🌋Baking Soda Volcano
Create a fizzing, bubbling eruption like a real volcano!
How to Do It:
- Build a volcano shape with clay or playdough around a small cup
- Put 2 tablespoons baking soda in the cup
- Add a squirt of dish soap and red food coloring
- Pour in vinegar and watch it erupt!
- Add more vinegar to keep the eruption going
Materials: Baking soda, vinegar, dish soap, red food coloring, small cup, clay/playdough, tray to catch overflow
Chemistry Concept: Acid-base reaction! Vinegar (acid) + baking soda (base) = carbon dioxide gas (bubbles)
Safety: Do this outside or in a tray - it can get messy! Wash hands after.
⏱️ 15-20 minutes
⭐ Easy
🌈Magic Dancing Milk
Watch colors swirl and dance like magic in milk!
How to Do It:
- Pour milk into a shallow dish (fill about 1 inch deep)
- Add drops of different food coloring around the milk
- Dip a cotton swab in dish soap
- Touch the soapy swab to the milk surface
- Watch the colors explode and swirl!
Materials: Whole milk (works best), food coloring (3-4 colors), dish soap, shallow dish or plate, cotton swabs
Chemistry Concept: Soap breaks surface tension and mixes with milk fats, making molecules move and colors swirl!
⏱️ 10-15 minutes
⭐ Easy
🕵️Secret Invisible Ink
Write secret messages that only appear with heat!
How to Do It:
- Squeeze lemon juice into a small bowl
- Dip a cotton swab or paintbrush in the juice
- Write a message on white paper
- Let the paper dry completely (looks blank!)
- Adult: Hold paper near a warm light bulb to reveal message
Materials: Lemon juice, white paper, cotton swab or small paintbrush, lamp with incandescent bulb (or iron)
Chemistry Concept: Lemon juice oxidizes (turns brown) when heated because it contains carbon compounds
Safety: Adult must handle the heat source! Keep paper moving, don't let it get too hot.
⏱️ 20-25 minutes
⭐⭐ Medium
🥚Rubber Bouncy Egg
Turn a regular egg into a see-through, bouncy ball!
How to Do It:
- Place a raw egg in a jar
- Cover completely with white vinegar
- Wait 24-48 hours (check every few hours)
- Watch bubbles form on the shell
- Carefully remove egg - shell is gone, it's rubbery!
- Gently bounce it from a few inches high
Materials: Raw egg, white vinegar, clear jar with lid, patience!
Chemistry Concept: Vinegar (acid) dissolves calcium carbonate (eggshell), leaving the rubbery membrane
Safety: Egg might break and be messy. Do over sink. Wash hands well!
⏱️ 5 min setup + 24-48 hours wait
⭐ Easy
🥬Color-Changing Cabbage Juice
Make a magic potion that changes colors!
How to Do It:
- Chop red cabbage and boil in water for 10 minutes
- Strain out cabbage, keep the purple juice
- Pour juice into several clear cups
- Add lemon juice to one cup (turns pink!)
- Add baking soda to another (turns blue/green!)
- Try other liquids: vinegar, soap, salt water
Materials: Red cabbage, water, pot, strainer, clear cups, test liquids (lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar, dish soap)
Chemistry Concept: Cabbage juice is a pH indicator! Acids turn it pink/red, bases turn it blue/green
Safety: Adult helps with boiling water. Let juice cool before kids handle it.
⏱️ 25-35 minutes
⭐⭐ Medium
🍋Fizzy Lemonade Science
Make lemonade that fizzes and bubbles!
How to Do It:
- Squeeze 2 lemons into a cup
- Add 1 cup water and 2 tablespoons sugar, stir
- Add 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Watch it fizz up!
- Taste it - it's sweet, sour, and fizzy!
Materials: Fresh lemons, water, sugar, baking soda, cup, spoon
Chemistry Concept: Lemon juice (citric acid) reacts with baking soda to make carbon dioxide bubbles - just like soda!
⏱️ 10 minutes
⭐ Easy
💧Walking Water Rainbow
Watch colored water "walk" between cups to make a rainbow!
How to Do It:
- Set up 7 cups in a line
- Fill cups 1, 3, 5, 7 with water
- Add red food coloring to cup 1, yellow to 3, blue to 5, green to 7
- Place paper towels between all cups (folded strips)
- Wait 1-2 hours - water climbs up and creates new colors!
Materials: 7 clear cups, water, food coloring (red, yellow, blue, green), paper towels
Chemistry Concept: Capillary action and cohesion! Water molecules stick together and climb up the paper towel
⏱️ 10 min setup + 1-2 hours wait
⭐ Easy
💎Salt Crystal Garden
Grow sparkly crystals overnight!
How to Do It:
- Boil 1 cup of water (adult helps)
- Add salt and stir until no more dissolves
- Pour into a shallow dish
- Add food coloring (optional)
- Place pipe cleaners or string in the solution
- Wait 24 hours - crystals will grow!
Materials: Table salt (lots!), water, pot, shallow dish, pipe cleaners or string, food coloring (optional)
Chemistry Concept: Supersaturation and crystallization! As water evaporates, salt molecules arrange into crystal patterns
Safety: Adult handles boiling water. Don't drink the salt water!
⏱️ 15 min setup + 24 hours wait
⭐⭐ Medium
👾Oobleck: Liquid or Solid?
Make goo that's both a liquid AND a solid at the same time!
How to Do It:
- Mix 2 cups cornstarch with 1 cup water in a bowl
- Stir with hands (it's tricky!)
- Punch it hard - it's solid!
- Touch it gently - it's liquid!
- Add food coloring for colorful goo
Materials: Cornstarch, water, large bowl, food coloring (optional), tray or plastic tablecloth
Chemistry Concept: Non-Newtonian fluid! Particles get stuck when hit fast (solid) but flow when moved slowly (liquid)
Safety: Very messy! Do outside or cover table well. Don't pour down sink - throw in trash.
⏱️ 15-20 minutes
⭐⭐ Medium
🎈Self-Inflating Balloon
Watch a balloon magically inflate itself!
How to Do It:
- Pour vinegar into a plastic bottle (fill 1/4 full)
- Put 2 tablespoons baking soda in a balloon
- Carefully stretch balloon over bottle opening
- Lift balloon up so baking soda falls into vinegar
- Watch balloon inflate from the gas created!
Materials: Plastic bottle, vinegar, baking soda, balloon, funnel (helpful)
Chemistry Concept: Chemical reaction creates carbon dioxide gas that fills the balloon!
⏱️ 10-15 minutes
⭐ Easy