Curdling is a process by which a liquid is transformed into a soft semi-solid or solid mass. We can see this happen in a straightforward experiment! Milk is made up of proteins, fats, sugar and water. The protein molecules ( mostly casein ) are suspended in the liquid, where they move freely. Milk is a…
Do you know how many feet tall you are ( using your own feet )? This activity is great for preschoolers but could also be extended for older children too. We investigated by drawing around our own feet, cutting them out and then working out how many of our own feet tall we were. If…
It is so annoying when getting to the end of a ketchup bottle, and you have to keep banging to get that last bit out. Why is this? Because ketchup is thick and does not flow as easily as other fluids. We call this resistance to flowing viscosity. The rate at which different fluids flow…
Today we are looking at how we know objects are made from different materials. I gave my children this pile of toys and asked what they thought the toys were made from. These activities are all great to sit alongside a materials topic for Key Stage 1. Sort them! – Materials for Key Stage 1…
Choice chambers are an investigative method used to study animal behaviour and to determine the favoured conditions for a habitat. It is a very simple investigation to set up, and one that kids love as it involves searching for insects and then predicting and watching. The living organisms that we chose to study were woodlice,…
It is always tricky to get children to understand that living things can get eaten by other living things. We have tried very hard to make sure my children know that a chicken in a packet was once a live chicken and that they are food for us. So with that in mind, we decided…
Growing cress is great for a fun, fast, educational gardening project. Cress is inexpensive, easy to grow and a fantastic way to teach children about germination and the conditions needed for healthy plants to grow. We grew our cress caterpillar in an egg box and watered the seeds a little each day. How to grow…
Here at Science Sparks, we love experiments using eggs. Eggs are generally inexpensive and can usually be eaten before or after the activity, so there’s no waste. These are my five favourite Egg Experiments. Five Eggy Experiments Make an eggshell disappear Make an eggshell disappear! This is like magic! Watch the shell of an…
I wanted to get my children thinking about the process of investigation today, so we talked about how we could test whether some structures were stronger than others using DUPLO. They decided to build three different shaped towers and test them by rolling a ball at them. The first is a simple tower, the second…
When I brought out the spaghetti and marshmallows, I think my children thought we were having some kind of weird and wonderful dinner, not building structures. This is a great STEM activity for children of most ages, as you can tailor it to their understanding. I let my 2-year-old build whatever she wanted, and she…
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