My 6 year old has been learning about Traditional Tales recently, so I’ve put together a collection of science experiments that would sit brilliantly alongside this topic.
Fairy Tale and Traditional Tale Science Experiments
Three Billy Goats Gruff
Make a raft for the Billy Goats Gruff so they don’t need to cross the bridge, we used lolly sticks to make a basic raft shape and added corks to the bottom of one, then tested to see if they could support the weight of PlayMobil goats without sinking.
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Can you build bridges using different materials and see which is the strongest?
Jack and the Beanstalk
Build a zip wire to help Jack down the beanstalk, what happens if you change the gradient?
Can you grow a bean in a jar? How tall will it grow without needing some kind of support?
Can you plant your bean?
What happens if you grow a bean in the dark?
Can you make a beanstalk with tubes? How tall can you make it?
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
For little ones you could ask the children to order bowls, bed and chairs in order of size, one for each bear.
For older children you could monitor the rate heat is lost from three different sized bowls of porridge using a food thermometer, Inspiration Laboratories has a great post on this.
We love this wooden spoon craft from Red Ted Art as well.
Cinderella
Try some weighing and measuring with pumpkins.
Play an ordering game with shoes.
Hansel and Gretel
Can you build a house made from sweets? Which type of sweet gives the most stable shape?
Or, how about making a gingerbread house? You could test different types of icing to see which sticks the best.
Peter Pan
Can you fly tinkerbell down a zip wire?
Learn about changes of state with these lovely melted bead fairy wands from The Artful Parent.
The Little Mermaid
Do you remember Ariel’s treasure cave? Can you practice sorting toys depending on the material they’re made from?
Make some fun under the sea play dough like The imagination Tree.
The Princess and the Frog
Learn about frog spawn and tadpoles with Rainy Day Mum.
The Three Little Pigs
Test a stick, straw and brick roof to see which is the most windproof, we used the squeezy bottle to act like wind and placed tissue paper inside the house so we could see if the ‘wind’ reached it.
Red Ted Art has this brilliant three little pigs craft activity. Can you try to make the house from different materials to see which is the most stable?
Build house for the three little pigs using sweets and straws, which sweets work the best?
How about a version of this experiment where you blow with a straw instead of spraying with water?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Explore symmetry with mirrors in this fun activity. Can you draw a symmetrical dwarf?
Little Red Riding Hood
Inspire some imaginative play with this gorgeous story box from The Imagination Tree.
The Gingerbread Man
Build a bridge to help The Gingerbread Man across the river.
Posts coming soon
A pulley for Rapunzel
Leaving messages like Hansel and Gretel
Melting Gingerbread men
How strong is a gingerbread man
Princess potions
Witchy potions
Jack’s Parachute
How to build a strong bean stalk
Icy castles
Do you have any more ideas for us?
What a fabulous topic for some Science fun!! Thanks so much for including some of our ideas 😉
I love this collection, Emma! Combining science and literacy is one of my favorite things.
Thanks Trisha 🙂
What a great list of hands-on activities! I like how you’ve integrated science into fairy tales. Recently, the kiddos designed and built and planted a fairy garden. That would fit in nicely with a fairy tale unit 🙂
Emma, this may just be my favourite round-up science post of the year! I’m bookmarking this page so we can spend a week trying these experiments out. Thanks!
Thanks so much Erin!