Experimental suggestions for five year olds

[hairyhippy]

Our two like doing "experiments". I'm rapidly running out of ideas.

Any suggestions?

[gordon taylor]

Make recycled paper from old newspapers - soak, mash, squash flat, dry.
Make "ink" from ground-up burnt sticks.
Make quills from any feathers you can find.
Make modelling dough from flour, salt, water and food colouring.
Dig through the stuff at the bottom of the compost heap to count beasties - avoid anything with ants, though.
Make a "phone" from two tin cans and string.
Do stuff with magnets and iron filings.
Make a compass with a magnetised needle stuck into a floating cork.
Make balloon-powered cable cars - a balloon released to run along under a tight string somehow.
Lots of musical instruments... bang, twang, ping.
There's a clever kite design somewhere, made from just one sheet of A4 paper and two bamboo skewers. It flies beautifully.
Burn things with a magnifying glass and the sun.
Make a sundial in the garden.
Make biscuits..

Have glorious fun. 

[rr]

Cromotogaphy with felt pens and kitchen paper.

[Dave]

Water rockets (well, they can watch you having fun with water rockets...)
Stuff with 1p coins (pre Sep '92 not magnetic, post Sep '92 magnetic)

Do a search for 'KS1 science', should throw up loads of ideas...

[hellymedic]

Change the colour of anthocyanins in blackcurrant foods by adding acids like lemon juice or alkalis like soda.

Don't do anything involving blackcurrants in pale new clothes.

(I just watch the milk go blue round my Dorset Cereals 'Berries and Cherries' muesli...)

See if you can beg, borrow or steal those Ladybird books like 'Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries'.

[clarion]

What a great list, Gordy!

There's a clever kite design somewhere, made from just one sheet of A4 paper and two bamboo skewers. It flies beautifully.

Here's a (pdf) linky.  Sled kites are dead simple to make, and absolutely foolproof.  I used to do them with kids at Youth Clubs - you can have fun decorating them too, or attaching tails.

Best materials are a carrier bag/binbag and a couple of green garden canes.  Insulating tape and a kite line are helpful.

[Dave]

Change the colour of anthocyanins in blackcurrant foods by adding acids like lemon juice or alkalis like soda.

Good call. Red cabbage indicator also works a treat.

Other suggestions here

[hellymedic]

Change the colour of anthocyanins in blackcurrant foods by adding acids like lemon juice or alkalis like soda.

Good call. Red cabbage indicator also works a treat.

Other suggestions here

Oooh! I learnt why my Indian takeaway residue (yellow, presumably turmeric) goes red when I squirt Sainsbury's Kitchen Cleaner at it. Thanks!

[Dave]

No worries 

When they get a bit older, set them the task of demonstrating that the Earth is a sphere (OK, 'oblate spheroid').

[rae]

Crush a can.  5 litre metal thinners can, toss some hot water in, shake it about to get it hot, tip the water out, seal up the can.   Can proceeds to implode noisily over a 5 minute period. 

Small child is amazed.  What did it daddy?

[rogerzilla]

It's more effective if you put a little water in it, steam it out over a Camping Gaz stove and then take it off the heat and screw the cap down (with a rag to insulate your hands).  Pour cold water on for a more spectacular effect.  Maybe a little dangerous for younger kids.

[vince]

Is it bicarbonate of soda and vinegar that you combine to make volcanos? Add a bit of food colouring for extra effect.

An old bicycle pump, pop bottle blu-tac and water to make a rocket - they could make some stabiliser fins to keep them occupied a bit longer.

[agagisgroovy]

Coke bottle rockets are fantastic - fill them with a carbonated drink for extra power (I think that bottle is still on the roof of that barn in Dumfries  ) Volcanoes are also quite good - or just do it in a glass and then use the CO2 produced to snuff out a candle or match.

Hold a paper 'snake' over a heat source and demonstrate how hot air rises - you can also do this with cold water coloured blue, and warm water coloured red.

Hold tissue paper over a torch - see how using different colours can filter light out. 

[little miss mac]

Drop a mento into a bottle of diet coke.

Make sure you have taken in the washing first.

[Karen Sutton]

Have a look here for some good ideas

Kitchen Science - Flubber and more

[Dave]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hKoB0MHVBvM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/hKoB0MHVBvM&rel=1</a>.

Make sure you have taken in the washing first.

There's a lot of experimenting you can do with this one - type of mint, type of pop (does it have to be diet?) and so on...

And even if you don't experiment, it's spectacular fun

[fruitcake]

* Hang a line of CDs on some string in the window.  Strong sunlight reflects a rainbow into the room.

* Make jelly of varying strengths.  If they can describe the differences, they can eat it. 

* Tell them they're going to see something magic.  Place some water in a glass bowl outside.  Record the water level with sticky tape.  Check the level in the evening.  There are no holes in the bowl so where did the water go?  Repeat on different days.  Does the level go down further when it's sunny/windy?

* Make coloured dyes from different crushed fruits, teas, coffee. Use salt in the dye as a fixative.   Dye some pieces of cloth, three of each colour.  Store some of them on the window sill, wash some, put some in a drawer (as a control).  What happens to the colours?

[Pancho]

No worries 

When they get a bit older, set them the task of demonstrating that the Earth is a sphere (OK, 'oblate spheroid').

How do you do that then? Short of sending them to measure the shadows of sticks in distant lands?

[Dave]

No worries 

When they get a bit older, set them the task of demonstrating that the Earth is a sphere (OK, 'oblate spheroid').

How do you do that then? Short of sending them to measure the shadows of sticks in distant lands?

Exactly. Everybody knows the Earth is a sphere, but it's actually pretty hard to easily demonstrate it. You could go for the watching a tall ship sail over the horizon - it doesn't just get smaller, the hull disappears from view before the top of the mast...

[agagisgroovy]

* Tell them they're going to see something magic.  Place some water in a glass bowl outside.  Record the water level with sticky tape.  Check the level in the evening.  There are no holes in the bowl so where did the water go?  Repeat on different days.  Does the level go down further when it's sunny/windy?

Today there would be a significant increase....