Make elephant toothpaste
This elephant toothpaste shouldn’t go anywhere near your mouth, but it’s still fun to make and look at. All you have to do is add 120ml of hydrogen peroxide to a one liter plastic soda bottle, then swirl in a little dish soap and food colouring. Activate some dry packet yeast, add the mixture to the bottle, and watch what happens next.
Build a solar oven
If you’ve got a spare Saturday afternoon and want to dedicate it to cooking a small quantity of food incredibly slowly, then this experiment could be for you. A cardboard pizza box, some black construction paper, some tin foil and plastic wrap are all that’s needed to create an oven that can cook s’mores or mini pizzas using just the heat of the sun!
Freeze water instantly
Normally, freezing water is an experiment around as compelling as watching paint dry. However, if you cool purified or filtered water to just below freezing, it will stay liquid. That is, until you drop an ice cube into the mix or give it a hard nudge. Both actions will result in the water instantly crystalising and freezing in spectacular fashion.
Recreate the water cycle in a bag
The water cycle is a fairly complicated concept, but it can be easily illustrated with this snappy, at-home experiment. Fill a Ziploc bag a fifth of the way with water and blue food colouring, then seal and leave on a sunny windowsill. The water will evaporate, collect at the top of the bag and then eventually rain back down. How cool is that?
Float a marker being
This amazing experiment only requires too things: a shallow dish or bowl, and a dry erase marker. Simply draw a stick figure on the dish, and then fill it with water. The figure will instantly float to the surface of the water and can be moved around or even peeled off, thanks to the insoluble ink being less dense than the water.
Draw water upwards
Did you know a candle can drink? To witness this fascinating phenomenon, place a candle in the middle of a heat safe dish that’s filled with a small quantity of water, light the candle, and then place a glass over the top. As if by magic, the candle will draw water up into the glass as it burns, sometimes even causing the candle to float!
Make your own lava lamp
Every child of the early 2000s grew up obsessed with the idea of owning a lava lamp, but did you know you could make one yourself? Just add three tablespoons of baking soda to a plastic bottle, then fill the bottle two thirds of the way with vegetable oil. Add a small quantity of vinegar mixed with food colouring and you’ll see bubbles begin to erupt!
Create colour-changing carnations
All you need for this fun experiment are two white carnations, a couple of glasses, and a few drops of food colouring. Simply mix each colour into a glass of water, and place in a single carnation. Soon enough you’ll see the magic happen, as the flowers will drink the water and magically change colour as a result!
Create the biggest bubbles ever
Everyone loves blowing bubbles, but did you know that upgrading your bubbles to legendary size and durability only takes a couple of extra household ingredients? Adding a small amount of cornstarch, baking powder and corn syrup to your normal dish soap mixture will lead to giant bubbles that won’t pop quite so easily.
Create a tasty rainbow
This visually stunning experiment couldn’t be easier to pull off. All you have to do is arrange a rainbow of Skittles in a circle on a plate, then add water. The result will be a beautiful rainbow that happens slowly as the water pulls the dye into the centre of the plate. You’ll want to keep some Skittles back for eating as you watch though!