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Observe, test, be amazed

Experiments

Free, easy and safe science experiments to do at home with things you find in the kitchen. Put on your little scientist’s lab coat!

In the lab

Our experiments

Very easy experiments for little ones and real scientist challenges for 7 to 10 year olds. Pick your age, gather the materials and follow the steps!

Always with an adult. We never taste the mixtures, we work on a tray and we wash our hands at the end.

Ages 4+10 minVery easyFree

The fizzing volcano

A colorful foam eruption with two kitchen ingredients.

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Materials

  • 1 small jar or glass
  • 2 tablespoons of baking soda
  • A little white vinegar (about ½ cup)
  • A few drops of red food coloring
  • 1 drop of dish soap
  • A large tray or baking sheet

Steps

  1. Put the jar in the middle of the tray: that’s your volcano.
  2. Put the baking soda at the bottom of the jar.
  3. Add the food coloring and the drop of dish soap.
  4. With an adult’s help, pour in the vinegar all at once… and step back a little!

Why does it work?

Vinegar and baking soda make a chemical reaction that produces a gas: carbon dioxide. This gas makes thousands of tiny bubbles, and the soap turns them into foam that overflows like lava.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 3+5 minVery easyFree

Rainbow milk

Colors that dance all by themselves in a plate of milk.

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Materials

  • 1 shallow bowl
  • Milk (whole milk is even better)
  • Food coloring in several colors
  • 1 cotton swab
  • A little dish soap

Steps

  1. Pour the milk into the bowl to cover the bottom.
  2. Put a few drops of each color in the middle, without mixing.
  3. Dip the tip of the cotton swab in the dish soap.
  4. Gently place the cotton swab in the center of the milk and watch!

Why does it work?

Milk contains fat. The soap grabs the fat and makes it move very fast. As it moves, it pushes the colors in every direction: it looks like fireworks.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 5+10 minEasyFree

The floating egg

An egg that sinks in one glass and floats in the other. Magic or science?

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Materials

  • 2 tall glasses
  • Tap water
  • 6 tablespoons of salt
  • 2 raw eggs
  • 1 spoon for stirring

Steps

  1. Fill both glasses with water.
  2. In just one glass, add the salt and stir for a long time until it disappears.
  3. Gently place one egg in the glass of plain water: it sinks.
  4. Place the other egg in the salt water: it floats!

Why does it work?

Salt water is heavier than plain water for the same amount: we say it is denser. It pushes the egg up harder, so it floats. That’s why it’s easier to float in the sea.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 3+5 minVery easyFree

The runaway pepper

A magic finger that makes the pepper run away at full speed.

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Materials

  • 1 shallow bowl
  • Water
  • Ground pepper
  • A little liquid soap

Steps

  1. Fill the plate with water.
  2. Sprinkle pepper all over the surface.
  3. Touch the water with your finger: nothing moves.
  4. Put a drop of soap on your finger and touch the middle of the water… the pepper runs away!

Why does it work?

The surface of water is like a very thin, stretched skin. The soap breaks this skin where you touch it, and the rest of the skin pulls the pepper toward the edges.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 4+15 minEasyFree

Flowers that open on water

Paper flowers that open all by themselves when you place them on water.

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Materials

  • Plain paper
  • Colored pencils or markers
  • Scissors (with an adult)
  • 1 large bowl of water

Steps

  1. Draw a flower with 5 or 6 petals and color it.
  2. Cut it out with an adult’s help.
  3. Fold each petal tightly toward the center.
  4. Place the flower on the water and watch: the petals slowly open.

Why does it work?

Paper is made of tiny fibers with little holes. Water gets into these holes and the fibers swell. As they swell, the folds come undone and the flower opens.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 5+15 minEasyFree

The balloon rocket

A rocket that zooms along a string, powered by air.

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Materials

  • 1 balloon
  • 1 straw
  • A long string (3 to 4 meters)
  • Tape
  • 2 chairs

Steps

  1. Thread the string through the straw, then tie each end to a chair, nice and tight.
  2. Blow up the balloon without tying it and pinch the end with your fingers.
  3. With an adult, tape the balloon under the straw.
  4. Count 3, 2, 1… and let go of the balloon!

Why does it work?

Air comes out of one side of the balloon and pushes the balloon the other way. Real rockets work the same way: they push gas downward to rise into the sky.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 7–1020 minMediumFree

The invisible secret message

Write a message nobody can read… until it’s warmed up.

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Materials

  • ½ lemon
  • 1 small bowl
  • 1 cotton swab or a thin paintbrush
  • 1 sheet of white paper
  • 1 hair dryer (used by an adult)

Steps

  1. Squeeze the lemon into the bowl.
  2. Dip the cotton swab in the juice and write your message on the paper.
  3. Let it dry completely: the message becomes invisible.
  4. Ask an adult to heat the paper with the hair dryer, about 10 cm away. The letters turn brown and appear!

