Smart experiments. Entertaining experiences and experiments for kids

Who didn't believe in miracles as a child? To have a fun and educational time with your baby, you can try experiments in entertaining chemistry. They are safe, interesting and educational. These experiments will answer many children's “whys” and awaken interest in science and knowledge of the world around us. And today I want to tell you what experiments parents can organize for children at home.

Pharaoh's snake

This experience is based on increasing the volume of mixed reagents. During the combustion process, they transform and, wriggling, resemble a snake. The experiment got its name from a biblical miracle when Moses, who came to Pharaoh with a request, turned his rod into a snake.

For the experiment you will need the following ingredients:

ordinary sand;
ethanol;
crushed sugar;
baking soda.

We soak the sand in alcohol, then form a small hill out of it and make a depression at the top. After this, mix a small spoon of powdered sugar and a pinch of soda, then pour everything into an improvised “crater”. We set fire to our volcano, the alcohol in the sand begins to burn out, and black balls form. They are a product of the decomposition of soda and caramelized sugar.

After all the alcohol has burned out, the pile of sand will turn black and a wriggling “black pharaoh’s snake” will form. This experiment looks more impressive with the use of real reagents and strong acids, which can only be used in a chemical laboratory.

You can do it a little easier and buy a calcium gluconate tablet at the pharmacy. Set it on fire at home, the effect will be almost the same, only the “snake” will quickly collapse.

Magic lamp

In stores you can often see lamps, inside of which a beautiful illuminated liquid moves and shimmers. Such lamps were invented in the early 60s. They work on the basis of paraffin and oil. At the bottom of the device there is a built-in conventional incandescent lamp, which heats the descending molten wax. Part of it reaches the top and falls, the other part heats up and rises, so we see a kind of “dance” of paraffin inside the container.

In order to carry out a similar experience at home with a child, we will need:

any juice;
vegetable oil;
effervescent tablets;
beautiful container.

Take a container and fill it more than halfway with juice. Add vegetable oil on top and throw in an effervescent tablet. It begins to “work”, the bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass capture the juice and form a beautiful bubbling in the oil layer. Then the bubbles reaching the edge of the glass burst and the juice falls down. It turns out to be a kind of “circulation” of juice in a glass. Such magic lamps absolutely harmless, unlike paraffin ones, which a child can accidentally break and get burned.

Ball and orange: experience for kids

What will happen to a balloon if you drop orange or lemon juice on it? It will burst as soon as the citrus droplets touch it. And you can then eat the orange with your baby. It's very entertaining and fun. For the experiment we will need a couple of balloons and citrus. We inflate them and let the baby drip some fruit juice onto each one and see what happens.

Why does the balloon burst? It's all about the special chemical substance– limonene. It is found in citrus fruits and is often used in the cosmetics industry. When the juice comes into contact with the rubber of the balloon, a reaction occurs, limonene dissolves the rubber and the balloon bursts.

Sweet glass

You can make amazing things from caramelized sugar. In the early days of cinema, edible sweet glass was used in most fight scenes. This is because it is less traumatic for actors during filming and is inexpensive. Its fragments can then be collected, melted and made into film props.

Many people made sugar cockerels or fudge in childhood; glass should be made according to the same principle. Pour water into the pan, heat it up a little, the water should not be cold. After this, add granulated sugar and bring to a boil. When the liquid boils, cook until the mixture gradually begins to thicken and bubbles strongly. The melted sugar in the container should turn into a viscous caramel, which, if lowered into cold water will turn into glass.

Pour the prepared liquid onto a previously prepared baking sheet greased with vegetable oil, cool and the sweet glass is ready.

During the cooking process, you can add dye to it and cast it into some interesting shape, and then treat and surprise everyone around you.

Philosophical nail

This entertaining experiment is based on the principle of copper plating of iron. Named by analogy with a substance that could, according to legend, turn everything into gold, and was called philosopher's stone. To conduct the experiment we will need:

iron nail;
a quarter of a glass of acetic acid;
table salt;
soda;
a piece of copper wire;
glass container.

Take a glass jar and pour acid and salt into it and stir well. Be careful, vinegar is harsh bad smell. It can burn the baby's delicate airways. Then add to the resulting solution copper wire for 10-15 minutes, after some time we lower an iron nail, previously cleaned with soda, into the solution. After some time, we can see that a copper coating has appeared on it, and the wire has become shiny as new. How could this happen?

