If you ask me what my favorite subjects were as a kid, one of my answers would be science. While spending hours memorizing the scientific method and terms may seem a drag, gladly there were experiments kids could safely try at home.
While online learning (school from home) paved the opportunity for kids to explore science in the comfort of their homes, these are experiments you can try anytime.
Let me share 5 of my favorite family-friendly science experiments to get your children engaged every day.
1. Lava Lamp
It’s one of those classic experiments that leaves the kids in a state of awe. The Lava Lamp experiment is sure to captivate not just the children, but the rest of the family.
What you need:
- 1 clean plastic bottle (or more if you want to make more)
- Water
- Vegetable Oil
- Fizzing Tablets
- Food Coloring
What to do:
- Fill the bottle with about 1/4 depending on its size.
- Pour the vegetable oil until the bottle is almost full. Wait until the oil and water separate.
- Pour in drops of your desired food coloring. You should be able to see the food color navigate its way through the oil.
- Break the fizzy tablet in half and drop a part of it into the mixture. Now, simply observe how bubble blobs form.
- You may also shine a flashlight through the bottle while the bubble blobs are forming for a more magical effect.
Oil floats on top of the water because it is a lighter liquid. The food coloring is the same as water, so it passes through the oil to make its way to the water, mixing with it. The tablet, once dissolved, creates carbon dioxide; this gas is lighter than water, so it tends to float on top, taking some of the food coloring with it.

2. Making Slime
The feel of slime on your hand might be gross at first, but nowadays, this is the kind of substance kids are looking for in toy shops. Why not make one at home instead?
What you need:
- Water
- White School Glue
- Food Coloring
- Borax
- 2 bowls
What to do:
- Mix 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of the school glue in one bowl.
- Add a few drops of your desired food coloring to the mixture.
- In the second bowl, mix 1/2 teaspoon of Borax and 1/2 cup of water. Stir until the Borax dissolves.
- Add the contents from the separate bowls together and mix it until the slime forms.
If you want different variations such as a glow-in-the-dark slime, you may use glow-in-the-dark glue. And in case you want it with glitters, then just pour in glitter directly on the mixture.

3. Mini Volcano
It’s quite impressive to watch how volcanoes explode, and this experiment brings a similar thrill that kids would love to repeat over and over again.
What you need:
- 10 ml Dish Soap
- 100 ml Warm Water
- 400 ml White Vinegar
- Food coloring (preferably red, but you can make the volcanic eruption in any color you desire)
- Baking soda with water mixture
- 2 L empty bottles
What to do:
- First, find a place where it’s alright to make a mess or easy to clean the aftermath of this experiment. It IS a volcanic eruption simulation, so it may get pretty messy.
- Mix the dish soap, warm water, white vinegar, and add a few drops of the food coloring.
- Make sure the baking soda and water are mixed thoroughly until there is only liquid. Pour this mixture onto the one with the food coloring quickly.
- Step back and watch the eruption happen. Some prefer to wear goggles to ensure safety or if they want to observe the ‘eruption’ closely.
The chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda creates carbon dioxide. This is similar to when you shake a soda bottle, and it creates an ‘eruption’ once shaken enough. This is because the carbon dioxide tries to escape through the opening, resulting in an eruption.

4. Storm in a Glass
Other than creating a mini-volcano, kids can also simulate a cloud ready to release rain through this experiment.
What you need:
- 1 Large Glass
- Shaving Cream
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Spoon
What to do:
- Fill the glass with 1/2 water.
- Spray shaving cream evenly on top of the water. Make sure the cream is flat.
- Mix 1/2 cup of water with about 10 drops of food coloring in a separate container.
- Gently add the food coloring and water mixture on top of the shaving cream and watch as it ‘rains’.
The shaving cream acts as the ‘cloud’ in this experiment. Once too much water and food coloring mixture is added on top of the cream, it gets too heavy and eventually rains down. The same goes for clouds — they can’t keep holding water and it starts to pour when it gets too heavy.
5. Color-changing Celery
This is also known as capillary action because it introduces to children how the circulatory system works by observing a similar action done by the celery stalks.
What you need:

- Leafy Celery Stalks
- Drinking Glasses or Transparent Jars
- Food Coloring (depending on how many jars you are using)
What to do:
- Fill the glasses or jars with water about half the container’s size and place them where sunlight can reach them.
- Next, put in drops of food coloring into each jar. One color per container.
- Cut celery stalks and put one in each container. Now, observe how the leaves change color with each passing day.
While the result of this experiment might take a few days to observe, you and your children can always go back to check on the progress of the experiment and take note of the changes that are happening.
Easy and simple science experiments in a safe environment
These are fun and cool experiments to try for kids to explore more about science and the world—particularly how different substances react to one another—in the safety of their own homes.
While we are not sure when we will be coming back to school to try these experiments with schoolmates, these activities are safe to execute at home provided children are guided and accompanied by an adult on how to proceed with these.
There are always different ways to learn and have fun, and these experiments are just some of the easy ways to do both.