Easy Science Experiments for Kids to Do at Home

By the Success Tutoring team · 5 October 2026

Children are natural scientists. They poke, mix, drop and ask “why?” all day long. Simple experiments at home turn that curiosity into real scientific thinking: making a prediction, testing it fairly, observing carefully and explaining what happened. You don't need special kits. Everything below uses everyday items from the kitchen or cupboard.

Turn any experiment into real science

The experiment itself is only half the learning. The thinking around it is what builds scientific skills. Use these five steps every time:

1. Ask a question. “What will happen if…?”
2. Predict. Ask your child to guess, and say why. There are no wrong predictions.
3. Test. Do the experiment, changing only one thing at a time to keep it fair.
4. Observe. Look closely. Draw, measure or take photos.
5. Explain. Was the prediction right? What do we think happened, and what else could we test?

12 easy experiments

1. Fizzing volcano

Put two spoonfuls of baking soda in a cup on a tray. Add a squirt of liquid soap and a drop of food colouring, then pour in vinegar. The acid in vinegar reacts with baking soda to make carbon dioxide gas, and the bubbles foam over. Test: does more vinegar make a bigger eruption?

2. Walking water

Line up three cups: the outer two with coloured water, the middle one empty. Fold paper towels into strips and bridge them between the cups. Over an hour, water climbs the paper and the colours mix in the middle. Water travels through the tiny gaps in the paper, much like it moves up through plants.

3. Float or sink

Collect objects (a coin, an apple, a toy, a cork, a key). Predict, then test in a large bowl of water. Why does a big apple float while a tiny coin sinks? Introduce the idea that it's not just about weight but how much stuff is packed into the space.

4. Melting ice race

Put identical ice cubes in different places: a sunny window, the fridge, a dark cupboard, wrapped in a sock. Predict which melts first and time them. This shows how solids become liquids when they warm up. Follow up with our states of matter game.

5. Bean in a jar

Wedge a dried bean between damp paper towel and the side of a clear jar. Keep it moist and watch the root and shoot appear within days. Try a second jar in a dark cupboard and compare. Our plants game explores what plants need.

6. Pepper and soap

Sprinkle pepper on a plate of water, then touch the centre with a soapy finger. The pepper races to the edges because soap breaks the “skin” on the water's surface, called surface tension.

7. Balloon static

Rub a blown-up balloon on your hair or a woolly hat and hold it near small paper pieces or a thin stream of tap water. Rubbing moves tiny charged particles, making the balloon attract things. Children who enjoy this will like our circuit builder.

8. Rainbow in a glass

Fill a clear glass with water and stand it in bright sunlight near white paper. Move the paper until a rainbow appears. Sunlight is made of many colours, and the water bends them by different amounts.

9. Egg in vinegar

Cover a raw egg with vinegar in a jar and leave it for two days, changing the vinegar once. The shell dissolves, leaving a bouncy, see-through egg held together by its membrane. Handle gently and wash hands afterwards.

10. Paper helicopters

Cut and fold simple paper spinners. Drop them from the same height and time the fall. Then change one thing, such as wing length or adding a paper clip, and test again. This is a perfect introduction to fair testing.

11. Homemade lava lamp

Fill a bottle a quarter full of water and top up with vegetable oil. Add food colouring, then a piece of fizzing vitamin or antacid tablet. Coloured bubbles rise and fall because oil and water don't mix and the gas carries water up through the oil. Adults should handle the tablets.

12. Shadow tracking

On a sunny day, stand a toy outside on paper and draw round its shadow every hour. The shadow moves and changes length because the Earth is turning. Link it to our solar system quiz.

Safety tips

• An adult should always supervise, especially with vinegar, hot water, tablets or anything near the eyes.
• Never taste experiments unless they're designed to be eaten.
• Do messy experiments on a tray, outside or in the bath.
• Wash hands afterwards.

Keep a science journal

A simple notebook where your child writes the question, draws what happened and records results makes experiments much more valuable. It practises writing, drawing, measuring and even making charts. Older children can record results in a table and turn them into a bar chart, which links nicely to our graphs game. For more on-screen science, browse our science games.

Frequently asked questions