Copper reacts with acetic acid to form copper salt, then the copper ions on the surface of the nail change places with the iron ions and form a coating on its surface. And the concentration of iron salts in the solution increases.

Copper coins are not suitable for the experiment because this metal itself is very soft, and to make the money stronger, its alloys with brass and aluminum are used.

Copper products do not rust over time; they are covered with a special green coating - patina, which prevents it from further corrosion.

DIY soap bubbles

Who didn't love blowing soap bubbles as a child? How beautifully they shimmer and burst merrily. You can simply buy them in the store, but it will be much more interesting to create your own solution with your child and then blow bubbles.

It should be said right away that the usual mixture of laundry soap and water won't do. It produces bubbles that quickly disappear and are difficult to blow out. Most affordable way To prepare such a substance, mix two glasses of water with a glass of dishwashing detergent. If you add sugar to the solution, the bubbles become stronger. They will fly for a long time and will not burst. And the huge bubbles that can be seen on stage by professional artists are created by mixing glycerin, water and detergent.

For beauty and mood, you can mix food coloring into the solution. Then the bubbles will glow beautifully in the sun. You can create several different solutions and use them in turns with your child. It's interesting to experiment with color and create your own new shade soap bubbles.

You can also try mixing the soap solution with other substances and see how they affect the bubbles. Maybe you will invent and patent some new type of yours.

Spy ink

These are legendary invisible ink. What are they made of? Now there are so many films about spies and interesting intellectual investigations. You can invite your child to play secret agents a little.

The point of such ink is that it cannot be seen on paper with the naked eye. Only by applying special influence, for example, heat or chemical reagents, can you see the secret message. Unfortunately, most recipes for making them are ineffective and such ink leaves marks.

We will make special ones that are difficult to see without special identification. For this you will need:

water;
spoon;
baking soda;
any heat source;
stick with cotton on the end.

Pour warm liquid into any container, then, stirring, pour in baking soda until it stops dissolving, i.e. the mixture will reach a high concentration. We put a stick with cotton wool at the end there and write something on paper with it. Let's wait until it dries, then hold the leaf to a lit candle or gas stove. After a while, you can see how the yellow letters of the written word appear on the paper. Make sure that the leaf does not catch fire while developing the letters.

Fireproof money

This is a famous and old experiment. For it you will need:

water;
alcohol;
table salt.

Take a deep glass container and pour water into it, then add alcohol and salt, stir well until all ingredients dissolve. To set it on fire, you can take ordinary pieces of paper, or if you don’t mind, you can take a banknote. Just take a small denomination, otherwise something may go wrong in the experiment and the money will be spoiled.

Place strips of paper or money in a water-salt solution; after a while they can be removed from the liquid and set on fire. You can see that the flame covers the entire bill, but it does not light up. This effect is explained by the fact that the alcohol in the solution evaporates, and the wet paper itself does not catch fire.

Wish-fulfilling stone

The process of growing crystals is very exciting, but labor-intensive. However, what you get as a result will be worth your time. The most popular is the creation of crystals from table salt or sugar.

Let's consider growing a “wishing stone” from refined sugar. For this you will need:

drinking water;
granulated sugar;
piece of paper;
thin wooden stick;
small container and glass.

First, let's make the preparation. To do this we need to prepare a sugar mixture. Pour some water and sugar into a small container. Let the mixture boil and cook until it becomes syrupy. Then we lower the wooden stick there and sprinkle it with sugar, this must be done evenly, in this case the resulting crystal will become more beautiful and even. Leave the base for the crystal overnight to dry and harden.

Let's start preparing the syrup solution. Pour water into a large container and add sugar, stirring slowly. Then, when the mixture boils, cook it until it becomes a viscous syrup. Remove from heat and let cool.

Cut out circles from paper and attach them to the end wooden stick. It will become the lid on which the wand with crystals is attached. Fill the glass with the solution and lower the workpiece into it. We wait for a week, and the “wishing stone” is ready. If you add dye to the syrup during cooking, it will turn out even more beautiful.

The process of creating crystals from salt is somewhat simpler. Here you just need to monitor the mixture and change it periodically in order to increase the concentration.

First of all, we create a blank. Pour warm water into a glass container and gradually stir, add salt until it stops dissolving. Leave the container for a day. After this time, you can find many small crystals in the glass; choose the largest one and tie it to a thread. Make a new salt solution and put a crystal there; it must not touch the bottom or edges of the glass. This may lead to unwanted deformations.

