Science for preschoolers? You bet! Growing up, the love of science was driven by my innate fascination for the subject. At the same time, I credit some amazing science teachers in my school days for igniting the curiosity in me to understand the world beyond what we see on the surface. Ultimately, these early impressions paved the way for me to pursue a PhD in the biological sciences! So, you can imagine my excitement about wanting to instill the same love of science in my preschool and kindergarten-age kids.
Here I have put together a list of some simple, fun, and age-appropriate science (and some science-meets-art or STEM) experiments to try with your kiddos. They are great for kids starting from ages 3 and up. The best part? They can be done at home with ingredients you can easily find in your bathroom or kitchen! None of these activities take more than 15-20 minutes to complete but the joy is in the setup, gathering of all the ingredients, seeing the reactions occur, and then talking about it after. Involve your kids in every step of the process and get them excited about the cool world of science! Importantly, don’t dwell too much on theory and big scientific words (there's school for that). Things can get messy, be imperfect, but who cares? The purpose is to have fun and encourage curiosity!
Volcano Explosion (first science experiment I ever did with my son!)
Ingredients:Vinegar
Baking soda
Red food coloring
A volcano: Make one out of cardboard or do this outdoors in a mound of dirt made to look like a volcano
A small container or bowl to place inside the volcano
Steps: Set up the volcano and insert the small container or bowl inside it. Drop a spoonful of baking soda and a few drops of red food coloring inside the volcano. As the last step, pour in the vinegar and watch how the red lava bubbles out from the volcano!
Explaining the science to kids: This is a classic grade school science experiment. But I did this with my son when he was 4 years old. At the time, I explained to him as vinegar and baking soda mixing together to create a fizzy combination. Meanwhile, the red food coloring mimics the color of a real volcano eruption. For older kids, you could further explain that vinegar and baking soda have a chemical reaction that creates a gas called carbon dioxide. That’s what we see bubbling out from the volcano.
Slime Making
Ingredients:
¼ cup of White Washable PVA School Glue
1.5 cups of Foaming Shaving Cream
¼ tsp of Baking Soda
½ tbsp of Saline Solution (Can use contact lens solution or saline eye drops) (contains both sodium borate and boric acid as ingredients)
Add food coloring and glitter for extra fun
Steps: Mix everything up in the order listed!
Explaining the science to kids: Slime is neither a solid nor a liquid! It’s one of those weird in-between states and it’s called a polymer. To older kids, you can explain further that the sodium borate and boric acid in the saline solution mix with the PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glue and forms this cool stretchy substance. This is called cross-linking, resulting in what we call a ‘polymer’. As for the shaving cream? It is simply used to add a dose of fluffiness to the substance!
1.5 cups of Foaming Shaving Cream
¼ tsp of Baking Soda
½ tbsp of Saline Solution (Can use contact lens solution or saline eye drops) (contains both sodium borate and boric acid as ingredients)
Add food coloring and glitter for extra fun
Steps: Mix everything up in the order listed!
Explaining the science to kids: Slime is neither a solid nor a liquid! It’s one of those weird in-between states and it’s called a polymer. To older kids, you can explain further that the sodium borate and boric acid in the saline solution mix with the PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glue and forms this cool stretchy substance. This is called cross-linking, resulting in what we call a ‘polymer’. As for the shaving cream? It is simply used to add a dose of fluffiness to the substance!
Invisible Message in a Letter
Ingredients:Squeezed lemon/lime juice
Cotton bud
Blank sheet of paper
Steps: On a blank sheet of paper, use a cotton bud (or even fingers for a younger child) to dip in the lemon juice and make a secret message or drawing on the paper. Wait for the paper to dry. Once dried, press a warm iron over it or hold the paper carefully over a small candle flame. You will see the message slowly reveal itself like magic!
Explaining the science to kids: This experiment shows you a reaction called oxidation. Lime juice is a weak acid which contains carbon. Carbon is absorbed into the paper and when it comes in contact with heat, it turns dark. This is one of the effects of oxidization.
Bouncy Egg Experiment
Ingredients:Egg
Vinegar
Glass
Steps: Ever imagined that you could bounce an egg? Well, here’s how: In a clear glass, fully submerge an egg into vinegar solution. Cover the top and let it sit for 24 hours at least. The hard egg will turn into something that is rubbery and bouncy! (Note: You can bounce it gently but if you do it too hard, the egg will burst). Try shining a light through the egg to see how it has turned translucent (when it was opaque before).
Explaining the science to kids: This was actually my 5thgrade science experiment! The beauty is that you can do this at a far earlier age and simplify the explanation to your little ones. The vinegar essentially ate away and dissolved the egg shell, resulting in this bounceable egg toy. To older kids, you can explain further that the acetic acid in the vinegar reacts with the calcium carbonate in the eggshell to make calcium acetate plus water and carbon dioxide. The bubbles that you see on the surface of the shell is the carbon dioxide. The egg looks translucent when you shine a flashlight through it because the hard outside shell is gone.
