Apple Oxidation

What works best for keeping an apple

from turning brown? Test to find out!
Slice up an apple, and let each slice soak
in a different liquid. Then take them out,
lay them on a tray, and check the
brownness after three minutes, six
minutes, and so on. Not only does this
test the properties of different liquids, it
also helps students practice the scientific
method if they create hypotheses about
which liquids would be most effective.
Chromatography
Flowers
 Chromatography is the process
of separating a solution into
different parts
— like the pigments in the ink
used in markers. If you draw
stripes around a coffee filter, then
fold it up and dip the tip in water,
the water will travel up the filter
and separate the marker ink into
its different pigments (in cool
patterns that you can display as a
craft project). This family made
the end-result even brighter by
adding an LED circuit to the
center.
Water Walking
 You'll need six containers of water for
this one: three with clear water, one
with red food coloring, one with blue
coloring, and one with yellow coloring.
Arrange them in a circle,
alternating colored and clear
containers, and make bridges between
the containers with folded paper towels.
Your kids will be amazed to see the
colored water "walk" over the bridges
and into the clear containers, mixing
colors, and giving them a first- hand
look at the magic of capillarity.
Magic Milk
 Put a few drops of food coloring
in a shallow bowl of milk, and
they'll stay that way — as self-
contained blobs. But add a little
dish soap to a toothpick or a Q-tip
and touch the food coloring, and
the colors will swirl around on
their own like magic. It all has to
do with surface tension: At first,
the food coloring stays on the
surface, but the soap causes a
chemical reaction that breaks the
surface tension.
Grow Crystals
 Bend pipe cleaners into fun
shapes, and watch them grow
crystals when left overnight in a
Borax solution. (Words of
warning: Always be careful with
Borax and kids, and make sure
they understand that the end
result is not candy even though it
looks like it could be.)
Gravity-Defying
Magnets
 Hang paperclips from a ruler or
dowel, and they dangle, as they
should, because of gravity. But you
can show kids how other forces
can overcome gravity by putting
strong magnets on a ruler and
using them to get the paperclips to
stand straight up.
Pencils Through
a Bag of Water
 Kids might guess that if you
pierce a bag of water with a
sharpened pencil, the water
would all leak out. In fact, if you
do it right, the polymers of the
bag's plastic will re- seal around
the pencil, and your counters
will stay dry (and your kids will
be amazed). You can get them
thinking about the chemical
compositions that make up
everyday items.
Mold Science
 Mold experiments are always
grossly fascinating, and you can
see how different additives (salt,
vinegar, etc.) affect the growing of
mold on bread. For a twist on this
experiment that might lead to
more hygienic habits, you can also
see how mold grows on bread
that's been touched by hands that
have been washed with soap and
water, cleansed with hand
sanitizer, or not washed at all.
That'll get them scrubbing for 20
seconds.
Instant Ice
 Give your little scientists the
powers of Elsa! Water can turn
into ice as it's being poured. The
secret is to chill water in the
freezer until it's almost frozen,
then pour it over ice placed on an
overturned ceramic bowl.
Kids can see the transformation
between the states of matter, and
also how ice crystals are formed.
Self-Inflating
Balloon
A twist on a vinegar-and- baking-
soda experiment, if you put
baking soda in an empty bottle
and vinegar in a balloon, when
you attach the ballon over the
mouth of the bottle and let the
vinegar pour in, the resulting gas
will be enough to inflate the
balloon on its own. Bonus: This
experiment is less messy than a
vinegar-baking-soda volcano.
Tea Bag Rocket
Want a memorable way to teach
kids that hot air rises? Take the
tea out of a tea bag, hollow it out
and stand it up, and (carefully)
take a match to it. The hollowed-
out bag is so light, it rises along
with the hot air, and becomes a
flying tea bag.
Sundial
 Making a homemade sundial is
one of the lowest-prep science
experiments you can do: You just
need a dowel or a good stick, a
paper plate, and a marker. Mark
the position of the dowel's shadow
every hour, and you've got an easy
opening into talking about the
Earth's rotation. The next day, see
if your sundial tells accurate time
while playing outside.
Lava Lamp
Oil and water with food coloring
don't mix, teaching kids about
density. For fun, add an antacid
tablet, and bubbles start to flow
all around like a groovy lava
lamp.
