Easy Science Experiments for Primary School Students

Science experiments are the most fun when they are easy, require minimal adult assistance, and can be done without many supplies. Check out the following easy science experiments that may leave you stunned with their outcomes.

What makes a great penny cleaner?

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We’ve most often heard taco sauce makes a great cleaning agent for old pennies. Is that true? Let’s find out what makes the bets penny cleaner.

Process

• Place three coins on three plates.
• Cover each penny with each of these mixtures: tomato paste + vinegar, salt + vinegar, and tomato paste + salt. Let the mix sit on the coins for five minutes.
• Rinse the pennies under running water and you can find out who’s the clear winner! Is it the mix of vinegar and salt?

How hard and sturdy are egg shells?

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We’ve often observed egg shells cracking even when touched lightly. Conduct this easy science experiment to find out how fragile or hard egg shells really are.

Process

• Spread a sheet of plastic before doing the experiment because it may turn messy; a couple of eggs are bound to crack!
• Place two cartons of eggs next to each other. Make sure all the eggs are kept round side up (not the pointy side up) and there are no breaks or fractures in any of the eggshells. Replace the defective ones before you begin the experiment.
• Remove your socks and shoes. Hold on to a friend and try to step up onto the first carton of eggs with a foot. The trick is to make your foot as flat as possible so that your weight is evenly distributed across the tops of the eggs.
• When you’ve positioned your foot well, try to shift all your weight on the egg-leg and slowly bring on your other foot on the other carton of eggs. Don’t fret if you hear cracking sounds from the egg cartons. Instead concentrate on balancing on the cartons.
• So aren’t egg shells stronger than we imagine?

What happens when vinegar and baking soda mix?

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Vinegar and baking soda are two commonly used ingredients in the kitchen. What happens when the two are mixed? Let’s find out.

Process

• Fill up a bottle till half with vinegar.
• Fold two tablespoons of baking soda in a tissue paper and dump it into the bottle. They key is to put all the baking soda together into the vinegar at a time. You can explore the idea of using a funnel to pour the baking soda too into the vinegar.
• Stand back and watch what happens! Do you notice an erupting volcano? Baking soda and vinegar, two very easily available ingredients, reacted to form the volcano.

Science Backed Reasons to Get Out and Stay Out

I have waxed ad nauseum about all the reasons why PLAY is so essential to your children. I don’t just mean the power of playing games on your phone or playing with Lego. I mean the actual physical act of going outside and letting the wind run through your hair. I know a friend who went to teach English abroad and how she was so shocked to see how the emphasis of education is only on the pure sciences and play time was seen as a waste of time. While play time gives you great life skills, there are a few scientific benefits to it that will make anyone change their mind about going out and playing. Apart from better physical fitness and co-ordination, here is a list of just a few of these great benefits.

Enhanced Resistance to Disease –

This New York Times article has mentioned the evolutionary reasons for kids putting dirt in their mouths or just a natural attraction for soaking their feet in sand. The otherwise “gross” things in the outdoors help improve your immunity.

Better Vision –

This study from the Ohio State University College of Optometry says that 14 hours of natural light every week promotes better vision.

Less Stress –

There have been over a 100 research studies on the role of play in reducing stress and the connection between physical activity and positive psychological responses to them.

More Vitamin D –

While there are food supplements that help you with this, there isn’t enough of this nutrient that can be derived from edibles. 80-90% of our vitamin D source is the sun. No points for guessing what happens if you’re indoors all the time.

Improved Attention Spans –

There are studies done by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that has suggested that even kids with ADHD show reduced symptoms due to outdoor activities. Some studies have shown that your attention span can improve by at least 20% by spending just an hour in nature.

Mathematician of the Month – Pythagoras

Mr. P was born in a Greek island called Samos and despite the great views; he was more interested in Philosophy and Mathematics. He was also an expert in Astronomy, Religion and Music and wanted nothing more than to share his brilliant ideas with the world. Unfortunately, most people didn’t understand what he was saying and didn’t humor his grand thoughts. Eventually he paid a young boy to listen to him and soon he had created enough interest to start a school and recruit 300 pupils.