After a couple of days you can notice that he has grown. The more often you change the mixture, increasing the concentration of salt, the faster you can grow your wishing stone.

Glowing tomato

This experiment must be carried out strictly under the supervision of adults, as it uses harmful substances. The glowing tomato that will be created during this experiment should absolutely not be eaten, as it can lead to death or severe poisoning. We will need:

regular tomato;
syringe;
sulfuric matter from matches;
bleach;
hydrogen peroxide.

We take a small container, put pre-prepared match sulfur there and pour in bleach. We leave all this for a while, after which we take the mixture into a syringe and inject it into the tomato from different sides, so that it glows evenly. To start the chemical process, hydrogen peroxide is needed, which we introduce through the trace from the petiole from above. We turn off the lights in the room and we can enjoy the process.

Egg in vinegar: a very simple experiment

This is a simple and interesting ordinary acetic acid. To implement it you will need boiled chicken egg and vinegar. Take a transparent glass container and place an egg in its shell in it, then fill it to the top with acetic acid. You can see bubbles rising from its surface; this is a chemical reaction taking place. After three days, we can observe that the shell has become soft and the egg is elastic, like a ball. If you shine a flashlight on it, you can see that it glows. It is not recommended to experiment with a raw egg, as the soft shell may break when squeezed.

DIY slime made from PVA

This is a fairly common strange toy from our childhood. Currently it is quite difficult to find it. Let's try to make slime at home. Its classic color is green, but you can use the one you like. Try mixing several shades and creating your own unique color.

To conduct the experiment we will need:

glass jar;
several small glasses;
dye;
PVA glue;
regular starch.

Let's prepare three identical glasses with solutions that we will mix. Pour PVA glue into the first, water into the second, and dilute starch into the third. First, pour water into the jar, then add glue and dye, stir everything thoroughly and then add starch. The mixture needs to be stirred quickly so that it does not thicken, and you can play with the finished slime.

How to quickly inflate a balloon

Is there a holiday coming up and you need to inflate a lot of balloons? What to do? This unusual experience will help make the task easier. For it we need a rubber ball, acetic acid and regular soda. It must be carried out carefully in the presence of adults.

Pour a pinch of soda into balloon and put it on the neck of a bottle of acetic acid so that the soda does not spill out, straighten the ball and let its contents fall into the vinegar. You will see a chemical reaction take place and it will begin to foam, releasing carbon dioxide and inflating the balloon.

That's all for today. Don’t forget, it’s better to conduct experiments for children at home under supervision, it will be safer and more interesting. See you again!

If you want to awaken an interest in science in your children, but the teacher at school cannot cope with this (and in reality he simply does not care), then you do not have to hit your child over the head with a book or hire tutors. You, as a responsible parent, can conduct interesting and colorful scientific experiments right at home using available materials.

A little imagination, and entertainment for the children who came to your child’s birthday party is ready.

1. Walking on chicken eggs

Even though the eggs look very fragile, their shells are stronger than they look. If the pressure on the shell is distributed evenly, it can withstand very heavy loads. This can be used to show children a fun trick involving walking on eggs, and also explain to them how it works.

Although we assume that the experiment will be successful, it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side, so it’s better to cover the floor with oilcloth or lay out garbage bags. Place a couple of trays of eggs on top, making sure that there are no defective or cracked ones. Also make sure that the eggs are positioned equally, otherwise the load will not be distributed evenly.

Now you can carefully stand on the eggs barefoot, trying to distribute your weight evenly. The same principle is used in walking on nails or glass, but this should not be repeated with children. Don't repeat it at all.

2. Non-Newtonian fluid

Most liquids on the planet practically do not change their viscosity when the force that is applied to them changes. However, there are liquids that become almost solid when the force increases, and they are called non-Newtonian. You can make them right at home from available materials. Show this experience to your child and he will be happy.

To make a non-Newtonian liquid, pour a glass of starch into a deep bowl and fill it with water in a 1:1 ratio. You can add food coloring for beauty. Start stirring it all slowly until the mixture turns into a homogeneous mass.

If you slowly scoop up such liquid with your hand, it will simply flow through your fingers. But as soon as you apply force to it at speed or hit it sharply, it immediately becomes hard. This will be a great toy for your child to use for the next few hours.

3. Bouncing coin

Very interesting experience, as well as a trick if you want to convince others of your paranormal abilities. For this experiment at home we will need regular bottle, as well as a coin, which is slightly larger in diameter than the neck.