Why does it work?

Lemon juice contains sugars and acids. When heated, these substances burn just a tiny bit, long before the paper does, and turn brown. This reaction is called oxidation.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 7–1015 minEasyFree

Homemade lava lamp

Colorful bubbles that rise and fall like in a real lava lamp.

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Materials

  • 1 clear plastic bottle or a large jar
  • Vegetable oil (about ¾ of the bottle)
  • Water (¼ of the bottle)
  • Food coloring
  • 1 effervescent tablet (like vitamin C)

Steps

  1. Pour the water into the bottle, then add a few drops of food coloring.
  2. Gently fill the rest with oil. Wait until the oil stays on top.
  3. Break the tablet into 4 pieces.
  4. Drop one piece into the bottle and watch the colorful bubbles rise and fall. Add another piece when it stops.

Why does it work?

Water and oil don’t mix, and the heavier water stays at the bottom. The tablet makes gas bubbles that carry drops of colored water upward. At the top, the gas escapes, and the drop of water, heavy again, falls back down.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 8–1030 minChallengeFree

A rainbow in a glass

Stack five colors of sugar water without them mixing.

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Materials

  • 5 glasses
  • 1 tall, narrow clear glass
  • Sugar
  • Lukewarm water
  • Food coloring (red, yellow, green, blue, purple)
  • 1 tablespoon and 1 needle-free syringe or a dropper

Steps

  1. Put 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 spoonfuls of sugar into the 5 glasses.
  2. Add 3 spoonfuls of lukewarm water to each glass and stir until the sugar disappears.
  3. Color each glass a different color.
  4. Pour the sweetest glass into the bottom of the tall glass. Then, very slowly, add the others from sweetest to least sweet, letting the liquid run over the back of a spoon.

Why does it work?

The more sugar in the water, the denser it is, meaning heavier for its size. The heaviest layers stay at the bottom, the lightest float on top. If you pour gently, they don’t mix.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 7–1020 minEasyFree

The hidden colors in markers

Discover that the black color of a marker hides lots of other colors.

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Materials

  • White coffee filters (or paper towel)
  • Washable markers, including a black one and a brown one
  • 1 glass with a little water at the bottom
  • 1 pencil and some tape

Steps

  1. Cut a strip of coffee filter about 2 cm wide.
  2. 3 cm from the bottom, make a big dot with the black marker.
  3. Tape the strip to the pencil and lay the pencil across the glass: the bottom of the strip touches the water, but not the dot.
  4. Watch for 10 minutes: the water rises and separates the colors!

Why does it work?

Black ink is a mixture of several colors. As it rises through the paper, the water carries each color farther or less far, depending on its size and how much it sticks to the paper. Scientists call this chromatography.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 8–1020 minMediumFree

Make your own compass

A needle, a magnet and a cork to find north like an explorer.

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Materials

  • 1 sewing needle (handled with an adult)
  • 1 fridge magnet
  • 1 slice of cork
  • 1 bowl of water
  • 1 real compass or an app to check (optional)

Steps

  1. With an adult, rub the needle on the magnet 30 times, always in the same direction.
  2. Carefully place the needle on the slice of cork.
  3. Float the cork in the middle of the bowl of water, away from metal objects.
  4. Wait: the needle turns and stops pointing north!

Why does it work?

The Earth is like a giant magnet. By rubbing the needle, you turned it into a little magnet. On the water, it can turn freely, and it lines up with the Earth’s magnetic field, toward the north.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Ages 7–1010 minEasyFree

The balloon that blows itself up

Blow up a balloon without blowing into it, just with chemistry.

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Materials

  • 1 small empty plastic bottle
  • 1 balloon
  • 1 funnel
  • 2 teaspoons of baking soda
  • White vinegar (about 3 cm at the bottom of the bottle)

Steps

  1. Pour the vinegar into the bottle.
  2. Using the funnel, put the baking soda into the balloon.
  3. Stretch the opening of the balloon over the neck of the bottle, without letting the powder fall in.
  4. Lift the balloon so the baking soda falls into the vinegar… and watch it inflate!

Why does it work?

Just like the volcano, vinegar and baking soda make a gas, carbon dioxide. This gas takes up a lot of space: it can’t get out of the bottle, so it blows up the balloon.

Well done, little scientist! ✿

Keep the adventure going

The other worlds

Read, dream, imagine Stories Colorful tales and adventures to read together, at bedtime or snack time. Read the stories Give, play, keep Shop Books, creative kits and little Ananapop treasures to keep the magic going at home. Visit the shop
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