Experiments for kids don’t need a lab or elaborate equipment, curiosity is enough. Six instructions for the most exciting self-experiments your household has to offer.
A lle books are flipped through, the Lego models are finished building, and the playmates don’t have time either? So let’s shoot some cola into the air today!
In any case, we’d love to see your kids’ faces when you say that- and also so mean! For the big wonder, we present six experiments for kids that are fun for parents too. For example, we show how you can make a bubbling geyser out of a Coke bottle and peppermint candies, freeze soap bubbles into ice crystals, or build a sewage treatment plant.
Simple but impressive experiment: the cola volcano
If you can handle a little action, take the kids outside with a Coke Light and a roll of Mentos. The huge fun, but also means a huge mess! It is best to watch this video on this beforehand so that you can take the right precautions.
Video tip
For the children’s experiment you need
An unopened 1 liter bottle of Cola Light or Zero, a roll of peppermint Mentos
Instructions
The whole trick of this experiment is to put a lot of Mentos in a very short time into the freshly opened Coke bottle. Tip: Let the sweets slide into the bottle with a folded piece of paper as if on a slide. Then it is time to run!
Building a sewage treatment plant: An experiment that teaches even the youngest children a lot
How to use sand, soil and pebbles to get dirty water clean again? Don’t go? No way. This sewage treatment plant experiment proves otherwise.
Video tip
For this children’s experiment you will need
Some soil from the garden, both coarse and fine sand, pebbles, two different sized plastic beakers, dirty water
Instruction
1 First, cut or poke small holes in the bottom of the smaller plastic cup (z.B. with a needle).
2 Now fill these cups layer by layer with the pebbles, the coarse sand, the soil and then with the fine sand.
3 The filled beaker is now placed in the larger beaker. Make sure that the bottom of the small and large plastic cups do not rest on each other, but that there is some space between them (z.B. through one or two stones that serve as spacers).
4 And now you are ready to start: Carefully pour the dirty water into the beaker filled with sand, soil and pebbles, and wait. Indeed, the different layers act like a clarifying filter. What drips out of the bottom of the cup is clean, clear water.
How amazing! And by the way, it’s also quite natural; nothing else happens to our rainwater as it seeps through the various layers of the earth into the groundwater.
Experiment for the winter: Freeze soap bubbles
Elsa the ice princess would certainly be jealous of this experiment. With these instructions, your children can freeze soap bubbles into beautiful crystal balls. A great experiment when the winter days are particularly chilly; temperatures in the minus range are the most important prerequisite.
Video tip
For the children’s experiment you need
200ml tap water, 40 ml corn syrup, 40 ml washing-up liquid, 3 tablespoons sugar, a soap bubble stick
Instruction
1 Mix all the ingredients together and put them in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.
2 Now take the lye outdoors and find a smooth, cold surface here (e.g., a small garden).B. a garden table). Now blow the soap suds carefully through the bubble wand so that the bubble does not fly into the air, but is created directly on the table.
Reading tip!
3 The frozen lye is so stable that it takes on a stiff form that quickly freezes solid. However, no ice princess has yet fallen from the sky. A few practice Frozen Bubbles are usually necessary for the experiment to succeed.
The pepper experiment: creating electrostatic attraction
Bet that you can separate a mixture of pepper and salt grains without having to sort the fine particles for it? Alone with the help of electronic voltage? Do not believe? Then try this.
Video tip
For the children’s experiment you will need
1 tablespoon of coarse-grained salt, 1 tablespoon of ground pepper, a plastic pen or plastic spoon, a cloth made of wool or silk
Instructions
1 First, mix pepper and salt together and spread on a saucer or table. Now take the cloth and rub with it long and intensively on the plastic stick.
2 Subsequently, the pin is guided tightly and slowly over the plate- and behold: the pepper particles are magically attracted to the stick and stick to it.
How it can be? Very simple: By electrostatic charge. The friction creates static electricity on the pin, which separates the lighter peppercorns from the heavier salt crystals and attracts them to each other. Wow!
Experiment with fire – under water: The diving tea light
Water extinguishes fire. Yes, usually it is like this. But not in this experiment. In this case, the fire also burns under water.
Video tip
For the children’s experiment you need
1 large water bowl, 1 tall water glass, 1 tea light, water and matches
Instructions
1 Fill the bowl with water, place the tea light on the surface of the water and light it.
2 Now put a water glass over the tea light so that the edge of the glass touches the surface of the water.
3 The vertically held glass is now carefully pushed to the bottom of the water bowl until the tea light also sinks to the bottom of the bowl- and: continue to burn under water!
How this can be? It’s simple: The air in the glass displaces the water and allows the fire to burn until the oxygen in the air is used up.
The lava lamp experiment: Make your own bubbling water
Who needs an old lava lamp or electricity to see funny bubbles floating through a colorful liquid?. With this clever experiment you can easily create the lava lamp effect yourself.
Video tip
For the children’s experiment you need
A large glass or vase, a liter of sunflower oil, a liter of water, some food coloring, a few dishwasher tabs or Ahoy sherbet
Instructions
1 First fill the glass with the oil and then with the water. Now drip a few drops of food coloring into the liquid and wait until it has dissolved in the water.
2 Then divide the dishwasher tabs in half and add one half to the water/oil mixture. And lo and behold: The effervescence of the cleaning rod creates great bubbles that rise to the top like in a lava lamp.
3 The effect lasts until the rinsing tablet is used up. For a renewed lava effect, simply add the other half of the tablet to the glass.