Simple chemistry experiments to try at home. All of these experiments can be done with your children at home using everyday household items. This post has activities for all ages, and I also recommend a few kits for parents who want to try more advanced experiments.
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Chemistry Experiments to Try at Home Using Everyday Materials
What You'll Find on This Page
Most kids LOVE chemistry, and fortunately it’s all around it in our everyday lives! All too often we save chemistry for high school in a formal lab when there is plenty that can be learned earlier in life.
Most of these experiments use items that are already on your shelves at home. The other experiments are easily done following a quick trip to your local grocery store.
How to Learn Chemistry at Home
Simple experiments to try at home using everyday household items.
Sensory play with baking soda and vinegar
Children love the sensory play aspect of a baking soda (bicarbonate of soda for UK readers) and vinegar trays. They are also exploring a basic chemical reaction.  Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) plus vinegar (acetic acid) reacts, resulting in carbon dioxide plus water plus sodium ion plus acetate ion. This can be written as:
Ghost Balloons! Fun Halloween Science for Kids
This fun ghost balloon experiment captures the carbon dioxide that is released when baking soda and vinegar interact.
Growing Salt Crystals - Kids Love This Visual Science Experiment
Salt crystals are easy and fun to grow! You can try using different kinds of salt and different kinds of water (tap water compared to distilled water, for example) to see how the crystals change.
Growing Sugar Crystals: Delicious Science for Kids
Sugar crystals grow the same way salt crystals do - they are just tastier! As with the salt, try doing this with tap water compared to distilled water and brown vs white sugar and compare results.
Science for Littles: Experimenting with gummy candy
This is my children's favorite candy based experiment. Through osmosis, the gummy bear absorbs the water like a sponge, causing it to grow. Try using gummy bears with natural vs artificial flavoring, and see what happens!
Making Pizza with Kids: Pizza Dough Science
The yeast in pizza dough reacts with the warm water and starts breaking down the sugars - both those added and the complex sugars you find in flour, giving off carbon dioxide. This makes the dough rise. We make pizza in such a way that you can watch the reaction happen in water before adding the yeast, water, and sugar solution to the bread. Pretty amazing!
Iodine and Starches Visual Science Experiment for Kids
Iodine solutions are brown, but when they come in contact with starches they turn purple. The reason this works is actually pretty complex - read about it here
Save Lives with this Simple Fire Safety Experiment
This simple experiment demonstrates just how important oxygen is for fires. It's a lesson that can also save lives in the future as children are likely to remember the visual.
Chemistry Experiments: CO2 Balloons & Candle Trick
This is another way to demonstrate that fire needs oxygen. A bit more complicated to set up, but very cool!
Penny Science Experiment
In this experiment, the acid in vinegar helps to remove the copper oxide that makes pennies dull. Try adding salt - you will likely find that it works even better!
5 Easy Dry Ice Experiments Your Kids Will Love
Dry ice is sold in most grocery stores, although you probably have to ask for it. They don't keep it on shelves because it is so cold it can burn bare skin! These experiments require close parental supervision, but they are a cool (pun intended!) way to teach children about sublimation!
Chemistry Kits for More Advanced Experiments
Many chemical experiments can only be done in a lab, but these days there are some very impressive chemistry experiments that work in a home school or home enrichment setting.
I was lucky enough to review review Kiwi Co‘s Chemistry crates a while ago, and they are fantastic! Read the reviews by clicking on the images below.
Kiwi Co Chemistry Crate Reviews
The Happy Atoms kit is fantastic for teaching children molecular modeling.
More Hands On Learning Activities for Kids
Today’s post is Day 4 in a 10 day series. Click on the image below to find more hands on learning activities for kids!
Do you have a favorite chemistry experiment for children that I should add to this list? I would also love to hear of any other chemistry kits that you recommend.
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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.