Do it at home experiments should be full of fun and yet should be able to explain some facts of science to the children. Children love to play with colours and there are a few experiments which are simple yet never cease to fascinate them. Here are some of my favorites.
Making Slime: One of the most popular fun experiments that all kids love doing is ‘Making Slime’. Kids simply love making this gooey sticky bouncy stuff and mind you they don’t mind the mess. There are many recipes for making slime. The procedure is Mix about 25 ml of PVA (Polyvinyl acetate) glue with a solution of Borax in water. The PVA almost immediately turns into a fluffy sticky slime. Food color or dyes can be mixed to give color to the slime. Kids can play around with different colored slimes for example make an egg by flattening a white slime and then putting a yellow slime on top for a yolk. It looks pretty good.
Making Volcano: Another popular experiment is Making Volcanoes. For this you will need two plastic disposable cups one big and one small. Join the two cups at the base. Stick the bigger cup to a plastic tray so that its base is at the top (where the smaller cup is fixed). The smaller cup is used for the actual experiment. Brown colored paper can be used to cover the sides to make it look like a real volcano or use some clay to make it look more real. One tablespoon of Baking powder is put in the cup on the top. Next put a few drops of red ink or red food color. Then fill half of the cup with white vinegar. The mixture starts to fizz and froth. It soon reaches the top and flows down from the sides. Everyone loves to watch the red lava flowing. The volcanoes can be disposed off or the cups can be kept for future use. You can explain to the kids that vinegar is a weak acid and when it comes in contact with baking powder it releases carbon dioxide from the baking powder which is what makes the froth.
Amazing detergent Experiment: You will need a saucer, milk, 3-4 food colors and some detergent for this experiment. Pour some milk into the saucer. Add a drop of different food color on to the milk around the edge of the saucer. Add one drop of detergent in the center of the milk. Whoala! The colors swirl and zoom around the saucer making an interesting pattern. You can explain this by saying that surfaces of all liquids act like a skin or a membrane. This is due to surface tension. When detergent is added, it breaks the surface tension of the milk in one spot causing the milk in the center to move to the outside, taking the colors along with it.
Red cabbage juice Experiment: You will need a red cabbage, Knife, chopping board, a 1 liter plastic bottle, disposable cups,plastic disposable spoons, lemon juice, vinegar, water, Baby shampoo, Baking soda and floor cleaner. First make the cabbage juice by putting finely chopped cabbage into the plastic bottle. Fill it with water and close the lid tightly. Shake the bottle till you get a purple juice. Strain the juice through a strainer and pour in 6 plastic disposable cups so that each one is half filled(make a set for each child). Now ask the kids to pour one liquid in each of the six cups. They should start with vinegar followed by lemon juice, water, baby shampoo, baking soda and floor cleaner in that order. Ask them to stir each of the cups with spoons and observe. The color changes never fail to amaze them. They should have a range of colors in their cups from reddish-pink (vinegar, lemon juice which are acidic) to Purple (Water, Baby shampoo which are neutral), bluish green for baking soda and green for floor cleaner (both Basic). At this point explain to them that all substances are acidic, neutral or basic and that they have two examples of each in front of them. Explain that acids and bases can neutralize each other. You can show them by putting some baking soda in the cup containing vinegar till the cabbage juice turns purple.
These experiments are simple and can be done with the things present at home. They are a good means to educate the children while they think they are having fun.