Cool the bottle in the refrigerator, or better yet, in freezer. After this, moisten its neck with water and place a coin on top. You can put your hands on the bottle for effect, warming it. The air inside the bottle will begin to expand and escape through the neck, throwing the coin into the air.

4. Vulcan at home

The combination of baking soda and vinegar is a win-win if you're trying to impress kids. Just make a small volcano out of plasticine or clay on a plate, and pour a few teaspoons of soda into its hole, pour in some warm water and add red food coloring for decoration. After this, pour a small amount of vinegar into the mouth and observe the reaction.

5. Lava Falls

Very effective and simple scientific experience, which allows children to demonstrate the principle of interaction of liquids with different masses and densities.
Take a tall, narrow container (a flower vase or just plastic bottle). Pour several glasses of water and a glass into the vessel vegetable oil. Add bright food coloring to make the experiment more visual and prepare a tablespoon of salt.

At first, the oil will float on the surface of the vessel because it has a lower density. Begin to slowly pour the salt into the vessel. The oil will begin to sink to the bottom, but when it reaches it, the salt will be freed from the viscous liquid, and the oil particles will begin to rise to the top again, like grains of hot lava.

6. Money doesn't burn

This experience is suitable for wealthy people who have nothing left to burn but money. A great trick to surprise children and adults. Of course, there is a risk of failing the performance, so please respect the time limits.

Take any banknote (depending on your capabilities) and soak it in a salted solution of alcohol and water in a 1:1 ratio. Make sure that the bill is completely saturated, after which you can remove it from the liquid. Secure the bill in some holder and set it on fire.

Alcohol boils at a fairly low temperature and begins to evaporate much faster than water. Therefore, all the fuel will evaporate before the bill itself catches fire.

7. Experiment with colored milk

For this fun experience we will need full fat milk, some food coloring different colors And detergent.

Pour milk into a plate and add a few drops of coloring to different places containers. Take a drop of detergent on your fingertip or soak a cotton swab and touch the surface of the milk directly in the center of the plate. Watch how the dyes begin to mix effectively.

As you may have guessed, detergent and grease don't mix, and when you touch the surface, a reaction begins that causes the molecules to move.

Chemist is a very interesting and multifaceted profession, uniting under its wing many different specialists: chemical scientists, chemical technologists, analytical chemists, petrochemists, chemistry teachers, pharmacists and many others. We decided to celebrate the upcoming Chemist’s Day 2017 with them, so we chose several interesting and impressive experiments in the field under consideration, which even those who are as far from the profession of a chemist as possible can repeat. The best chemical experiments at home - read, watch and remember!

When is Chemist's Day celebrated?

Before we begin to consider our chemical experiments, let us clarify that traditionally Chemist’s Day is celebrated in the countries of the post-Soviet space at the very end of spring, namely on the last Sunday of May. This means that the date is not fixed: for example, in 2017 Chemist’s Day is celebrated on May 28. And if you work in the field chemical industry, or are studying a specialty in this field, or are otherwise directly related to chemistry on duty, then you have every right to join the celebration on this day.

Chemical experiments at home

Now let’s get down to the main thing and begin to perform interesting chemical experiments: it is best to do this together with small children, who will definitely perceive what is happening as a magic trick. Moreover, we tried to select such chemical experiments, reagents for which can be easily obtained at a pharmacy or store.

Experiment No. 1 - Chemical traffic light

Let's start with a very simple and beautiful experiment, which received this name for good reason, because the liquid participating in the experiment will change its color exactly to the colors of the traffic light - red, yellow and green.

You will need:

indigo carmine;
glucose;
caustic soda;
water;
2 transparent glass containers.

Don't let the names of some ingredients scare you - you can easily buy glucose tablets at a pharmacy, indigo carmine is sold in stores as a food coloring, and you can find caustic soda in a hardware store. It is better to take tall containers, with a wide base and a narrower neck, for example, flasks, to make them easier to shake.

But what is interesting about chemical experiments is that there is an explanation for everything:

By mixing glucose with caustic soda, i.e. sodium hydroxide, we obtained an alkaline solution of glucose. Then, by mixing it with a solution of indigo carmine, we oxidize the liquid with oxygen, which it was saturated with during pouring from the flask - this is the reason for the appearance of the green color. Next, glucose begins to work as a reducing agent, gradually changing color to yellow. But by shaking the flask, we again saturate the liquid with oxygen, allowing chemical reaction go through this circle again.

