25 at-home science experiments for kids that make learning fun

Looking for a way to keep your child engaged and learning without leaving the house? Science to the rescue! These at-home science experiments for kids are fun and budget-friendly and are perfect summer learning activities for a rainy day or a heatwave. Even better: You probably already have everything you need in your kitchen or bathroom cabinets.

Here are 25 hands-on activities that explore everything from chemistry to physics—no lab coat required. Each experiment includes simple step-by-step instructions, a clear description, and a quick explainer of the science behind it.

1. Rainbow in a jar

Overview: Stack colorful household liquids in a jar to make a rainbow and explore how density affects layering.

What you’ll need: Honey, dish soap, water, olive oil, rubbing alcohol, food coloring, clear jar

How to do it:

1. Add a few drops of food coloring to each liquid except the oil.

2. Pour honey into the jar as the base layer.

3. Slowly add each liquid using a spoon or by tilting the jar: dish soap, colored water, olive oil, and finally rubbing alcohol.

4. Watch how the liquids stack on top of one another without mixing.

What it teaches: Different liquids have different densities. Heavier liquids sink while lighter ones float, creating distinct layers.

2. Balloon-powered car

Overview: Build a car and watch it zoom forward with balloon power, showing how stored air can create motion.

What you’ll need: Balloon, drinking straws, bottle caps, cardboard, skewers, tape, scissors

How to do it:

1. Cut cardboard into a rectangle for the car body.

2. Create axles using straws and attach them to the bottom.

3. Poke holes in bottle caps to make wheels and fit them onto the skewers.

4. Tape a balloon to a straw, securing the neck tightly.

5. Blow up the balloon through the straw, pinch it, and tape the straw to the car.

6. Release and watch the car go!

What it teaches: Air escaping from the balloon pushes the car forward, demonstrating Newton's third law: for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction.

3. Homemade lava lamp

Overview: Combine oil, water, and fizzy tablets to create bubbling blobs in a bottle that mimic a real lava lamp.

What you’ll need: Clear bottle or jar, water, vegetable oil, food coloring, Alka-Seltzer tablets

How to do it:

1. Fill the bottle about one-third full with water.

2. Add a few drops of food coloring.

3. Pour in oil until the bottle is almost full.

4. Break an Alka-Seltzer tablet into pieces and drop one in.

5. Watch the colored bubbles rise and fall.

What it teaches: Oil and water don’t mix. The tablet reacts with water to produce gas bubbles that carry the colored water up through the oil.

4. Ice cream in a bag

Overview: Shake up a few simple ingredients in a bag to freeze your own ice cream and learn how salt lowers freezing points.

What you’ll need: Milk or half-and-half, sugar, vanilla extract, ice, rock salt, sandwich-size and gallon-size zip-top bags

How to do it:

1. In the small bag, mix 1/2 cup milk, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp vanilla. Seal it tightly.

2. Fill the large bag halfway with ice and add 1/4 cup rock salt.

3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal.

4. Shake for 5–10 minutes until the ice cream thickens.

5. Wipe off the bag before opening.

What it teaches: Salt lowers the freezing point of ice, making it cold enough to freeze the ice cream mixture.

5. Walking water

Overview: Watch water travel from one cup to another with paper towels, mimicking how plants absorb water.

What you’ll need: 6 cups, water, food coloring, paper towels

How to do it:

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1. Arrange six cups in a circle, filling every other cup with water.

2. Add food coloring to each cup with water.

3. Fold paper towels into long strips and place one end in a full cup and the other in an empty cup.

4. Wait and watch the colors walk from one cup to the next.

What it teaches: This demonstrates capillary action, the process by which water can travel upward through narrow spaces, just like in plants.

6. Invisible ink

Overview: Write a secret message using lemon juice that only appears when heated, just like a spy’s trick.

What you’ll need: Lemon juice, cotton swabs, white paper, a lamp or iron

How to do it:

1. Dip a cotton swab in lemon juice and write on paper.

2. Let the paper dry completely.

3. To reveal the message, heat the paper using a lamp or gently iron it (with adult help).

What it teaches: Lemon juice oxidizes when heated, turning brown and revealing your message. This shows how heat can change chemical properties.

7. Exploding baggie

Overview: Mix vinegar and baking soda in a sealed bag to create fizz and gas buildup that makes it pop.

What you’ll need: Zip-top sandwich bag, baking soda, vinegar, tissue, measuring spoons

How to do it:

1. Fill the bag with 1/4 cup vinegar.

2. Wrap 1 tablespoon baking soda in a small piece of tissue.

3. Drop the wrapped baking soda into the bag and seal it quickly.

4. Watch the bag expand and eventually burst.

What it teaches: Mixing vinegar and baking soda creates carbon dioxide gas, which expands and causes the bag to pop.

