Nothing gets your students more excited than getting to do some hands-on science activities! Simple science experiments are a fantastic way to engage your learners and get them to really understand the concepts you're teaching.
Here are 27 fun videos and video series for kids from some of the best science channels on YouTube of amazing experiments you can do with materials you can get in the grocery store.
1. Skittles
Explore diffusion with this fun and colorful experiment using only Skittles, a plate, and warm water. Students will enjoy repeating the experiment over and over, creating different patterns each time. For extra excitement, try spinning the plate at the end!
2. Cloud in a jar
This fantastic instructional science video shows how to create a cloud in a jar. Science content about condensation is perfect for a weather topic and is a great way to teach students about how clouds are formed.
3. Walking water
Learn about how plants get water from the ground using capillary action with this colorful project. Your students will be amazed as they create their very own rainbow with only water, paper towels, and food coloring. Ryan's World has amazing videos for kids, with lots of fun kitchen science learning with some of the coolest science experiments.
4. Ice Fishing
Leave your students confused as you ask them to lift an ice cube with only a piece of string, then amazed when you show them how! This video is one of many educational science videos on this great channel that teaches the basics of science.
5. Newtons Disc
This well-known physics experiment was first created by Isaac Newton and will show your students that white light is a combination of the seven colours of the rainbow. All you will need is card, string, glue and colouring pens.
6. Colour Spinner
This activity is a great follow up to the Newtons Disc experiment and shows how different colours can blend together. This activity can entertain your students for hours as they create and blend different colour combinations.
7. Oobleck
This non-Newtonian fluid can be picked up and made into a ball, but then will turn to goo again if left on your hand. Students absolutely love anything a bit messy and slimy so this is one of the most exciting hands-on science experiments for them!
8. Rainbow water
Making a rainbow in a jar is cool, colorful and a simple fun, hands-on experiment for your students. This experiment using only water, food coloring, and sugar teachers students about the popular science concept of density.
9. Lemon Volcano
The traditional vinegar and baking soda volcano have been done so many times now, that it's time for a new take on this classic classroom experiment. The lemon volcano not only smells much better than its vinegar counterpart, but it's also much more colourful and fun!
10. Marbled milk paper
In this experiment, students can bring science to life as they see how dish soap reacts to bind to the fat molecules in the milk and pushes the food colouring around the plate in the process. This activity is great as a stand-alone, but can also be turned into an art lesson if you take prints of the colour patterns using paper.
11. Dancing rice
Give your students a chance to make as much noise as they can and they'll take it! This cool experiment will show your students how sound travels using a bowl, some cling wrap and some everyday ingredients you'll have in your kitchen cabinets.
12. See Sound
If you are doing a topic on the senses or on how sound travels these four experiments are a must. Set them up as stations in your class and let them explore all the different ways to see sound moving with their own eyes!
13. Chromatography
This cool and colorful experiment is sure to catch your students' attention. For this, you can get special chromatography paper, but coffee filter paper also works well, as do kitchen paper towels.
14. Chromatography Flowers & Butterflies
Let your students test out different pens in the classroom to discover all the different colors that are really there, whilst making some beautiful artwork for you to display! The only extras you need are pipe cleaners to make stems for your flowers or antennae for your butterflies.
15. Fizzy Moon Rocks
These fun, melting rocks are a great science experiment to add to your planner for your outer space or moon science topic. Students will love getting their hands stuck in and making the rocks, then dripping the vinegar over and watching them fizz away!
16. Rainbow Rain
Teach your students about our weather in the most colourful way with this amazing rainbow rain experiment. This is a really exciting way to engage your students as you teach them about how rain is formed and when and why it falls.
17. Moon Craters
This practical experiment helps students to understand how the well-known craters we can see on our moon were formed. Students can take their time to test different sized meteors and explore if the force of impact makes a difference to the size, depth or shape of the craters.
18. Lava Lamp
Let your students create their very own lava lamp in this cool experiment which you can use to teach about density and/or chemical reactions. As the baking soda reacts with the vinegar, it creates a gas that lifts the food colouring to the top of the glass.
19. Alka-Seltzer Lava Lamp
In this variation of the lava lamp experiment, there is a different procedure that you could use to test your student comprehension. From what they learned in the previous lava lamp experiment, can they predict what will happen this time? What will react and when?
20. Repel Germs
Teach your students how effective hand washing is in fighting off germs with this super simple and quick experiment, all with things that will probably be in your staff room! All you'll need is a plate, some water, pepper and some soap or dish soap.
21. Colourful Celery
Students will love setting up and coming back to check on this cool experiment to show how plants transport water through capillaries. Make sure you cut into your celery afterwards to see each capillary dyed by the food colouring and try on different kinds of plants!
22. Homemade Petri Dishes
This simple how-to will show your students how to make their own Petri dishes ready to grow bacteria cultures and really see science in action. Students can set up a simple science lab and will love coming back every day to check if anything is growing.
23. Bread Bacteria
Growing bacteria on bread is a fantastic way to teach your students about how bacteria grow and how important handwashing is in food preparation. All you need are a few slices of bread and some airtight bags or jars. Students will be completely disgusted by what grows!
24. Instant Ice
Magic trick or science experiment? Your students will absolutely love this incredible experiment. When water is supercooled even the slightest disruption can cause ice crystals to form, instantly changing the liquid to a solid!
25. Invisible Ink
This experiment demonstrates a chemical reaction as the lemon juice reacts with different substances to reveal hidden messages. The excitement of writing secret messages to each other and then revealing them will have your students bursting with excitement.
26. Bottle Rocket
Students love decorating their rockets then watching them take off into the air! This exciting take on the chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda is sure to be the talk of the playground!
27. Water Fountain
This pressure-powered water fountain is simple to make and you probably already have most of the materials you need. Encourage your students to get creative with potential uses for your electricity-free water fountain!
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