Author: Emma Vanstone

Emma is the creative force behind the award winning Science Sparks. It started with a dream of making science accessible to everyone and turned into a website bursting with free, inexpensive and easy science activity ideas for kids.

Age 4 - 6 | Early Years Science | Science Experiments for Kids | Space Experiments | Understanding of the World

Stars, Planets and Moons – Earth’s Orbit Activity
ByEmma Vanstone January 26, 2015February 28, 2025

This week, my 6-year-old has been enthusiastically learning about the solar system and the Earth’s orbit around the sun. However, she has been struggling to understand the difference between stars, planets, and moons. To help her understand, we tried a fun demonstration in the garden. Sun, Moon and Earth Orbit Demonstration First, I made simple…

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Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Design and Technology | Everyday Materials | Forces and Magents | Forces and Motion | Science Experiments for Kids | Scientific Enquiry | Scientific Enquiry | Understanding of the World

How to make a shoebox catapult
ByEmma Vanstone January 23, 2015June 14, 2022

A shoebox catapult is a fun way to learn about elasticity, elastic energy, potential energy and kinetic energy. Children can experiment with different size and shape objects to catapult and with how far they push down the catapult arm. Shoebox catapults are a great activity for practising correct scientific procedures or as a fun engineering project. How…

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Age 4 - 6 | Coding Activities | Coding for Kids | Science Experiments for Kids | Scientific Enquiry

Writing instructions – coding for kids
ByEmma Vanstone January 22, 2015April 5, 2016

First up in our coding for kids series is practice at writing instructions. This is a really simple activity with potentially very funny results. I asked my 7 year old to write me two sets of instructions, one for packing his bag for swimming and one for making his favourite sandwich. He did really well, but…

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Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Early Years Science | Science Experiments for Kids | Scientific Enquiry | Scientific Enquiry

S is for Safety
ByEmma Vanstone January 20, 2015January 21, 2015

I’m super pleased to be joining the A-Z STEM series again today with a post on science experiment safety. Although the experiments and activities on Science Sparks are very unlikely to cause any harm, proper care should be taken at all times, especially when working with very young children or when using a heat source….

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Early Years Science | Pirate Science Experiments | Sensory and Messy Play

Pirate play dough and some measuring
ByEmma Vanstone January 20, 2015September 22, 2019

Play dough is fantastic for improving fine motor skills as well as being brilliant for inspiring lots of creative play. This pirate themed play dough was super easy to make, I used this easy play dough recipe from my lovely friend Anna at the Imagination Tree and then just added a little yellow food colouring and…

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Age 11 - 16 | Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Coding Activities | Scientific Enquiry

Easy Coding Ideas for Kids
ByEmma Vanstone January 19, 2015June 6, 2025

Computer code is everywhere: in electronic games, this website, and tills at the supermarket. Even though you can’t see it, computer code is a huge part of our world, so it is important to introduce children to the key principles of computer science from a young age. The actual concepts involved in computer coding aim…

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Age 4 - 6 | Early Years Science | Science and Maths | Scientific Enquiry | Understanding of the World

P is for Patterns
ByEmma Vanstone January 17, 2015April 29, 2016

Welcome to another post from the A-Z STEM series. Today we’re learning about patterns. What is a pattern? A pattern is a repeating symbol, shape or picture which can be easily repeated many times. The design is often influenced by nature. Can you see the pattern in our beetroot slice? Ideas for making patterns For…

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Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Animals

Food Chains Made Simple
ByEmma Vanstone January 14, 2015May 20, 2026

All living things need food to survive. Food chains are one way to demonstrate how energy is transferred between plants and animals. Food chains show the way in which energy is passed from the sun to plants which are then eaten by animals, who are then eaten by other animals, until you get to the…

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Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Early Years Science | Holiday Science

Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids
ByEmma Vanstone January 11, 2015January 23, 2024

I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day, but I do love theming our science activities, so here are some fun Valentine’s Day Science ideas for you to try. Valentine’s Day Crafts and Activities Make simple, pretty patterns using hearts or flowers. Symmetrical hearts with patterns inside also work well. I love this candy heart…

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Age 4 - 6 | Early Years Science | Pirate Science Experiments | Science and Maths | Sensory and Messy Play

Pirate Treasure Hunt
ByEmma Vanstone January 9, 2015May 23, 2020

We do love a bit of code cracking here at Science Sparks, so couldn’t resist linking codes and secret messages into our pirate themed activities with this pirate treasure hunt. This would also be a great activity for practising using directional language, over, under, above etc. Pirate Treasure Hunt First we made some old looking pirate…

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