Fun science experiments for kids at home: Science up your Sleeve *

GIFTED | Flora is nearly at the end of Year Four, or KS2, and a passionate fan of STEM and STEAM fun science experiments for kids.  As you may recall, we recently reviewed a fabulous kids science subscription box from Letterbox Lab, all about Marvellous Mixtures.  She absolutely LOVED this box and has been bugging me enthusiastically enquiring about the next one ever since.  The Easter holidays provided the perfect opportunity to try it out, so here’s how we got on with Science up your Sleeve *.

Letterbox Lab

Letterbox Lab is a series of 12 linked science kits with full instructions and tools (you just need water for some of the experiments).  Online resources and videos accompany every box, plus some suggestions for further experiments and extension activities.  The Explore box (for age 6+) and the Investigate box (for age 8+) both support the UK primary school curricula, and one off boxes start at £11.00 including P&P.

Science up your Sleeve

Science up your Sleeve is the second in the Investigate box series.  This time we had eight different fun science experiments, with a very helpful Messiness star rating at the beginning of each one.  Following on from the success of Marvellous Mixtures, Flora couldn’t wait to get stuck in.  We did the first three experiments inside on one day, and the others outside (so much messiness…) on another day.

• Magic Wand – including fake fur, feathers, 2 x polystyrene balls, 2 x balloons, 2 x glue dots, magic wand, drawing of Meg and Pico, tissue paper, pencil, and scissors from Box 1
• Floating on Air – test tube, 2 x giant sequins 2 x cocktail sticks, some water
• Write with Light – luminous paint, paintbrush, 4 x LED finger lights, the Investigate box
• Magic Milk – milk powder, vinegar, cheesecloth, clothes pegs x 3, spoon, kitchen roll, some water, a bowl, a microwave, a microwave-safe container, an adult (!)
• Disappearing Water – sodium polyacrylate, food colouring, pots x 3, teaspoon, some water, a cup, and petri dish from Box 1
• Vanishing Flame – test tube, citric acid, bicarbonate of soda, tea light, safety gloves, water, heat-resistant bowl, an adult (!) and measuring cylinder + safety goggles from Box 1
• Pico in a Cage – cocktail stick, glue dots, pictures of Pico and a cage, and scissors
• Blooming Flowers – pencil, flower templates, some water, a stopwatch or app, and scissors + petri dish from Box 1
• A 24-page instruction booklet, a safety sheet, and a Science Sorcerer badge.

Magic Wand

Did you ever rub a balloon on your jumper and then hold it over your hair to make your hair stand up?  (Please say I’m not the only one who did this…)  Well, that’s what this experiment was all about.  We had to blow up a balloon, rub it on the fur and then make our hair move and the feathers dance.  Reader, it worked!

Next, Flora had to trace the pictures of Meg and Pico, stick them on the box lid, and charge up the magic wand in the same way.  Her delight in the magic of static electricity, or positive and negative electron charges (similar to magnets) is obvious.  (We also used the balloon and wand to move some polystyrene balls but I forgot to photo those, oops.)

And lastly, she charged up the wand for the last time and held it near a stream of water.  It was quite a challenge to get the right angle for a picture but hopefully, you can see the water bending towards the wand.  Tip: you only need a gentle stream of water 🙂

Floating on Air

This time we had to make the water levitate, which is not as easy as it sounds!  Flora filled a test tube around ¾ full of water and put a sequin on top.  The trick is to flip the test tube (holding the sequin in place) and then carefully take your thumb away.  The water “should” stay in the tube because of the strong air pressure.  She had quite a few goes at this, but her glee when it finally worked was just brilliant to see. 

Write with Light

We had high hopes for this experiment because we’d tried something very similar at Bristol’s fabulous We The Curious exhibition last summer.  (If you’re ever in Bristol, do visit this place, it’s packed full of fun science experiments for kids and adults alike).  Once the two coats of luminous paint on the inside of the lid had dried, it was time to close the curtains and put a white finger torch on.

