20 Summer Science Experiments for Kids

The summer holidays are a great time to get outdoors and try some science experiments and investigations. I’ve chosen some of my favourite summer science experiments to keep the kids busy all holiday long!

Summer Science Experiments

Ice painting

Freeze a sheet of ice and try some ice painting. This is a great activity for learning about melting and properties of materials as you can try placing different types of paper on top of the ice to see which absorb the most paint.

Grow a Grass Head

Create some crazy hair styles with these grass heads from Red Ted Art.

Dig for Dinosaur Eggs

Go digging for dinosaur eggs with Rainy Day Mum.

Make S’mores!

Make S’mores with this easy solar oven.

Make a slushy drink

Sticking with the ice theme, try making your own slushy drinks. What colours can you make?

How to make a sun print

These sun prints are great from Creative Family Fun, what picture would you make? You could try this using different types of paper instead of the coins to see if some let more light through than others.

Giant bubbles

Giant bubbles are ALWAYS fun. Experiment with different types of bubbles mixtures ( try adding cornflour and/or glycerin ) to create the perfect recipe. Children should be able to find rainbows in the bubbles too!

Make a volcano

Can you make a reusable volcano? Volcanos can be a bit messy so perfect for the garden, and we love that you can erupt this one over and over again.

Frozen Jelly

We love the look of this frozen jelly activity from The Imagination Tree. I bet it feels amazing.

Launch a Film Canister Rocket

Try a film canister rocket What happens if you add some extra weight? Can you try them with alka seltzer, baking soda and vinegar and an effervescent vitamin tablet to see which is the best rocket fuel?

Fizzy paint

Make some fizzy paint, it’s a bit on the messy side, but great fun.

Design and build a water wall

Can you construct a colour mixing water wall? Or any kind of water wall?

More summer science ideas

Inspiration Laboratories has some great outdoor science activity ideas. We especially love the scavenger hunt ideas.

How about making these lovely chalk ice paints from Learn-Play-Imagine.

This backyard tightrope walk looks amazing from Kids Activities blog.  Can you try it with different materials of rope? Which are the easiest to traverse?

These Summer Twig Stars from Happy Hooligans are lovely, can you make a giant one?

There are some great Summer Science for Toddlers ideas over on Inspiration Laboratories too!

These sun melted upcycled crayons are brilliant from Mama Smiles.

Try some weather science, a mini water cycle is always fun.

What are your favourite science experiments for Summer?

Even more summer science ideas

These 10 Outdoor Summer Science Ideas includes learning about splatter patterns and painting with syringes.

If a STEM Challenge is more up your street we’ve got plenty of summer STEM challenges too!