You will get an idea of how interesting it looks in real life from this short video:

Experiment No. 2 - Universal acidity indicator from cabbage

Children love interesting chemical experiments with colorful liquids, it’s no secret. But we, as adults, responsibly declare that such chemical experiments look very spectacular and interesting. Therefore, we advise you to conduct another “color” experiment at home - a demonstration of the amazing properties red cabbage. It, like many other vegetables and fruits, contains anthocyanins - natural indicator dyes that change color depending on the pH level - i.e. degree of acidity of the environment. This property of cabbage will be useful to us in order to obtain further multi-colored solutions.

What we need:

1/4 red cabbage;
lemon juice;
baking soda solution;
vinegar;
sugar solution;
Sprite type drink;
disinfectant;
bleach;
water;
8 flasks or glasses.

Many of the substances on this list are quite dangerous, so be careful when performing simple chemical experiments at home, wear gloves and, if possible, safety glasses. And don’t let children get too close - they may knock over the reagents or the final contents of the colored cones and even want to try them, which should not be allowed.

Let's get started:

How do these chemical experiments explain the color changes?

The fact is that light falls on all objects that we see - and it contains all the colors of the rainbow. Moreover, each color in the spectrum has its own wavelength, and the molecules different shapes, in turn, reflect and absorb these waves. The wave that is reflected from the molecule is the one that we see, and this determines what color we perceive - because other waves are simply absorbed. And depending on what substance we add to the indicator, it begins to reflect only the rays a certain color. Nothing complicated!

For a slightly different version of this chemical experiment, with fewer reagents, see the video:

Experiment No. 3 - Dancing jelly worms

We continue to do chemical experiments at home - and we will conduct the third experiment on everyone’s favorite jelly candies in the form of worms. Even adults will find it funny, and children will be absolutely delighted.

Take the following ingredients:

a handful of gummy worms;
vinegar essence;
ordinary water;
baking soda;
glasses - 2 pcs.

When choosing suitable candies, choose smooth, chewy worms without sugar coating. To make them less heavy and easier to move, cut each candy lengthwise into two halves. So, let's begin some interesting chemical experiments:

Make a solution of warm water and 3 tablespoons of soda in one glass.
Place the worms there and keep them there for about fifteen minutes.
Fill another deep glass with essence. Now you can slowly drop the jellies into the vinegar, watching how they begin to move up and down, which is in some way similar to a dance:

Why is this happening?

It's simple: baking soda, in which the worms are soaked for a quarter of an hour, is sodium bicarbonate, and the essence is an 80% solution of acetic acid. When they react, water, carbon dioxide in the form of small bubbles and sodium salt of acetic acid are formed. Exactly carbon dioxide the worm grows in the form of bubbles, rises up, and then falls when they burst. But the process still continues, causing the candy to rise on the resulting bubbles and fall until it is completely completed.

And if you are seriously interested in chemistry, and want Chemist’s Day to become your professional holiday in the future, then you will probably be interested in watching the following video, which details the typical everyday life of chemistry students and their fascinating educational and scientific activities:

Take it for yourself and tell your friends!

Unfamiliar paper

Kids like to make appliqués out of paper and draw pictures. Some 4-year-old children learn the art of origami with their parents. Everyone knows that paper is soft or thick, white or colored. What can an ordinary person do? white sheet paper, if you experiment with it?

An animated paper flower

Cut out a star from a sheet of paper. Its rays bend inward in the form of a flower. Fill a cup with water and lower the star onto the surface of the water. After some time, the paper flower, as if alive, will begin to open. The water will wet the cellulose fibers that make up the paper and spread them out.

Strong bridge

This paper experiment will be interesting for children 3 years old. Ask the kids how to place an apple in the middle of a thin sheet of paper between two glasses so that it does not fall. How can you make a paper bridge strong enough to support the weight of an apple? We fold a sheet of paper into an accordion shape and place it on the supports. Now it can support the weight of the apple. This can be explained by the fact that the shape of the structure has changed, which made the paper quite strong. The properties of materials that become stronger depending on their shape are the basis for the designs of many architectural creations, for example, the Eiffel Tower.

