8 scientific experiments you can try with your children

One of the great things about children is that they constantly discover, research, or simply take interest in the things around them. There is a great way to encourage their natural curiosity: you can try out some simple “scientific experiments” with them. In addition to having a lot of fun together, you will also wake up the little "researcher" that sleeps within every child.‍

Here we have collected 8 interesting scientific experiments that are safe for both you and your child to perform at home together. Handily, you will only need things that are usually to be found in every household. 

#1 Coloured milk

You will need:

• a plate
• cotton buds
• a glass of milk
• dishwashing detergent
• food colouring
  

Pour the milk into the plate and add a few drops of food colouring. Following this, simply soak a cotton bud in detergent and then dip it into the plate of coloured milk. Watch what happens: the colouring starts to swirl in the plate and “run away” from the cotton bud. 

#2 Coloured volcano

You will need:

• dishwashing detergent
• a glass
• food colouring
• baking soda
• vinegar
  

Fill the glass to about 1/3 full with vinegar. Add one teaspoon of detergent and a pinch of food colouring. Stir the mixture, and then add about one tablespoon of baking soda. Stir again and watch the “coloured lava” pouring out of the glass. 

#3 Blowing up balloons

You will need:

• vinegar
• baking soda
• a bottle
• a balloon
  

Fill the bottle to about 1/5 with vinegar. Pour a little baking soda into the balloon and then carefully pull the neck of the balloon over the neck of the vinegar bottle, taking care to keep the baking soda in the body of the balloon. Once it is firmly attached, lightly pinch the body of the balloon and raise it above the bottle, allowing the baking soda to drop through the bottleneck into the vinegar. Almost immediately, the mixture will begin to foam, and due to the gas that is produced in the reaction, you will be able to watch the balloon inflate itself. 

#4 Dancing bubbles

You will need:

• a glass
• water
• oil 
• an effervescent tablet (e.g. vitamin C or magnesium)
• food colouring
  

Fill the cup to 2/3 full with oil and top it up with water. Then add the colouring and the effervescent tablet. Together with your child you will be able to watch a beautiful colour show in the cup. 

#5 Rainbow in a glass

You will need:

• 4 glasses of water
• a bigger glass
• food colouring
• sugar
• a straw
  

This experiment is more challenging, but the result is definitely worth it. Fill all 4 glasses to roughly halfway with water and add a different colour to each. You will then need to carefully add granulated sugar to each of them, in a slightly different ratio for each. Add 2 tablespoons to the first, 4 tablespoons to the second, 6 tablespoons to the third and 8 tablespoons of sugar to the last. Stir each mixture thoroughly. Then pour the one with the most sugar into the big glass and start adding the others in descending order of sugar content carefully, either with a straw or, even easier, with a pipette. When this is done with great care (a fact that must be emphasised to the child), the 4 liquids should remain separate- The bottom having the highest sugar content, all the way up to the top, which will be the solution with the lowest sugar content (i.e. with the lowest density). This will create a beautiful rainbow in the glass, as the individual layers will be optically separated due to their different densities. 

#6 Homemade tornado

You will need:

• a glass of water
• detergent
• a metal straw
• glitter
  

Don’t be afraid of this tornado, it’s absolutely safe and you can make it at home in a glass. How? Fill the cup to 2/3 full with water, add one tablespoon of detergent and mix thoroughly. Then add glitter to the glass and stir again (this effect works best when performed with a metal straw). In this way you can easily create a glittering water whirl in the glass.

#7 Oil rain

You will need:

• a glass of oil (cca 200 ml)
• food colouring
• a wooden mixing stick 
• a bigger (see-through) water container
  

Add drops of food colouring into a glass of oil and stir the mixture with a wooden stick. Then pour everything into a larger container with about 400 ml of water. You will see beautiful coloured rainfall in the cup as the different density liquids attempt to separate! 

#8 Crystallised egg

You will need:

• an egg
• liquid glue
• a brush
• jam jar
• warm water
• salt
• food colouring
  

There is a slight disadvantage about this experiment, in that you won’t be able to see the results immediately, but only after a few days - but what a way to teach the value of patience! In any case, it is definitely worth trying. Break the egg in half, and you’ll get 2 halves of the shell. Wash them and dry thoroughly. Then carefully apply liquid glue to both halves from the inside, and pour salt onto the wet glue. Next, prepare a solution in the jam jar: add colouring to warm water and add as much salt to it as will dissolve in the water. Stop pouring salt in only when you see it starting to sit at the base of the jar rather than simply dissolving. Then immerse both halves of the shell in this solution, and leave the uncovered jar somewhere to sit. The water will evaporate in a few days, but left inside the shells you will find beautiful coloured salt crystals.