Proper Experiments for Kids

[Scabutz]

October half is coming and I'm on daddy day care duties. Both my kids enjoy science at school, as I did. I did 6 months of a chemistry degree before I sold my soul to the IT devil.

Anyway was thinking of one day doing a science lab camp thing. Turn the playroom in to a lab and do some experiments. I'm not trying to making them learn in their downtime, just want to so something fun.

But I want to do some proper experiments. Lithium in water type st, not mixing two liquids and waiting for them to turn green.

Elephant toothpaste seems to be a thing and the stuff needed for that seems to be obtainable without ending up on a terrorist watch list. Can I have some ideas of other things i can do?

[Simpo Two]

Doesn't seem too bad to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant%27s_toothpa...

The one I remember from school was a big pile of powder with a magnesium fuse. Light the fuse and you get a massive volcano of blue dust and a pool of molten chromium at the bottom!

[CoolHands]

Make some electrical circuits? Or even better an RC buggy...

[bucksmanuk]

Do you have access to any ammonium nitrate, sulphur and carbon type things?
Although you may end up on a watch list!
Read this for more ideas...
https://www.amazon.com/Rockets-Jets-Herbert-Spence...

[Tempest_5]

What age are they? One good one is the oxygen in air demonstration. Have a lit tea candle floating in a bowel of water. Place a jam jar (empty) over the candle and watch the water rise up the inside of the jar as the oxygen is burnt up. Impress the children by guessing the water will rise to approx 1/5 the height of the jar not submerged. Bask in their admiration for the few seconds it lasts.

Here's one I was going to do with my son's school class when I did STEM outreach stuff with work. Unfortunately organising the dry Ice was getting expensive so we didn't do it in the end. I'd be interested to hear how it goes if anyone tries.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/create...

[Sporky]

Use a bar of chocolate and a microwave oven to measure the speed of light.

[classicaholic]

My Daughter is still trying to find the perfect Slime recipe, very messy but fun.

[S6PNJ]

Sporky said:

Use a bar of chocolate and a microwave oven to measure the speed of light.

I thought it was cheese on toast?

[Scabutz]

classicaholic said:

My Daughter is still trying to find the perfect Slime recipe, very messy but fun.

We've done slime to death. I've had a titful of it

[montecristo]

You can easily buy lithium and the like online. When you're done, you can ask the local school if they want what's left.

Other things to search for: dirty fingers on agar petri dishes, making tiny rockets out of match heads and foil, lava lamps/immiscible fluids, elephant toothpaste, electromagnet out of a battery and coiled wire, candle inside an upturned glass consuming the oxygen, relight a candle flame by hovering a match above it, lemon/potato battery, fruit keyboard, make patterns out of alcohol gel and set them alight.

Apparently you can extract from cereal with a magnet although that never worked for me. The detergent and food colouring thing didn't work for me either.

[Scabutz]

Cool thanks

[Toltec]

Really simple ones that actually demonstrate some interesting processes.

Diet coke and mentos

Adding salt to a water/ice mix and measuring the temperature drop.

Save silica gel packets and show how adding small amounts of water will results in heating.

Electrolysis

[otolith]

Crystal garden

Electrolysis (and hydrogen explosion)

Copper plating

Tollens test

Custard powder dust explosion

Explosive gas/air mixture demo

Fermentation

Nitrogen triiodide

Non-Newtonian fluids (cornflour)

Colouring flames with metal salts

Thermite reaction (Amazon helpfully shows aluminium powder, iron oxide and magnesium ribbon as “often bought together”)

[Sporky]

S6PNJ said:

Sporky said:

Use a bar of chocolate and a microwave oven to measure the speed of light.

I thought it was cheese on toast?

I imagine there are a significant number of options!

[AshVX220]

otolith said:

Non-Newtonian fluids (cornflour)

Is this the stuff that, if placed on a speaker, "dances" and becomes like a jelly? (was in the Big Bang Theory years ago)

[otolith]

AshVX220 said:

otolith said:

Non-Newtonian fluids (cornflour)

Is this the stuff that, if placed on a speaker, "dances" and becomes like a jelly? (was in the Big Bang Theory years ago)

I've not seen that demo, but yes, it does that kind of thing. It solidifies under pressure, so you can pick it up, but it then liquefies. It's quite weird to handle.