8. Static electricity butterflies

Overview: Rub a balloon and make paper wings flutter with static electricity—no batteries needed!

What you’ll need: Tissue paper, cardstock, balloon, scissors, glue

How to do it:

1. Cut a butterfly shape out of tissue paper and glue it onto cardstock, leaving the wings free.

2. Inflate and tie a balloon.

3. Rub the balloon on your hair or a sweater.

4. Hold the balloon close to the butterfly wings and watch them lift.

What it teaches: Rubbing the balloon transfers electrons, creating static electricity. The wings are attracted to the charged balloon.

9. Color-changing milk

Overview: Add soap to a plate of milk and food coloring to watch swirling patterns show how molecules interact.

What you’ll need: Whole milk, food coloring, dish soap, cotton swabs, shallow plate

How to do it:

1. Pour milk into the plate to cover the bottom.

2. Add several drops of different food colors near the center.

3. Dip a cotton swab in dish soap and touch the milk's surface.

What it teaches: Soap breaks the surface tension of milk and reacts with fat molecules, causing the colors to swirl and mix.

10. Baking soda volcano

Overview: Create an erupting volcano with baking soda and vinegar for a classic, fizzy science explosion.

What you’ll need: Baking soda, vinegar, dish soap, food coloring, small container or bottle

How to do it:

1. Place the container on a tray or in a plastic volcano.

2. Add 2 tablespoons of baking soda, a few drops of dish soap, and food coloring.

3. Pour in 1/4 cup vinegar and watch it erupt.

What it teaches: The baking soda and vinegar create carbon dioxide gas, which causes foaming and pressure that mimics a volcanic eruption.

11. DIY water filter

Overview: Layer sand, gravel, and charcoal in a bottle to clean dirty water and explore natural filtration.

What you’ll need: Plastic bottle, scissors, sand, gravel, activated charcoal, coffee filter, rubber band, dirty water (muddy water is fine)

How to do it:

1. Cut the bottle in half. Flip the top and place it into the bottom like a funnel.

2. Secure a coffee filter over the mouth with a rubber band.

3. Layer charcoal, sand, and gravel inside.

4. Slowly pour dirty water through and observe the result.

What it teaches: Each layer filters out different particles, simulating how nature and water treatment systems clean water.

12. Grow your own crystals

Overview: Make a sparkling shape from a pipe cleaner and grow borax crystals on it overnight.

What you’ll need: Pipe cleaner, string, pencil, borax, boiling water, jar

How to do it:

1. Twist the pipe cleaner into a fun shape and tie it to a string.

2. Dissolve 3 tablespoons of borax per cup of hot water in a jar.

3. Hang the pipe cleaner in the solution so it doesn’t touch the sides.

4. Let it sit overnight. Crystals will form on the shape.

What it teaches: As the solution cools, borax comes out of suspension and crystallizes on the pipe cleaner.

13. Cloud in a jar

Overview: Create a visible cloud in a jar using heat, moisture, and cold air to see how clouds form in nature.

What you’ll need: Glass jar with lid, hot water, ice, hairspray

How to do it:

1. Fill the jar with a couple of inches of hot water.

2. Spray a quick burst of hairspray into the jar.

3. Immediately place the lid upside down on the jar and fill the lid with ice.

4. Watch as a cloud forms inside the jar.

What it teaches: The warm water provides vapor, the ice cools the air, and the hairspray gives the vapor something to condense around, just like particles in the atmosphere.

14. DIY compass

Overview: Magnetize a needle to create a floating compass that aligns with Earth’s magnetic field.

What you’ll need: Sewing needle, strong magnet, small piece of cork or foam, bowl of water

How to do it:

1. Rub the needle along the magnet about 20–30 times in one direction.

2. Push the needle through the cork or foam.

3. Float it in the bowl of water.

4. The needle will slowly align to point north.

What it teaches: Magnetism and Earth’s magnetic field—how real compasses work.

15. Simple circuit

Overview: Use a battery and wire to light up a bulb and understand the basics of how electricity flows.

What you’ll need: D-cell battery, small light bulb, insulated copper wire

How to do it:

1. Strip the ends of the wire.

2. Attach one wire end to the battery’s negative terminal and the other to the bulb base.

3. Touch a second wire from the bulb’s side to the battery’s positive terminal.

4. The bulb lights up!

What it teaches: A complete circuit allows electricity to flow and power a device.

16. Saltwater density tower

Overview: Use different salt concentrations to create layers of colored water that don’t mix.