Can you see her message?  Luminous paint is like a rechargeable battery but it sucks up light rather than electricity and shines it back at you.  We tried all four colours (white, blue, green and red) and concluded that white and blue worked best.

Magic Milk

Next up was a chemistry experiment to turn milk into plastic.  Flora had to mix the milk powder with some water and I heated it up gently to not-quite boiling point in the microwave.  Followed by the smelly bit, pouring the vinegar into the milk.  Spoiler: it was fun but it STANK.

After waiting for it to cool for 20 minutes, Flora poured it over the cheesecloth to strain the liquid away.  She was supposed to squeeze the remaining gunky stuff but decided to award that pleasure to me…  Anyway, the vinegar reacted with the casein protein in the milk and separated it from the whey proteins to leave the curds behind.  NB: it might look like cheese but I honestly wouldn’t recommend eating it.

After I’d duly squeezed the curd-gunk, it was a little dry and hard to play with.  So Flora had the bright idea of adding some more vinegar to make it pliable again before she moulded it into the shape of a heart.  We had to wait for 24 hours for it to dry and then she painted it with her leftover luminous paint.

Disappearing Water

This is a trick I remember seeing on kids TV when I was a child, although I never knew how it was done.  You had three containers, all filled with water, and you had to choose the right one that wouldn’t drench you when you tipped it upside down.  Only now do I know it involves sodium polyacrylate power, which sucks up water and turns it into a gel.

Flora put a teaspoon of sodium polyacrylate into a pot along with some food colouring and then dared me to turn it upside down.  Luckily for her (and Letterbox Lab), the experiment worked and I didn’t end up with blue hair!

Reversing this fun science experiment with just a few extra drops of water magically changed the gel into fluffy fake snow.  This was actually my favourite activity 🙂

Vanishing Flame

One of the experiments in our first box involved mixing bicarbonate of soda and citric acid to make a gas that could blow up a balloon.  This time, Flora dissolved some bicarbonate of soda in water, I lit the tea light, then she added the citric acid.  After which she had to quickly hold it over the tea light…

And that’s how we learned that carbon dioxide is a heavy gas that also sinks in air.  When she held the test tube over the flame, the carbon dioxide pushed the oxygen out of the bowl and put out the fire.  (Fire needs oxygen to burn).

Pico in a Cage

While we were waiting for the Magic Milk to cool down, there was time to make Pico in a Cage.  After cutting out both shapes and sticking them back-to-back with a cocktail stick between them, she spun the image quickly to give the illusion that Pico was inside a cage.  I remember doing this kind of thing at school too – do you?

Blooming Flowers

The last experiment in our box was the one we shared.  We had to cut out flower templates, write some secret messages in the middle, and fold the petals down into the centres.  Then drop them in a petri dish (from Box One) full of water.  The paper reacted to the water in a similar way to the sodium polyacrylate: it swelled up, forcing the petals to open and reveal our messages to each other 🙂

Flora’s flowers took far longer to open up then my two.  Although whether that’s because she folded them down harder or due to the shape and size of the petals, we don’t know.  It was fun though!

Final thoughts

Our favourite fun science experiments were the Write with Light and Blooming Flower activities.  What impressed me most though was when one of the experiments didn’t quite work (Magic Milk), Flora came up with a solution that solved the problem.  I really do have a little engineer/scientist in the making and I couldn’t be prouder.  Just a reminder, everything you need for all the activities is included in the box, with the exception of water, the catalyst for some of the experiments.

We carried out the Investigate Science up your Sleeve activities over the course of two afternoons during the Easter holidays.  Flora had an absolute ball and loved every minute.  Huge thank you to Letterbox Lab for our second Investigate box, we can’t wait for our third box, MagnetoSlime – eeeep, watch this space!

What do you think of this box?  Do you recognise any of these fun science experiments from your school days?  Do you know any kids who’d love to learn more about science by playing with one of these amazing subscription boxes?

* This post features gifted items but all opinions are our own.