An animated snake

Scientific evidence for the upward movement of warm air can be provided using simple experience. A snake is cut out of paper by cutting a circle in a spiral. You can revive a paper snake very simply. A small hole is made in her head and suspended by a thread over a heat source (battery, heater, burning candle). The snake will begin to rotate quickly. The reason for this phenomenon is the upward warm flow of air, which unwinds the paper snake. This is exactly how you can make paper birds or butterflies, beautiful and colorful, by hanging them under the ceiling in your apartment. They will rotate from the movement of air, as if flying.

Who is stronger

This interesting experiment will help determine which paper shape is more durable. For the experiment you will need three sheets of office paper, glue and several thin books. A cylindrical column is glued from one sheet of paper, a triangular column from another, and a rectangular column from the third. They place the “columns” vertically and test them for strength, carefully placing books on top. As a result of the experiment, it turns out that the triangular column is the weakest, and the cylindrical column is the strongest - it will withstand the greatest weight. It is not for nothing that columns in churches and buildings are made in a cylindrical shape; the load on them is distributed evenly over the entire area.

Amazing salt

Regular salt is found in every home today; no meal can be prepared without it. You can try making beautiful children's crafts from this affordable product. All you need is salt, water, wire and a little patience.

Salt has interesting properties. It can attract water to itself, dissolving in it, thereby increasing the density of the solution. But in a supersaturated solution, the salt again turns into crystals.

To conduct an experiment with salt, bend a beautiful symmetrical snowflake or other figure from a wire. In a jar with warm water dissolve the salt until it stops dissolving. Dip a bent wire into a jar and place it in the shade for several days. As a result, the wire will become overgrown with salt crystals, and will look like a beautiful ice snowflake that will not melt.

Water and ice

Water exists in three states of aggregation: steam, liquid and ice. The purpose of this experiment is to introduce children to the properties of water and ice and compare them.

Pour water into 4 ice trays and place them in the freezer. To make it more interesting, you can tint the water with different dyes before freezing. Pour cold water into a cup and throw two ice cubes into it. Simple ice boats or icebergs will float on the surface of the water. This experiment will prove that ice is lighter than water.

While the boats are floating, the remaining ice cubes are sprinkled with salt. They'll see what happens. After a short time, before the indoor float in the cup has time to sink (if the water is quite cold), the cubes sprinkled with salt will begin to crumble. This is explained by the fact that the freezing point of salt water is lower than normal water.

Fire that doesn't burn

IN ancient times When Egypt was a powerful country, Moses fled from the wrath of Pharaoh and tended his flocks in the desert. One day he saw a strange bush that was burning and did not burn. It was a special fire. Can objects that are engulfed in ordinary flame remain safe and sound? Yes, this is possible, this can be proven through experience.

For the experiment you will need a sheet of paper or banknote. A tablespoon of alcohol and two tablespoons of water. The paper is moistened with water so that the water is absorbed into it, alcohol is poured on top and set on fire. Fire appears. This is burning alcohol. When the fire goes out, the paper will remain intact. The experimental result is explained very simply - the combustion temperature of alcohol, as a rule, is not enough to evaporate the moisture with which the paper is impregnated.

Natural indicators

If your child wants to feel like a real chemist, you can make for him special paper, which will change color depending on the acidity of the environment.

The natural indicator is prepared from the juice of red cabbage, which contains anthocyanin. This substance changes color depending on what liquid it comes into contact with. In an acidic solution, paper soaked in anthocyanin will turn red. yellow, in a neutral solution it will turn green, and in an alkaline solution it will turn blue.

To prepare a natural indicator, take filter paper, a head of red cabbage, cheesecloth and scissors. Chop the cabbage thinly and squeeze the juice through cheesecloth, squeezing it with your hands. Soak a sheet of paper in juice and dry. Then cut the made indicator into strips. The child can dip a piece of paper into four different liquids: milk, juice, tea or soap solution, and watch how the color of the indicator changes.

Electrification by friction

In ancient times, people noticed the special ability of amber to attract light objects if rubbed with a woolen cloth. They did not yet have knowledge about electricity, so they explained this property by the spirit living in the stone. It is from the Greek name for amber - electron - that the word electricity comes.

Such amazing properties not only amber has. You can conduct a simple experiment to see how a glass rod or plastic comb attracts small pieces of paper. To do this, rub the glass with silk and the plastic with wool. They will begin to attract small pieces of paper that will stick to them. Over time, this ability of items will disappear.

