Every day is a new discovery!
Every day is chock-full of new discoveries when you are a kindergartner! These hands-on kindergarten science experiments and activities take advantage of kids’ boundless curiosity. They’ll learn about physics, biology, chemistry, and more basic science concepts, gearing them up to become lifelong learners.
1. Make a lava lamp
Help your students make their very own lava lamp using simple household ingredients. Then personalize the lamps by adding a couple of drops of food coloring to each bottle.
Learn more: Science Fun for Everyone
2. Create a tower of ice instantly
Place two water bottles in the freezer for a couple of hours, but don’t let them freeze all the way through. Then, pour some of the water onto a couple of ice cubes perched on top of a ceramic bowl and watch a tower of ice form.
Learn more: Only Passionate Curiosity
3. Make edible glass
Just like real glass, sugar glass is made from tiny opaque grains (of, in this case, sugar) that when molten and allowed to cool transforms into a special kind of substance called an amorphous solid.
Learn more: Go Science Kids
4. Make their hair stand on end
Learn all about the properties of static electricity with these three fun balloon experiments.
Learn more: MEL Chemistry
5. Inflate a balloon without blowing into it
Teach your students the magic of chemical reactions using a plastic bottle, vinegar, and baking soda to inflate a balloon.
Learn more: Hands On Teaching Ideas
6. Move a butterfly’s wings with static electricity
Part art project, part science lesson, all fun! Kids make tissue paper butterflies, then use the static electricity from a balloon to flap the wings.
Learn more: I Heart Crafty Things
7. Use apples to learn what science is all about
This apple investigation is a great way to start. It encourages kids to examine an apple using a variety of techniques to learn its properties. Get a free printable worksheet for this activity at the link.
Learn more: Preschool Play & Learn
8. Paint with salt
OK, kindergartners probably won’t remember the word “hygroscopic,” but they’ll enjoy watching the salt absorb and transfer colors in this neat experiment.
Learn more: A Dab of Glue Will Do
9. Play with “magic” milk
Sometimes science seems like magic! In this case, dish soap breaks down milk fats and causes a colorful swirling reaction that will mesmerize little learners.
Learn more: Natural Beach Living
10. Race balloon rockets
Introduce little ones to the laws of motion with easy-to-make balloon rockets. When the air shoots out one end, the balloons will sail off in the other direction. Whee!
Learn more: Hands On Teaching Ideas
11. Discover how plants breathe
Kids might be surprised when you tell them that trees breathe. This experiment will help prove it’s true.
Learn more: Edventures With Kids
12. Explore the properties of mystery items
Mystery bags are always a hit with kids. Tuck a variety of objects inside, then encourage kids to feel, shake, smell, and explore as they try to determine what the items are without looking.
Learn more: Raising Lifelong Learners
13. Play with fizzing ice cubes
While kinders may not entirely understand the concept of acid-base reactions, they’ll still get a kick out of spraying these baking soda ice cubes with lemon juice and watching them fizz away!
Learn more: The Play-Based Mom
14. Find out what sinks and what floats
Kids learn about the property of buoyancy and get some practice making predictions and recording the results with this easy experiment. All you need is a container of water to get started.
Learn more: Buggy and Buddy
15. Sniff away at scent bottles
Here’s another way to engage the senses. Drop essential oils onto cotton balls, then seal them inside spice bottles. Kids sniff the bottles and try to identify the smell.
Learn more: Things To Share and Remember
16. Play with magnets
Magnet play is one of our favorite kindergarten science activities. Place a variety of items into small bottles, and ask kids which ones they think will be attracted to the magnets. The answers may surprise them!
Learn more: Left Brain Craft Brain
17. Watch colored water walk
Fill three small jars with red, yellow, and blue food coloring and some water. Then place empty jars in between each. Fold paper towel strips and place them in the jars as shown. Kids will be amazed as the paper towels pull the water from full jars to empty ones, mixing and creating new colors!
Learn more: Messy Little Monster
18. Create a tornado in a jar
As you fill in the weather during daily calendar time, you might have a chance to talk about severe storms and tornadoes. Show your students how twisters form with this classic tornado jar experiment.
Learn more: One Little Project/Tornado in a Jar
19. See popcorn kernels dance
Here’s an activity that always feels a bit like magic. Drop an Alka-Seltzer tablet into a glass of water with popcorn kernels, and watch as the bubbles cling to the kernels and make them rise and fall. So cool!
Learn more: Everyday Chaos and Calm
20. Mix up some Oobleck
Perhaps no book leads so perfectly into a science lesson as Dr. Seuss’s Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Just what is oobleck? It’s a non-Newtonian fluid, which looks like a liquid but takes on the properties of a solid when squeezed. Weird, messy … and so much fun!
Learn more: ABCs of Literacy
21. Make it rain with shaving cream
Here’s another neat weather-related science experiment. Make shaving cream “clouds” on top of the water, then drop food coloring in to watch it “rain.”
Learn more: One Little Project/Shaving Cream Rain Clouds
22. Blow up your fingerprints
You don’t need a microscope to look at fingerprints up close! Instead, have each student make a print on a balloon, then blow it up to see the whorls and ridges in detail.
Learn more: The Natural Homeschool
Fun and Free Kindergarten Science Activities for Budding Scientists