The water cycle is an amazing process that we started to talk about when discussing evaporation a couple of weeks ago. In this simple science activity, children make a model of the water cycle to show the process in action. What is the water cycle? Water on Earth is recycled over and over again; it’s…
A few weeks ago, when we had a brief hot spell, we added water to some sand and left it outside to see what would happen. This activity is a great, easy way to learn about evaporation, the water cycle and changes of state too! Evaporation and the Water Cycle Within 36 hours, the water had…
If we want to grow a plant, we usually do this by planting a seed. The seed is produced by sexual reproduction (two parents), meaning that the egg from one plant and the pollen from another have met and formed a seed, resulting in the plant having qualities from both its parent plants. However, what…
We’ve talked about respiration before when we made bread and used yeast to make the dough rise. Blowing up a balloon with yeast is another very easy experiment to demonstrate respiration in action and is quicker than making bread if you are short of time. What is respiration? Respiration is a chemical reaction which occurs…
Looking at food groups is such a fun thing to do. It gives children a real insight into the types of food they eat, and you can use it as an opportunity for taste testing. For younger children, you can introduce food groups in terms of what they are: There are five basic groups. Then…
Every time we go for a walk at the moment, my children look for dandelions with a full seed head to pick and then blow so they can watch all the tiny parachutes float away in the wind. We started talking about why they fly so well and their purpose. This is also a fun…
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…
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…
Why does food rot? Have you ever noticed that if you leave an apple (or any fruit ) for too long, it starts to rot or decay? This can lead to significant food waste, so it’s important to understand how to store food items to keep them as fresh as possible. Why does food rot?…
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