50 Fun and Easy Science Experiments & Activities

Looking to add a little hands-on science fun to your homeschool? You don’t have to buy expensive materials or set up elaborate activities for your kids to learn biology, chemistry, physics, geology and other science topics.

Here are 50 simple, fun science experiments that generally use common household materials and inexpensive items, plus online interactive science fun and more. (Note: We have affiliate links to some of these items on eBay, which is our favorite place to get them affordably and support small sellers.)

Dissect a flower, mushroom, green pepper or other plant/fungi specimen.
Cook up purple cabbage water to test the pH levels of things like vinegar, tap water and dish soap.
Look at biology specimens like hair, fur, whiskers, leaves, pollen and butterfly wings through a pocket microscope.
Get an iNaturalist account (free) and start logging plants, birds and insects together.
Use salt, rubbing alcohol and dish soap to extract the DNA from a strawberry.
Head outside with some film canisters, paint and Alka Seltzer tablets to make exploding paint bombs.
Build a marble run out of toilet paper tubes and masking tape on the wall, and compare the speed of marbles with different angles.
Build simple electronic gadgets with Snap Circuits.
Use yeast, dish soap and hydrogen peroxide (and food coloring to make it more fun!) to make elephant toothpaste.
Look for owl pellets on nature walks and carefully take them apart to see the skeletal remains of whatever prey the owl ingested.
Let kids virtually dissect a pig.
Grow sprouts on the kitchen counter. Compare different types in terms of how they look, taste, and how quickly they grow.
Use pH test strips (found in pool supply sections) to test tap water versus rain water, spit, bottled water and other liquids.
Buy a liver, heart or other organ from the meat department for your child to dissect and/or view under the microscope.
Put white flowers like carnations in colored water to see it carried up into the flower (split the stem and put half in each color to extend it).
Tap maple or walnut trees in late winter to make homemade syrup.
Use a stethoscope to listen to the sap running inside a tree on warm days in late winter.
Buy some butterfly pea flowers to make a pretty blue tea that will change color when you add lemon juice (an acid) since it is a natural pH indicator.
Compare the genetics of family members and extended family (eye color, height, curly versus straight hair, etc.).
Volunteer at local nature centers, environmental programs, zoos or humane societies.
Start a nature journal, logging plants, wildlife spotted, weather conditions, etc.
Watch meteor showers (head out to darker areas away from city lights for best viewing).
Make homemade kombucha and study the scoby (a group of living organisms called a “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast” or “mother”).
Raise and release butterflies.
Set up a bird feeding station near a window and start recording the birds that visit.
To extend the science, dye bird seed different colors and leave some plain, and see if birds prefer any of them.
Microwave Ivory soap to learn about expansion and gases.
Plant a bean in a plastic baggie with a damp paper towel to watch it sprout roots and leaves.
Make a solar water purifier to take the salt out of salt water using the sun.
Gather water from lots of sources like ponds, puddles and lakes in plastic bottles, let it settle, and compare the contents of each.
Graph the temperature or precipitation over a month period. Make wagers ahead of time about how hot or cold it will get, how much it will rain, etc. and see who gets closest.
If it gets cold enough where you live, make a cloud on the ground.
Gather some old pennies and try cleaning them with all different liquids (soapy water, Coke, vinegar, milk, etc.) and see which work best. Discuss what the kids think will work best and why, and then look it up online.
Test how various tissues like mushrooms, hot dog pieces and torn leaves and react to hydrogen peroxide.
Use a strong magnet to test the magnetism of various rocks, sands and household objects.
Gather some moss and tiny plants outside in a recycled jar and make a miniature terrarium.
Soak chicken or turkey bones in vinegar to make them bendable.
In the winter, gather snow from several sites and then melt it, pour it through a coffee filter and look at the results under a microscope or pocket scope.
Print out a weather station and start tracking the weather.
Root houseplant cuttings in water and plant them.
Drop a drop of iodine on various foods to see if they are starches (starches will turn the normally brownish-red iodine to blueish black).
Print out a life size skeleton.
Make an inertia ball.
Look for an EarthCache (like geocaching but with an educational component, with thousands all over).
Have kids play the Nobel Prize Foundation’s Blood Typing Game.
Have kids put two pieces of bread in separate plastic baggies, one of which they handled after washing their hands well and one of which they handled after trying to get their hands as germy as possible. Watch the bread over the next weeks and see how they compare.
Learn about non-Newtonian fluids by mixing corn starch and water to make oobleck (which is like quicksand in that it changes states because of pressure from liquid to solid). Just mix one cup of water with 1-2 cups of cornstarch and optional food coloring. It will seem like a thick liquid unless the kids do something like punch it, in which case it will act like a solid. We’ve also mixed up a big batch in a tub so the kids could jump in/on it!
At the holidays, make bendable candy cane art.
Give the kids three identical seedlings to keep in the same area, and challenge them to water them with three water sources (tap water, distilled water and tap water that has been boiled in the microwave and then cooled) to see if they have any effect on how well each plant grows.
Head to SciStarter to find thousands of citizen science projects the kids can take part in either in local natural areas, from home, or online.