Melted Crayons Experiment
Ingredients:Broken, stubby pieces of crayons of all colors
Oven
Steps: Ever wonder how to make use of those broken bits of crayons that your children won’t use anymore? Well, you can give your old crayons a new lease on life. Put them all together in a baking mold (have fun with different shapes!). Then pop them into an oven set at 120 deg C. The crayons will melt into each other and result in a single, multicolor crayon! After 5-10 mins, take out the molds and let the crayons cool and harden. You’re ready to use your old crayons transformed into brand new ones!
Explaining the science to kids: Crayons all contain wax and just like candle wax can be melted at a certain heat or temperature, so can crayons. Ta-da!
3D Puffy Art
Ingredients: (You can half the amount if you want to start off with a lesser quantity)1 cup All-Purpose flour (or if you use self rising flour, skip the salt and baking poweder)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 cup table salt
Water, as required
A few drops of food coloring or watercolor paint
Steps: Mix all the dry ingredients together first and then add water and food coloring. The mixture should be pasty, like thin cake batter. Using thick paper (better if you use something less flimsy), create your artwork using a paintbrush (older kids) or fingers (for the younger ones). Pop the paper with the artwork into the microwave for a short 10-20 seconds. Have your child watch and be amazed as their artwork rises and turns into 3D!
Explaining the science to kids: This is essentially baking science at play, i.e., the same way cakes are made. The heat from the microwave plus the water and baking powder release small amounts of carbon dioxide gas, producing bubbles. The bubbles try to rise and make their way to the surface, making the entire mixture rise and turn into ‘3D’ food art.
Lava Lamp in a Bottle
Ingredients:An empty bottle of mineral water
Water
Vegetable Oil
Fizzing tablets (such as Alka Seltzer)
Food coloring
Steps: Fill the clear empty bottle with water. Roughly fill it ¼ or 1/5 of the way through. Fill the rest of the bottle with vegetable oil. Wait for the mixture to separate. Then add several drops of food coloring of your choice. Then drop a tablet of fizzy alka seltzer (or some equivalent like Eno) into the bottle. Watch as the colorful blobs move up and down the bottle like a lava lamp! For a true lava lamp effect, shine a flashlight through the bottom of the bottle.
Explaining the science to the kids: Oil is lighter than water (or more accurately, less dense) and that is why it separates to sit above water. Now when you add the fizzy tablet piece, it releases gas bubbles. As the gas bubbles rise to the top of the bottle, they take some of the colored water with them. When the blob of water reaches the top, the gas escapes into the air and the colored water blobs go back down. Anytime you want to bring the "lava lamp" back to life, just add another fizzy tablet piece.
Create Your Own Rainbow
Ingredients:Prism (can order online for $6-8 on www.lazada.com)
Source of natural sunlight
Steps: Place the prism against a plain white surface. Angle it such that natural sunbeam passes through it. See how the white sunlight is then broken up into the colors of the rainbow!
Explaining the science to kids: Did you know that white sunlight or white light is the sum of all the colors of the rainbow? But you can separate these colors into their individual parts using something called a prism. When light passes from one medium to another medium of a different density (e.g. from air to water), the light bends. This is called refraction. In real life, we see that when it rains with the sun still shining. The sunlight passes from air through water droplets and results in a rainbow. Similarly, with a prism, sunlight passes from air through a solid substance, resulting in refraction and a split of white light into the different rainbow colors.
Fun with a Litmus Test
Ingredients:Litmus paper (I ordered mine on www.lazada.com for $2-3 and it’s easily available on other websites too)
Small samplings of different types of liquids of your choice. Suggestions include: water, coke, lemon or orange juice, vinegar, milk, baking soda dissolved in water, soapy water, etc.
Steps: Create a line-up of 4 to 6 different types of liquids ranging in pH. Take strips of the litmus paper and dip a single one gently into a small bowl of each liquid. See how the color changes!
Explaining the science to kids: This experiment illustrates how liquids can fall into the category of acids or bases (meant for slightly older kids). I did it with my 6 year old and kept the explanation “basic” – get it? Haha! So this experiment demonstrates how a litmus paper test indicates pH. pH in turn is an indicator of acid or base (alkaline) solutions. I explained that the pH scale ranges from 1 to 14. pH 7 is the middle, neutral point and water is a perfect example of that. Anything lower than pH 7 is called an “acid”. Meanwhile, anything higher than pH 7 is called a “base”. The litmus paper test yields a certain color and allows you to determine the pH of a solution. To keep it relevant and interesting for my son, I showed him how Coca Cola is quite acidic and hence not a good beverage. Meanwhile, other weaker acids like orange juice are good to have. Milk is close to pH 7, falling at pH 6.5-6.7. I also made my son record the results down on a sheet of paper, like a true scientist recording his results would do. :)
Sources:
Link: https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/make-saline-solution-fluffy-slimeLink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEYS5i5P7YY
Link: https://childhood101.com/melted-rainbow-crayons
Link: https://fusspotandfoodie.com/blogs/blog/home-made-non-toxic-puffy-paints?_pos=1&_sid=11283fbd2&_ss=r
Link: https://artfulparent.com/diy-puffy-paint-for-kids
Link: https://www.rookieparenting.com/why-is-the-sky-blue-science-experiment
