Right On, Kids! Teaching

Activity: Balloon Car Racers
These racers work amazingly well. If you have them, you can certainly use stainless steel drinking straws instead of disposable plastic ones (they both work). Make sure you have a variety of lid sizes, since it’s great to change out the tires and see which ones go fastest. (You might use an assortment of milk or juice lids and lids from Pringles cans, for instance. All of them pierce easily with a bamboo skewer.) Build your vehicles and then race them! Full directions and explanation here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Physics.)

Activity: Balloon rockets
Launch a balloon rocket and estimate how far it will travel. Full instructions here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Space.)

Activity: Rubber band cannons
With Pringles cans and single-serve soda or water bottles, kids can make their own cannons, a great way to explore force and energy. The Royal Institution suggests using balled up foil as projectiles, which I recommend also: it can travel a long way but it likely won’t damage anything or anyone. Full directions and explanation here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Physics.)

Activity: Make and analyze moon craters
First, read NASA’s in-depth moon guide for information about the moon’s terrain and how it was formed.
Then simulate the lunar surface by combining layers of flour, sprinkles, and cocoa powder in cake pans. Drop a variety of objects into the surface (from a variety of angles and heights) and examine the ejecta patterns. From examining the crater, what can you tell about the object that made it? Full instructions and video here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Space.)

Activity: Hole punch constellations
To replicate existing constellations, use these templates, perfectly sized to go on the bottom of 5 oz. Dixie cups. You could also use these templates with just a flashlight. Or, to make fantasy constellations of your own, you can try this method, with a hole punch.

With Dixie cup projectors, if you’re getting a double/blurry projection of your constellations, you might want to take the top off your flashlight (so it’s just an exposed bulb).

For hole punch constellations with younger children, consider having a child-friendly, reduced effort hole punch that they can operate themselves, like this one.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Space.)

Activity: Build an anemometer
There are a few different ways to build an anemometer. I prefer this method, but with an alteration. Whereas the video suggests using plasticine, I found the only way to get the skewer to stay in was to use hot glue. Stick the skewer right through, then add a generous amount of hot glue to the top side (around the protruding skewer at the top). This way worked like a charm for me. For instructions and suggestions about how to use your anemometer, go here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Weather and Natural Disasters.)

Activity: Candle and water experiment
Place a tea light in a saucer of water (with a bit of food coloring in it), then cover it with a jar. If you have various sizes of jars, you can have a lot of fun guessing what will happen with bigger or smaller jars, then experimenting to find out if you were right. Video here and a good explanation of how this works here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Mythical Creatures.)

Activity: Color-changing cabbage
This extremely impressive science experiment lets kids explore chemical reactions and indicator solutions. It’s very easy and makes a big impact. Complete info sheet here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Color and Vision.)

Activity: Inflate balloons using yeast
A simple and easy way to watch yeast producing gas. Find the full instructions here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Tiny Things, Part One.)

Activity: Make a quick and healthy bread with yeast
This bread recipe is extremely simple and delicious, and kids will find it easy to help make this.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Tiny Things, Part One.)

Activity: Have a microbial foods tasting party
Consider trying kombucha, kefir, water kefir, pickles, soy sauce, and kimchi. Stacy Michelson’s wonderful Eat This Book [Amazon | Bookshop] has playful illustrated pages on these foods, too, if you’d like a book to go along with the activity.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Tiny Things, Part One.)

Activity: Extract DNA from a strawberry
It’s wild that you can do this at home and that it’s so easy. In the picture to the right, the white clumps in the clear layer of liquid are DNA. Pull it out with a bamboo skewer and pop it on a slide to look at under a microscope. (Or if you don’t have a microscope, simply knowing that you’re extracting DNA is cool enough as it is!) Full instructions here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Tiny Things, Part One.)

Activity: Make ice cream in a bag
It takes some work, but it’s truly delicious and will feel magical to children. This recipe is especially good. I recommend bagging the ice cream but then putting the bag, along with the ice, in a large jar, if you have one. Cover it with a tea towel so that your skin doesn’t get too cold, and then roll it back and forth vigorously for a long while. Eat it straight out the bag if you like! You can go here for a detailed overview of the science involved in this activity.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Touch.)

Activity: Bean Counter Evolution
A really fun and active game to demonstrate evolutionary fitness. All you need are beans, cups, and a variety of kitchen utensils. In this game, each player tries to capture as many beans as possible with their chosen utensil. Keep the game going through multiple rounds to see how natural selection changes the population. (The instructions recommend at least 15 players for this, but I’ve played it successfully with only four.)
(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Evolution and Biomimicry.)

Activity: NOVA Evolution Lab puzzles
This free online game is a fascinating way to explore evolution. Some kindergarteners will be able to play this on their own, but it’s perfect for older kids (and you can play it with younger children if you explain as you go, too).

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Evolution and Biomimicry.)

Activity: Make a wave machine
Although it looks complicated and difficult, this project is easy to put together and satisfying to play with. This activity might help children visualize waves and grasp the idea that sounds are waves. Full instructions here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Sound and Hearing.)

Activity: Make a bee hummer
When you swing this instrument around rapidly, it makes a fascinating buzzing sound. If you’re not hearing a loud buzz — it will be very clear — make sure that no part of the paper is touching the rubber band. Small adjustments will get this working in no time. Full instructions here.

Activity: Make a sound sandwich
Even toddlers can make a thrilling, silly sound with this easy instrument. To make a variety of sounds with this, slide one of the interior straws back and forth. Full instructions here.

Activity: Water-bottle membranophone
With a latex glove, straw, water bottle, paper, and rubber bands, you can create this simple-to-play instrument. (My 5-year-old had no problems playing it.) If you’re not getting sound out of it, try pushing the paper tube up a bit more, so it’s pressed more against the membrane. My children thought this instrument was hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing. Full instructions here. 

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Music and Instruments.)

Activity: Dot paintings
With (plenty of) cotton buds or pencil erasers and acrylic paint, make a dot painting in the style of Kngwarreye.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Art.)

Activity: Matchbox art show
Kids can create their own portable art exhibition on tiny sheets of paper. Wrap the matchbox in paper, too, and give the show a title. Inspired by this.

Activity: Make a tiny bed out of a big matchbox
This is a lovely way to teach some simple sewing. Kids can sew a pillow easily with a whip stitch, and they can fill it with lavender. Blankets can either be hemmed or cut with pinking shears (or simply cut out of felt). These are perfect beds for little animals or halfpenny dolls if you have any. You shouldn’t really need instructions for this, but in case you do, here’s a short video. (I used a wooden matchbox for this activity, but a large matchbox from the grocery store works just as well.)

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Tiny Things, Part Two.)

Activity: Play mancala
There are many ways to play mancala, and you’ll often find people fighting about which rules are either original or the best. Feel free to do your own YouTube search. Here’s one variation. And here’s another. To make your own mancala board, simply cut the top off an egg carton, then glue one end of the top to each side (this creates the points pits). Hot glue works best! You can use anything you like for the beads: glass gems, buttons, polished rocks, pebbles, or any other small item.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Ancient Games and History.)

Activity: Marshmallow and spaghetti structures
A truly great engineering task, despite how simple it seems. You might be tempted to use something other than spaghetti, but don’t! Spaghetti is the perfect material for this (slightly fragile, slightly strong, and very easy to customize by breaking if you want shorter lengths). Wonderful demonstration video here and printed instructions here.

(For more like this, see Teach Kids About Architecture.)