You can discuss with children that this phenomenon occurs due to electrification by friction. If fabric rubs quickly against an object, sparks may appear. Lightning in the sky and thunder are also a consequence of friction of air currents and the occurrence of electrical discharges in the atmosphere.

Solutions of different densities - interesting details

Get colorful rainbow In a glass of liquids of different colors, you can prepare jelly and pour it layer by layer. But there is a simpler way, although not as tasty.

To carry out the experiment you will need sugar, vegetable oil plain water and dyes. Concentrated sweet syrup is prepared from sugar, and clean water painted with dye. Sugar syrup is poured into a glass, then clean water is poured carefully along the wall of the glass so that the liquids do not mix, and vegetable oil is added at the end. The sugar syrup should be cold and the colored water should be warm. All liquids will remain in the glass like a small rainbow, without mixing with each other. The thickest sugar syrup will be at the bottom, the water will be at the top, and the lightest oil will be on top of the water.

Color explosion

Another interesting experiment can be done using different densities vegetable oil and water, creating a color explosion in the jar. For the experiment you will need a jar of water, a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, and food coloring. In a small container, mix several dry food colors with two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Dry grains of dyes do not dissolve in oil. Now the oil is poured into a jar of water. Heavy grains of dye will settle to the bottom, gradually freeing themselves from the oil, which will remain on the surface of the water, forming colored swirls, as if from an explosion.

Home volcano

Useful geographic knowledge may not be so boring for a four-year-old if you provide a visual demonstration of a volcano erupting on an island. To carry out the experiment you will need baking soda, vinegar, 50 ml of water and the same amount of detergent.

Small plastic cup or the bottle is placed in the mouth of a volcano, sculpted from colored plasticine. But first, baking soda is poured into a glass, water tinted red and detergent are poured. When the improvised volcano is ready, a little vinegar is poured into its mouth. A rapid foaming process begins due to the fact that soda and vinegar react. “Lava” formed by red foam begins to pour out of the volcano’s mouth.

Experiments for 4-year-old children, as you have seen, do not require complex reagents. But they are no less fascinating, especially with interesting story about the reason for what is happening.

April 23rd, 2014

What does everyone have at home and never get tired of playing with? Water! Personally, I have not met a single child who was indifferent to her. You can come up with an endless number of games with water, we have collected the most interesting ones here. Games with water for kids are known to everyone, but we tried to famous game come up with something that will interest older children too. We also included simple and spectacular experiments in the review!

Well, shall we begin?

Games for kids and more

1. Drowning - not drowning

In addition to floating and sinking objects, it is interesting to watch how something sinking slowly and smoothly sinks to the bottom. Here is a video with beautifully sinking flowers:

Or the egg experiment:

Take 3 jars: two half-liter and one liter. Fill one jar clean water and put it in it raw egg. It will drown.

Pour a strong solution of table salt into the second jar (2 tablespoons per 0.5 liters of water). Place the second egg there and it will float. This is explained by the fact that salt water is denser, which is why it is easier to swim in the sea than in a river.

Now place an egg at the bottom of a liter jar. By gradually adding water from both small jars in turn, you can get a solution in which the egg will neither float nor sink. It will remain suspended in the middle of the solution.

When the experiment is completed, you can show the trick. By adding salt water, you will ensure that the egg floats. Adding fresh water will cause the egg to sink. Externally, salt and fresh water are no different from each other, and it will look amazing.

2. Water in the form of... what?

You can take a plastic cup, a transparent bag, a surgical glove. And everywhere the water is the same, but so different.

And if you pour water into plastic sand molds and freeze them, then you will get shaped pieces of ice.

For older children, you can experiment with volume. Here is one of Piaget's experiments: we take two containers - one is a narrow, tall glass, and the second is low and wide. We pour the same amount of water and ask the children which glass has more? Up to a certain age, children answer that there is more water in a tall glass - because it is SEEN!

3. Leaky bag

Does a bag with holes leak? Let's try it together.

4. Color the water

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When my son was little, he could endlessly dilute paint in water. Mixed all imaginable and inconceivable colors. And when he got tired of playing with the liquid, he poured it all into molds and we made colored ice.

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By the way, for older kids, suggest sprinkling salt on the ice and observing what happens

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5. Freezing

In addition to colored ice, my son really liked to freeze little figures and then save them. We timed how long it would take for natural defrosting, defrosted it with our finger, and dripped warm water from a pipette. The process of freezing and thawing fascinated my son and it was one of his favorite activities at home in bad weather.

We also loved making ice boats and launching them.

