Preschool Science Experiment




We read The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School, which is about a third grade student's science experiment gone wild.  It's a great rhyming book about how she orders a science fair project from the internet.  After it arrives, it begins to eat everyone, even the cat.  It follows her to school where it eats the teacher.  Finally remembering the instructions that came with it, the girl feeds it sugar to make it swell and then disintegrate, although there's a big mess left behind.  Luckily, everyone is recovered, including the cat.  I wouldn't normally think of this as a book for preschoolers, but my 3 year old has asked for it over and over again.



After we read it, I started thinking about that elephant toothpaste experiment that has been floating around lately.  But I didn't have the supplies and I also didn't want to spend the entire time yelling at the kids not to touch it because of the hydrogen peroxide.  The only thing I could think of that I had on hand for a fun experiment was vinegar and baking soda.  I googled it, convinced that somebody had improved on this in some way and sure enough, Amanda at Not Just Cute jazzed it up with some food coloring.

I started by dropping food coloring into baby food jars.


I dumped some baking soda on top.  I didn't measure.


Then I gave the kids medicine droppers and those plastic medicine syringes and cups of vinegar and they went to town.


All the fizzing and foaming was a HUGE hit with Drew.  Not so much with Lainey, mostly because I disrespectfully ignored her exclusive relationship with red and gave her other colors in addition to the red.


When he finished the ones I had given him, Drew started mixing the colors and dumping them together.


Then I gave him more baking soda and more vinegar and let him mix his own.


He kept saying, "I never did this before!" (which means it was a good thing).

Anybody have any other fun and easy science experiments for preschoolers?
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16 comments:

  1. There's an experiment on my blog with candles that my kindergartners really loved! You would need to supervise the burning candle, though, of course!
    http://heidisongs.blogspot.com/2012/01/experiment-with-candles-and-lessons.html.

    Here is a fun one with magnets:
    http://heidisongs.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-science-center-marvelous.html

    Here's another on exploring shadows:
    http://heidisongs.blogspot.com/2011/12/candy-cane-project-and-printable.html

    Also, the Science Sparks Preschool blog is a really great one for preschool science!!!
    http://www.science-sparks.com/author/sciencesparks/

    Heidi Butkus
    http://www.heidisongs.com

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  2. How sweet! Joel says the same thing. Pinning this.

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  3. My son had an exclusive relationship with green for a long time like your daughter with red!

    My kids love a variation on this, where we start with baking soda on trays and add vinegar slowly - you can see our photos from it here: http://mamasmiles.com/sensory-play-with-baking-soda-and-vinegar/

    Thanks for sharing this post with Learning Laboratory at Mama Smiles =)

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  4. Another fun, very visual experiment for kids: http://mamasmiles.com/iodine-and-starches-learning-laboratory/
    A fun look at weather:
    http://mamasmiles.com/weather-around-the-world/
    And if you can get your hands on a laser pointer (they are much less expensive than I thought - under $10):
    http://mamasmiles.com/green-laser-lollipop-learning-laboratory/

    We've also done microwaved soap (have to use whipped soap, like Ivory brand) and cleaning pennies with different solutions, but there are a million posts on that across the internet.

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  5. Looks like they had a blast! I'm definitely going to look into that book. It sounds great.

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  6. This looks like a lot of fun! We haven't tried any kind of "science" experiments in our house but this seems simple and pretty much contained. I like it! I think my 3-year-old would really enjoy this too :o)
    -Sarah @ Repeat Crafter Me

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  7. Ooh, that's definitely a fun preschool experiment. I love vinegar and baking soda. I still find it amazing.:)

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  8. I always love baking soda and vinegar play! Try mixing together other things in your kitchen. http://inspirationlaboratories.com/2011/12/kitchen-chemistry/

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  9. I need to do this with my 4-year old this week... so easy and he would absolutely love it! Thanks!

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  10. Such a fun idea. My son would love this!
    I would love it if you would stop by and share at my Monday link party.
    http://linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com/2012/03/cure-for-common-monday-32.html

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  11. Super cute... we did the same thing this week, but made play-dough volcanoes around a film canister base. They always LOVE playing with vinegar and baking soda!

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  12. ANY "explosions" with my kiddos are always a big hit! Awesome fun!

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  13. This looks like such fun! JDaniel would want to do it over and over again.

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  14. They must have had a blast! I love the droppers! Just signed up to follow you. :)
    Andrea
    www.nodoubtlearning.blogspot.com

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  15. This looks cool. I just scored some of those medicine syringes (non-needle kind) at a materials-exchange store. Didn't know exactly how I was going to use them with my son (besides maybe as bathtub toys, which actually turned out to be not the best idea:) But now I know what to do! Thanks for the idea! Cool blog!

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  16. As a science teacher, I often find great ideas on www.experiland.com for my students. They have some really fun science experiments for kids to do at home as well and come highly recommended by other homeschooling sites! Their experiments are well laid out and easy to follow...Good luck!

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