5 Hands-On Science Activities for 6-9 Year Olds

As important as it is to teach your children the basics of science and reinforce the concepts they learn in school, it’s even more important to DO science with your kids!  Kids learn best by doing – whether they fail or succeed at a specific task, acquiring information in a meaningful way is always easier when they are fully engaged.  Luckily, science is full of fun experiments that help illustrate scientific behaviors and concepts.  Here are 8 science activities for 6-9 year olds that will be sure to grab their attention!

 

1. Fantastic Foamy Fountain – Science Bob

This fun demonstration creates an exothermic reaction, and is a great way to teach your kids about chemicals and the way they interact.  You can also teach them about catalysts, as it uses yeast as a trigger for the foaming reaction.  Kids of all ages will get a kick out of the growing foam – it seems like magic!  Until you talk about the science behind it.

 

2. Swimming Spaghetti (and other weird experiments) – Boys’ Life

This easy peasy science demonstration uses things you’ve got in your pantry, so you can do it today!  Break spaghetti into small pieces and watch them sink to the bottom of a glass of water.  Add vinegar to the water and see what happens to the spaghetti then!  Baking soda and vinegar react chemically, creating carbon dioxide – you can explain the science behind it as you cook the rest of the spaghetti for dinner!

 

3. Rock Candy – About Education

Not only is this a fun science activity, but you can eat the result – something your kids are going to love!  All you need is rough string (or wood skewers), water, sugar and food coloring!  Set the experiment up in a glass jar so you can watch what happens while it’s going on.  Be sure to talk about the key science concepts of saturation, precipitation and evaporation.  If you want a scientific explanation for what’s happening, see here.  Once you’re done watching your crystals grow and talking about the science, share the rock candy with friends and family!

 

4. Homemade Gak – Li’l Luna

What kid wouldn’t love making their own slime?  Gak is a fun, slimy, play dough type material with interesting qualities and behaviors.  The science behind this one involves state of being – solids, liquids, gas, etc.  Gak is a non-Newtonian fluid, which is basically a liquid that’s not “normal”.  For younger kids, discussion of state of being is likely enough, but if you’d like to delve deeper, you can also talk about polymers, and how molecules form to create them.  Read the science behind it here.

 

5. Rainbow in a Glass – My Kids’ Adventures

This is demonstration creates an awesome visual your kids will love.  It’s a colorful, fun way to show them how density works.  Basically, you stack liquids of different types which have been treated with food coloring onto each other in a glass jar.  The different densities won’t mix, but will separate and show as stripes.  Not only is this visually interesting, but it will give you an opportunity to talk about density, and thus volume and mass.

Kimberly Mueller is the “me” over at bugaboo, mini, mr & me, a blog that highlights her creative endeavors. She especially likes to share kid crafts, sewing attempts, recipes, upcycled projects, photography and free printable gift tags/cards. When she’s not enjoying being married to her best friend, chasing after the natives (AKA her three kids) and attempting to keep the house in one piece, you can find her with a glue gun in one hand and spray paint in the other. Aside from DIY pursuits, she also enjoys writing, reading, music, singing (mostly in the shower) and the color yellow. Kimberly recently published a craft book entitled Modern Mod Podge. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest,Bloglovin’ and Instagram. Email her at: bugabooblog(at)yahoo.com

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