And if you put a thick thread on a piece of ice and sprinkle salt on top, then after a few seconds it will freeze and the ice can be lifted by holding it solely by the thread. This trick can be performed by throwing a piece of ice into a glass of cold water.

Here's another very interesting experiment with ice.
You need to put several cubes of colored ice into a jar with vegetable or baby oil. As the ice melts, its colored droplets will sink to the bottom of the jar. The experience is very spectacular.

6. Spell water

2. Sieve - sippy cup

Let's do a simple experiment. Take a sieve and grease it with oil. Then we’ll shake it and demonstrate another trick - pour water into the sieve so that it flows along inside sieves And, lo and behold, the sieve is filled! Why doesn't the water flow out? It is held in place by a surface film; it was formed due to the fact that the cells that were supposed to let water through did not get wet. If you run your finger along the bottom and break the film, the water will flow out.

3. Lava lamp

We talked more about this experience

4. Experiment with glycerin

Not exactly an experience, but a very beautiful result.

All we need is a jar, glitter, some kind of figurine and glycerin (sold at the pharmacy)

Pour into a jar boiled water, add glitter and glycerin. Mix.
Glycerin is needed to make the glitter swirl smoothly in the water.

And if you don’t have a jar at hand, you can simply arrange swirling sparkles in a bottle

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5. Growing crystals

To do this, you need to dissolve a lot of salt in hot water, so much that it stops dissolving. You need to lower a thread (preferably woolen, with fluff) into a jar with the solution, although you can also use a wire or a twig so that part of it is above the water. Now all you have to do is arm yourself with patience - in a few days beautiful crystals will grow on the thread.

Or you can use sugar. Here's more details

6. Making a cloud

Pour in three liter jar hot water(approximately 2.5 cm). Place a few ice cubes on a baking sheet and place it on top of the jar. The air inside the jar will begin to cool as it rises. The water vapor it contains will condense to form a cloud.

This experiment simulates the process of cloud formation as warm air cools. Where does rain come from? It turns out that the drops, having heated up on the ground, rise upward. There they get cold, and they huddle together, forming clouds. When they meet together, they increase in size, become heavy and fall to the ground as rain.

7. In search of fresh water

How to get drinking water from salt water? Pour water into a deep basin with your child, add two tablespoons of salt there, stir until the salt dissolves. Place washed pebbles at the bottom of an empty plastic glass so that it does not float, but its edges should be higher than the water level in the basin. Pull the film over the top, tying it around the pelvis. Squeeze the film in the center above the cup and place another pebble in the recess. Place the basin in the sun. After a few hours, clean, unsalted drinking water will accumulate in the glass. This is explained simply: water begins to evaporate in the sun, condensation settles on the film and flows into an empty glass. The salt does not evaporate and remains in the basin.

8. Tornado in a jar

The tornado that rages in the bank is actually very spectacular; it can captivate children for a long time. You need a jar with a tight-fitting lid, water, and liquid dishwashing detergent. You need to pour enough water into the jar so that the distance from the water level to the neck of the jar is approximately 4-5 cm. Now add a little to the water liquid product, close the lid tightly and shake the jar. It should turn out to be a tornado.

9. Rainbow

You can show the children a rainbow in the room. Place the mirror in the water at a slight angle. Catch it with a mirror sunbeam and point it at the wall. Rotate the mirror until you see a spectrum on the wall. Water acts as a prism, splitting light into its components.

10. Lord of matches

If you put a piece of sugar in a saucer with water and matches floating in it, then all the matches will float towards it, and if a piece of soap, then away from it.

11. Changing the color of the water

Make a soap solution in a jar - dilute the soap. Then we take liquid (transparent) phenolphthalein (purgen laxative) purchased at the pharmacy and show the child how by pouring clear water into another clear water we get bright crimson! Transformation right before your eyes. Then we take clear vinegar again and add it there. Our “chemical” turns from crimson to transparent again!

12. Ink transformations

Add ink or ink to a bottle of water until the solution is pale blue. Place a crushed tablet there. activated carbon. Close the neck with your finger and shake the mixture.
It will brighten before our eyes. The fact is that coal absorbs dye molecules on its surface and it is no longer visible.

And here are the bizarre, fascinating patterns that ink forms in water

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13. Water flows upward

Capillary phenomena. We tint the water, put white flowers in it (preferably carnations or tulips) and......

14. Optical illusion in a glass of water