
shallow container or cookie sheet
wax paper or tin foil
spoon
What to Do:
Line your shallow container with tin foil or wax paper.
Spread the colored sand onto your lined, shallow container.
Spray a heavy coat of your fabric protector spray onto the sand.
After 10 minutes, mix the sand and spray it again (making sure all the sand is well-coated).
In an hour, pour your colored sand into your medium container.
Pour your colored sand from your medium container into your large vase or bowl of water.
When the sand hits the water, it will all start to clump together; this is particularly neat to see when you use different colors of sand. After you have your clumps of sand in the bottom, let your scientist reach their hand in and remove some sand. They’ll be amazed to see it return to normal once it’s out of the water and clump back up when it hits the surface again.
Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag
What You’ll Need:
½ cup half and half
¼ tsp vanilla
1 TBSP sugar
3 cups ice
⅓ cup kosher or rock salt
Gallon size zip top bag(s)
Quart size zip top bag(s)
Toppings (chocolate sauce sprinkles, fruit, etc) – optional
What to Do:
In a gallon bag, put ice and salt, then set aside.
In a quart bag, mix half-and-half, sugar, vanilla, and zip tight.
Put smaller bag in larger bag.
Shake bag for 5 minutes or until very cold (use gloves!)
Add toppings and eat out of the bag! This will be your little one’s favorite of the silly science experiments!