He was the most entertaining teacher of the time. He would hide behind a curtain and wait for his class to settle down. He would then jump out and yell the problem at the class and then go back into hiding. After a few minutes, he would jump back out and announce the answer – much to the amusement and confusion of his students.

Pythagoras is known for two major theorems. One is about whole numbers and the other about right angled triangles. They say that he stole the theorem from someone else (even the Egyptians say they knew of the theory) but he was the first one to be able to prove it. To celebrate, he sacrificed 100 cows only to find out that his second theorem disproves the first one. He covered up his mistake but his student leaked the information and was murdered for it.

The secret brotherhood of the Pythogorean School was being viewed suspiciously by the people. It came across as a dodgy sect. When people learnt of the student’s murder, the public rioted and set fire to the school when the members and Mr. P were still locked inside. Despite the horrible way in which he had to go, Pythagoras’s theorem is still being taught at school 2500 odd years later!

Outdoor Science Experiments Perfect for Summer

Rainbows peeping between two baubles of clouds, bright, wild flowers adding a splash of colors to the backyard, slushy strawberry sauces dripping from tall glasses of vanilla ice cream – that pretty much sums up summers! It’s the ideal time to set up science work stations outdoors and experiment with the wonders of summers! Carry out these fun science experiments and amidst the warmth of summer, in your backyard, garden, community park, or elsewhere!

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Homemade water sprinkler

Summers are synonymous with cool drinks but it’s not very cool to dispose off the plastics in which the drinks come, so we’ve devised this fun science experiment with the not-so-cool plastic bottles.

You will need:

• A plastic soda bottle
• Pins
• Water

Directions

• Head out, it’s summer.
• Fill the plastic bottle with water and screw on the cap.
• Using a pin, make 5 evenly spaced holes on the side of the bottle, towards the bottom.
• Run your finger along the streams of water that are gushing from the bottle.
• Do you notice the five streams forming one wider stream? What forms when you run your fingers through the stream of water is called cohesion. The water molecules get stuck to each other and form one single stream while oozing out from the bottle.

DIY rock candy

How about spending the idle summer holidays doing something that you would not just like to see but eat too! Head out to make a rock candy because it may get messy indoors!

You will need:

• Cane sugar
• Drinking water
• Mason jar
• Pencil string

Directions

• Fill the mason jar with water.
• Add 3 cups of cane sugar to the water and stir well.
• Place the sugar solution in the microwave and heat on high for two minutes.
• Use oven gloves to remove the mason jar from the microwave and stir another time.
• Place it back in the microwave and heat for another two minutes. Remove again and stir.
• Tie a length of string to a chopstick and gently dip it into the mixture. Pull out the string gently again and allow it to dry.
• Once dry, dip the string again into the mixture and then allow it a week’s time to dry.
• Your rock candy will be ready in a week’s time!
• You created a super saturated solution when you heated the water-sugar solution in the microwave. When you dipped a string into the solution, the sugar granules crystallized and formed a rock candy!

DIY vanilla ice cream

What’s summer without a scoop of our favorite vanilla ice cream? Make ice cream while you’re out running after the butterflies in your backyard and enjoying the summer!

You will need:

• Two sandwich bags, one bigger than the other
• A cup of full cream
• Half a cup of milk
• A teaspoon of vanilla essence
• One fourth a cup of sugar
• 3 cups full of ice cubes
• 3 cups salt

Directions

• Mix the cream, milk, vanilla essence, and sugar in the smaller sandwich bag. Seal it well.
• Slip in the smaller bag into the larger and fill up the larger sandwich bag with the ice cubes and salt.
• Seal the larger bag (with the smaller bag intact) and head out to enjoy the summers. Just make sure you keep shaking the bags for a good five minutes.
• Come back in and carefully take out the small bag from the large one and pour its contents in a bowl.
• Don’t you have a bowl gooey vanilla ice cream in front of you!