6 Kitchen Experiments That Will Delight The Young & Old

Have you ever thought about performing your own scientific experiments at home? Now you can! All you really need is some water, one or two common household items, and a captive audience. These tricks work great at kids' birthday parties and may even impress some of the grown-ups too!

1. Make It Rain

You'll Need:

  • approx. 4 fl oz vegetable oil
  • 2 types of food coloring
  • 1 popsicle stick
  • 1 glass of water

Here's How:

1.1 Fill a measuring jug with the vegetable oil. Next, add five drops of each food coloring into the oil. Take a popsicle stick and stir everything well.

1.2 Fill a glass half full with water and tip the colorful oil mixture into it. After several moments, you'll be able to see the wonderful rain effect in the glass.

2. Bottle Volcano

You'll Need:

  • approx. 6 fl oz hydrogen peroxide
  • food coloring
  • dish soap
  • 1 plastic bottle
  • 1 flat, large bowl
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp yeast

Here's How:

2.1 Add hydrogen peroxide to a measuring jar. Next, add four drops of food coloring and a generous squirt of dish soap to it. Stir everything well.

2.2 Place an empty plastic bottle in the center of a large, flat bowl and fill it with the mixture.

2.3 Mix water and yeast in a glass and pour the mixture into the plastic bottle. Step back, as the bottle volcano is about to erupt!

3. Funky Design

You'll Need:

  • cream
  • 2 different types of food coloring
  • popsicle stick
  • dish soap

Here's How:

Pour cream onto a plate. Add three drops of each food coloring to the cream. Next, dab some dish soap onto the end of a popsicle stick and carefully move it through the cream to create a funky design.

4. Kinetic Dough

You'll Need:

  • 1 cup of cornstarch
  • 1 cup of water
  • plastic wrap
  • food coloring
  • loudspeaker

Here's How:

4.1 Mix the cornstarch with the water and spread it onto a baking tray. You'll now be able to experience a quite remarkable phenomenon: quick movements make the mixture appear hard, while slow movements show it to be liquid.

4.2 To create the kinetic dough, first place a loudspeaker on its back, cover it with plastic wrap, and pour some of the cornstarch mixture on top of it. Next, add a few drops of food coloring to the mixture. Once you put on your favorite tunes, you'll see the dough dance to the beat.

5. Water Surface Effect

You'll Need:

  • water
  • pepper
  • dish soap

Here's How:

Fill a bowl with water and grind some pepper on top. Next, add a drop of dish soap to the end of your finger and carefully dip it into the water. The soap changes the surface of the water so that the peppercorns are forced to the edge — what a cool effect!

6. Galaxy Noodles

You'll Need:

  • 1 red cabbage
  • 2 handfuls of Chinese noodles
  • lemon juice
  • a mix of baking soda and water in equal measures

Here's How:

6.1 Cut the red cabbage in half, remove the outer leaves and boil them in water for 10 minutes.

6.2 Carefully remove the red cabbage from the water which will have now turned purple and add the Chinese noodles. Cook them for 7 minutes. Drain the purple noodles and place them on a plate. If you spray them with lemon juice and a mix of water and baking soda, they will change color again. They may even remind you of outer space!

It might be fun to show off one or two of these experiments at your next party. These ideas may also spark an interest in science for your kids — let's get creative!

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