Sink or Float?
Having kids figure out what makes
certain objects sink and what
makes them float is a good way to
teach them about density — and
an even better way to get them
practicing the scientific method, if
they make a hypothesis first about
what will sink and float and then
measure the results.
Tornado in a
Bottle
 Secure two two-liter bottles
together with water inside, flip
upside down, give a shake, and
watch a tornado form its
distinctive funnel shape. You can
also put glitter or small items in
the bottle to show how a tornado's
winds would whip objects around
in the real world.
Ice Cream in a
Bag
 Finally! An experiment you can
actually eat. Toss the ingredients
in a bag, seal it up, and have your
kids shake it vigorously for 10
minutes.
Will they absorb the lesson about
how energy transforms states of
matter? Maybe, but, either way,
you get to have a treat
Skittles
Patterns
For another experiment you can
do with food, set Skittles into a
shallow bowl of water, and see
how the colors swirl.
Skittles are basically pure sugar
and dissolve in water, so you can
use this as in intro to solvents,
solutes, and solutions.
Egg in a Bottle
 A peeled hard-boiled egg can't fit
into a bottle without smushing into
a big mess, can it? It can — if you
put a burning piece of paper in the
bottle first. The burning paper in
the bottle causes the air to expand
and the pressure to go up. When
the fire runs out of oxygen, the
temperature cools and the air
contracts, sucking the egg through
the bottle opening.
The fire and the sucking of the
egg makes this an extra-
dramatic experiment.
Floating Ms
 Another way you can introduce
kids to solvents, solutes, and
solutions is by "lifting" the Ms off
of M&Ms.
All it takes is water!
 Balloon-
Powered Car
This project focuses mostly on the
engineering side of STEM. You
need some household items
(toothpicks, bottle caps, coins) and
an empty juicebox to construct the
car — and then you can inflate the
balloon through the straw and
watch it go!
Shaving Cream
Water Cycle
Give students a brush-up on the
water cycle by setting shaving-
cream clouds on top of a glass of
water. Use a dropper to add in
blue water, and when the clouds
get saturated — blue rain.
 Become a
human sundial.
 Use that homemade chalk for this
activity that turns kids into human
sundials! They’ll practice
measuring skills and learn about
the movement of the sun across the
sky.
Learn about plant
transpiration.
 Your backyard is a terrific place
for easy science experiments!
Grab a plastic bag and rubber
band to learn how plants get rid of
excess water they don’t need, a
process known as transpiration.
Make naked
eggs
 This is so cool! Use vinegar to
dissolve the calcium carbonate in
an eggshell to discover the
membrane underneath that holds
the egg together. Then, use the
“naked” egg for another
Turn milk into
plastic.
 This sounds a lot more
complicated than it is, but don’t
be afraid to give it a try.
Use simple kitchen supplies to
create plastic polymers from plain
old milk. Sculpt them into cool
shapes when you’re done!
Levitate a ping-
pong ball.
 Kids will get a kick out of this
experiment, which is really all
about Bernoulli’s principle.
You only need plastic bottles,
bendy straws, and ping-pong balls
to make the science magic happen.
Launch a two-
stage rocket.
 The rockets used for space flight
generally have more than one
stage to give them the extra
boost they need.
This easy science experiment uses
balloons to model a two- stage
rocket launch, teaching kids about
the laws of motion.
 Demonstrate
the “magic”
leakproof bag.
So simple and so amazing! All you
need is a zip-top plastic bag, sharp
pencils, and some water to blow
your kids’ minds. Once they’re
suitably impressed, teach them
how the “trick” works by
explaining the chemistry of
polymers.
Clean some old
coins.
 Use common household items to
make old oxidized coins clean and
shiny again in this simple
chemistry experiment. Ask kids to
predict (hypothesize) which will
work best, then expand the
learning by doing some research
to explain the results.
 Expand a
balloon without
blowing.
 Chances are good you probably
did easy science experiments like
this when you were in school
yourself.
This well-known activity
demonstrates the reactions
between acids and bases. Fill a
bottle with vinegar and a balloon
with baking soda. Fit the balloon
over the top, shake the baking
soda down into the vinegar, and
watch the balloon inflate.
 Discover
density with
hot and cold
water.
