I’ve found my 5 year old to be incredibly curious at the moment, always asking questions and wanting to know how things work. Even something as simple as a rain gauge has been VERY exciting for her. With that in mind I’ve pulled together a list of great science experiments for kids of all ages! The age ranges mentioned in this post are just a guide, most science is fun for all ages if you tweak the activity a little bit.
I’ve also got a couple of science books available if you fancy taking a look.
Science Experiments for 4-6 Year Olds
Bubble Snakes
Bubble snakes are very easy to make. Try blowing harder and then more slowly, and look for rainbows in the bubbles.
Paint on Ice
Ice painting has always kept my children busy for ages. Another idea is to freeze a 3D shape and paint that. Cake moulds work really well for this.
Filter Paper Butterflies
Make filter paper butterflies. This fun, creative chromatography experiment is great for younger children. Ink spreading through filter paper opens the door to lots of questions, and the fact that the dry filter paper can be turned into a craft is an added bonus.
Superhero Cressheads
These superhero themed cress heads are super cute and perfect for learning about germination.
How many feet tall are you?
Find out how many of your own feet tall you are. Is there a pattern?
What’s inside the body?
Children can learn abour what’s inside their body by drawing around themselves or a friend on a roll of paper and then adding in a skeleton or even organs.
Pine cone weather station
A pine cone weather station is a fun way to learn about the weather. Thanks to Rainy Day Mum for this one.
Static electricity and jumping frogs
Learn about static electricity with jumping frogs. The frogs are cut out from tissue paper and jump up the balloon when it’s charged with static electricity.
Optical illusion
Trick your eyes with a super easy optical illusion. Optical illusions are fantastic because they can be themed in lots of different ways. We’ve made a fish in a tank, Santa in a chimney, and a face on a pumpkin.
Bubble wands
Another activity that inspires a lot of questions from younger children is creating bubbles from differently shaped bubble wands.
Waterproofing activity
Learn about waterproof materials with this fun activity using soft toys or try my Save the Dinosaur waterproofing activity.
Make a magnet maze and learn about magnetism. Can you make a huge version?
Explore freezing and melting with slushy drinks, you could even try some colour mixing.
Make some coloured ice cubes for more fizzy fun or how about some coloured rocks?
Find out about arm span and its relation to height in this easy activity.
Make some shadow puppets or a shadow frame and then put on a show. What happens to the shadow when you move it away from the light source?
Make mixture with toys. This is great for starting to lean about properties of materials.
Try some colour mixing with jelly.
Sort Ariel’s treasures into groups depending on their properties.
Start to learn about what conditions green plants need to grow with this cress caterpillar.
Have some messy fun with oobleck!
Make some simple patterns using DUPLO.
How about setting up a chemistry lab in the kitchen? all you need is some coloured water, oil and pipettes.
Science Experiments for 7-11 Year olds
Try a bit of science magic? Can you make an egg bounce?
Learn about oil and water not mixing and density with this density jar. Experiment with different objects floating on the layers to make it more fun. What happens when you shake it?
How about making some simple ‘shooters‘ like Red Ted Art, what happens to them when it’s windy? Do they move further if you blow harder?
We LOVE these candy science experiments!
Learn how to clean dirty water using filters or design and build a toy filter.
If there’s a Science Fair coming up, we’ve got lots of easy and impressive science fair projects to try too!
Find out what makes the best sandcastle? Is dry or wet sand better?
More great science experiments for kids
Adult help is definitely needed for this one, but a Water Powered Bottle Rocket is always a big hit in our house.
Make honeycomb, pancakes, meringue and more in this collection of tasty kitchen science experiments and activities.
If it’s coming up to Valentine’s Day we’ve got lots of easy Valentine science experiments and activities too.
We’ve got collections of science experiments and investigations whatever the time of year:
Make a snow volcano, frost on a can and lots more cool winter science experiments.
Make a multicoloured cress caterpillar, colourful flowers and lots more spring science experiments for kids.
Stay busy all summer long with our huge collection of summer science experiments.
If autumn is more your season, we’ve got lots of fall related science activities too!
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Last Updated on September 27, 2024 by Emma Vanstone
Wow wow wow!
So much to try …. good job it is half term!!
So many fabulous ideas, I think Syd would enjoy some of these at 2 and a half- and my older boy too- if this rain carries on we will be back for a look during half term next week!
This is a great list of activities for half term! We had traffic light jelly last night and the kids wanted to know how I got the colours to stick. I love their curiosity at this age.
These are FANTASTIC and super fun activities!! Thank you.
Bookmarking this for next week as I fear with this bad weather we might be house bound most of half term!
Ohh nice Emma, I think my girls would enjoy these and they are nearly 7! Mich x
So glad to come across this!! These activities will be a great addition to our family parties and get together this year! Thank you!
Wonderful post! We will be linking to this particularly great content on our site.
Keep up the great writing.
Wow! What a brilliant idea! Really smart & great. Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful experience with us.
These are great activities for my kids. Perfect for family bonding time.