What you’ll need: Salt, water, food coloring, 3–4 clear cups, spoon

How to do it:

1. Mix different amounts of salt into each cup of water (e.g., none, 1 tsp, 2 tsp, 3 tsp).

2. Add a different color to each cup.

3. Use a syringe or spoon to layer the most dense (saltiest) water on the bottom of a tall glass, then carefully add each layer from most to least dense.

What it teaches: Denser liquids stay below lighter ones, demonstrating how salinity affects ocean layers.

17. Marshmallow puff test

Overview: Watch a marshmallow grow in the microwave as trapped air expands.

What you’ll need: Large marshmallow, microwave-safe plate, microwave

How to do it:

1. Place a marshmallow on the plate.

2. Microwave for 20–30 seconds and observe.

3. Remove and let it cool—it will shrink again!

What it teaches: Heat causes the air inside the marshmallow to expand, showing gas laws in action.

18. Egg in vinegar

Overview: Soak an egg in vinegar to dissolve the shell and leave behind a rubbery, bouncy egg.

What you’ll need: Raw egg, cup, vinegar

How to do it:

1. Place egg in cup and cover with vinegar.

2. Let sit for 24–48 hours, replacing vinegar if needed.

3. Carefully remove the shell-free egg.

What it teaches: The vinegar reacts with calcium carbonate in the shell, demonstrating acid-base reactions and osmosis.

19. DIY thermometer

Overview: Make your own thermometer to observe how liquids expand with temperature.

What you’ll need: Clear plastic bottle, straw, modeling clay, rubbing alcohol, food coloring

How to do it:

1. Fill the bottle halfway with alcohol and add coloring.

2. Insert the straw, sealing around it with clay.

3. Warm the bottle with your hands or place in warm water.

What it teaches: As the liquid heats, it expands and rises in the straw, just like in a real thermometer.

20. Water cycle in a bag

Overview: Create a mini ecosystem in a zip bag to watch evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

What you’ll need: Zip-top bag, water, food coloring, permanent marker, tape

How to do it:

1. Add water and a few drops of blue food coloring to the bag.

2. Draw a sun and clouds on the outside.

3. Seal and tape to a sunny window.

4. Watch for droplets to form.

What it teaches: Simulates the water cycle—water evaporates, condenses, and "rains" inside the bag.

21. Slime time

Overview: Mix a gooey slime that stretches and flows like magic, showing off unique polymer behavior.

What you’ll need: White glue, baking soda, contact lens solution, food coloring

How to do it:

1. Mix 1/2 cup glue and food coloring in a bowl.

2. Add 1/2 tsp baking soda.

3. Stir in 1 tbsp contact solution.

4. Knead until it becomes stretchy.

What it teaches: Slime is a polymer, which is a substance made of long chains that behave like both solids and liquids.

22. Dancing raisins

Overview: Use carbonation to make raisins bob up and down like tiny divers.

What you’ll need: Clear soda (like Sprite), raisins, clear cup

How to do it:

1. Pour soda into a glass.

2. Drop in a few raisins.

3. Watch as bubbles lift them, then pop and let them sink again.

What it teaches: Bubbles attach to the raisins and lift them until they pop, demonstrating buoyancy and gas behavior.

23. Egg drop challenge

Overview: Use materials to protect an egg from breaking when dropped—an intro to physics and engineering.

What you’ll need: Raw egg, string, straws, cotton, plastic bags, tape, anything soft

How to do it:

1. Design a protective shell or parachute around the egg.

2. Drop from a safe height.

3. Check if it survived. Iterate and try again.

What it teaches: Teaches impact forces and encourages critical thinking about engineering design.

24. Pepper and soap experiment

Overview: Watch pepper scatter away when you add soap, revealing a cool surface tension trick.

What you’ll need: Water, black pepper, dish soap, shallow plate

How to do it:

1. Pour water onto the plate.

2. Sprinkle pepper over the top.

3. Dip your finger in dish soap, then touch the water.

4. Pepper moves to the edges.

What it teaches: Soap breaks water's surface tension, pushing the pepper away.

25. Homemade barometer

Overview: Track changes in air pressure with a DIY weather tool made from household supplies.

What you’ll need: Jar, balloon, rubber band, straw, tape, index card

How to do it:

1. Cut the balloon and stretch over the jar opening.

2. Secure with rubber band.

3. Tape a straw to the center of the balloon.

4. Place an index card behind it to measure movement.

What it teaches: Changes in air pressure move the straw up or down, showing how barometers predict weather.

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This blog post is provided "as is" and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice. Some content in this post may have been created using artificial intelligence; however, every blog post is reviewed by at least two human editors.