 There are a lot of easy science
experiments you can do with
density. This one is extremely
simple, involving only hot and
cold water and food coloring, but
the visuals make it appealing and
fun.
Learn to layer
liquids.
 This density demo is a little more
complicated, but the effects are
spectacular.
Slowly layer liquids like honey,
dish soap, water, and rubbing
alcohol in a glass.
Kids will be amazed when the
liquids float one on top of the
other like magic (except it is really
science).
 Construct a
homemade lava
lamp
This 70s trend is back … as an easy
science experiment! This activity
combines acid/base reactions with
density for a totally groovy result.
Whip up a tornado
in a bottle.
There are plenty of versions of this
classic experiment out there, but
we love this one because it
sparkles! Kids learn about a
vortex and what it takes to create
one.
 Explore how
sugary drinks
affect teeth.
 The calcium content of eggshells
makes them a great stand-in for
teeth. Use eggs to explore how
soda and juice can stain teeth and
wear down the enamel. Expand
your learning by trying different
toothpaste and toothbrush
combinations to see how effective
they are.
 Monitor air
pressure with a
DIY barometer.
This simple but effective DIY science
project teaches kids about air
pressure and meteorology. They’ll
have fun tracking and predicting the
weather with their very own
barometer.
 Extinguish
flames with
carbon dioxide.
 This is a fiery twist on acid/base
experiments. Light a candle and
talk about what fire needs to
survive. Then, create an acid-base
reaction and “pour” the carbon
dioxide to extinguish the flame.
The CO2 gas acts like a liquid,
suffocating the fire.
 Do the
Archimedes
squeeze.
 It sounds like a wild dance
move, but this easy science
experiment demonstrates
Archimedes’ principle of
buoyancy. All you need is
aluminum foil and a container
of water.
Step through an
index card.
 This is one easy science
experiment that never fails to
astonish. With carefully placed
scissor cuts on an index card, you
can make a loop large enough to
fit a (small) human body through!
Kids will be wowed as they learn
about surface area.
Stand on a pile
of paper cups.
 Combine physics and
engineering and challenge kids
to create a paper cup structure
that can support their weight.
This is a cool project for
aspiring architects.
Blow the biggest
bubbles you can.
 Add a few simple ingredients to
dish soap solution to create the
largest bubbles you’ve ever seen!
Kids learn about surface tension
as they engineer these bubble-
blowing wands.
Mix up saltwater
solutions.
 This simple experiment
covers a lot of concepts.
Learn about solutions, density,
and even ocean science as you
compare and contrast how objects
float in different water mixtures.
 Recreate the
water cycle in a
bag.
 You can do so many easy science
experiments with a simple zip-top
bag! Fill one partway with water
and set it on a sunny windowsill to
see how the water evaporates up
and eventually “rains” down.
Conduct an egg
drop.
 Put all their engineering skills to
the test with an egg drop!
Challenge kids to build a
container from stuff they find
around the house that will protect
an egg from a long fall (this is
especially fun to do from upper-
story windows).
Construct a pair
of model lungs.
Kids get a better understanding
of the respiratory system when
they build model lungs using a
plastic water bottle and some
balloons. You can modify the
experiment to demonstrate the
effects of smoking too.
 Test out
parachutes.
Gather a variety of materials (try
tissues, handkerchiefs, plastic
bags, etc.) and see which ones
make the best parachutes. You
can also find out how they’re
affected by windy days or find out
which ones work in the rain.
 Experiment
with limestone
rocks.
 Kids love to collect rocks, and
there are plenty of easy science
experiments you can do with them.
In this one, pour vinegar over a
rock to see if it bubbles. If it does,
you’ve found limestone!
 Recycle
newspaper into an
engineering
challenge.
 It’s amazing how a stack of
newspapers can spark such
creative engineering.
Challenge kids to build a tower,
support a book, or even build a
chair using only newspaper and
tape!
Build a solar
oven.
Explore the power of the sun when
you build your own solar ovens
and use them to cook some yummy
treats.
This experiment takes a little
more time and effort, but the
results are always impressive. The
link below has complete
instructions.
Turn a bottle into
a rain gauge.
 All you need is a plastic bottle, a
ruler, and a permanent marker to
make your own rain gauge.
Monitor your measurements and
see how they stack up against
meteorology reports in your area.