Kitchen chemistry experiments your kids can try at home
Hands-on activities will help them see the science that’s all around them
By Katy Bowman
Not all science experiments require a sterile lab or expensive technology; sometimes all you need is a curious kid, a clean countertop, and a few household items to turn your kitchen into a discovery zone.
Experimenting with everyday items is a fun way to pass an afternoon — and can help kids make lasting connections between scientific concepts and their real-world applications. Setting up and observing their own experiments, recording their findings, and reflecting on the outcomes helps kids build problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, as well as confidence. And along the way, they can learn amazing lessons about acids, bases, polymers, chemical reactions, the changing states of matter, enzymes, subatomic particles, fermentation, and more.
The goal is to make science accessible — and to empower kids to learn it by doing.
“When they’re given the space to explore, students learn that chemistry is not just a reaction in isolation — that it’s in everything we do, from cooking to playing with toys,” said CTY online science program manager Keli Walls. “They get to see the chemistry that surrounds us every day.”
Since families are spending a little more time in the house these days, we’ve put together three simple experiments that kids can try right now using items you probably already have in your kitchen. Enjoy!
Try these CTY experiments at home:
Like what you’ve learned? Check out CTY’s online Household Chemistry course for kids in grades 3–5, or enroll in one of our nearly two-dozen online science and engineering courses for bright kids in grades 3–12.
