Invisible Ink

You made invisible ink and wrote a message with it. Then you or a friend used grape juice to make it reappear.

Fairy Messy

You made what is commonly known as “oobleck”, which mimics the properties of both liquids and solids, depending on how much pressure you exert upon it.

Rock Farm

You grew a geode. You spent two days preparing a base on which rock crystals could grow, and then made observations on the third day. This is one of the longer experiments in the book.

Lava Lamp

You made a homemade lava lamp. You observed fun chemical interactions from the materials you mixed together.

Drink it! Limonada

You made your own soda pop by combining ingredients that are unpalatable on their own.

Sticky Fountain

You made a cola fountain. You timed the mixing of different chemicals to get an explosive result.

Startler

You made a loud POP!

Milky Whirls

You made art. You were able to observe the normally invisible interactions between two substances by adding food coloring.

Preserve-A-Critter

You made a kind of fossil, called a cast. While a true fossil takes just the right conditions, as well as eons to be made, making an imprint of an object for yourself doesn't take much time at all.

Yummy in Your Tummy

You created a simple simulation of carbohydrate digestion as it passes from the mouth and into the stomach.

Life Source Code

You found the instructions your cells use in your whole body; you found your deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA.

Built-In Blanket

You mimicked the insulating power of blubber, a vital layer of fat that polar animals have year round and that some temperate animals build up just for the winter season.

Bacteria Farm

You grew a batch of bacteria. Or some different kinds of bacteria. Or fungus. Or viruses. Or a fun mix of all three!

Meeting the Locals

You discovered what kind of animals roam around your yard.

Bug Snacks

You discovered what fruit your local bugs prefer.

Black and White

You compared the heat-absorbing properties of different colored paper.

Prism Power

You attempted to diffract sunlight into its different wavelengths using a glass of water as a prism.

Pencil Diffraction

You looked at a candle flame through the tiny space between two pencils.

Disappearing Rainbow

You spun a wheel of colors so fast, that your eye only picked up a smudge or blur instead of individual slices of color.

Magic Wand

You made a glowing “magic” wand.

Fountain of Light

You simulated a fiber optic cable with a stream of water.

Gauging Rainfall

You made a rain gauge. This instrument will tell you how much rain fell at your house during a storm.

Under Pressure

You created a difference in air pressure between the inside of the cup and outside the cup.

Radiant Water

You demonstrated the presence of phosphors in both tonic water and highlighter fluid. Phosphors are luminescent, which means they can be either phosphorescent or fluorescent. Both the tonic water and the highlighter are fluorescent because they emit low energy visible light after absorbing the high energy UV light from your black light.

Magical Music

You made a musical instrument in the percussion family. Percussion instruments involve two elements being struck together to produce a sound. This includes drums, piano, maracas, or even clapping your hands together.

Go With the Flow

You saw the movement of cold water molecules and hot water molecules with the help of food dye. You observed that warmer molecules move faster than colder molecules.

Water Power

You spun a bucket over your head, and it didn’t fall on you!

Colorful Bouquet

You turned white flowers or celery stalks into colorful flowers or stalks.

Terrarium

You planted a seed inside a jar that you can keep inside and don’t have to water often. Terrariums are tricky to keep, and this is one of the more challenging experiments in the book, and one of the longest too.

Ripe for the Taking

You tested the ripening of certain fruits, either peaches, plums, or avocados.

Cabbage Clone

This is another long experiment. You spent a week observing how a cut Napa cabbage leaf will regrow itself from a cut piece.

Veggie Races

You calculated the density for each vegetable or fruit, and made observations about which will float and which will sink. You found two ways of measuring the same phenomenon.

Pressure in the Air

You forced a hard-boiled egg into a container without touching it.

Tornado Maker

You made a miniature waterspout, which demonstrates the circular motion of air or water in destructive weather phenomena such as tornadoes, waterspouts, dust devils and hurricanes.

Hidden Air

You carefully poured hot water over an egg and discovered air bubbles escaping from the surface.

Breath Saver

You blew up a balloon without having to blow into it.

Weather Predictions

You built a barometer

Weather Vane

You built a weather vane.

Protractor Contractor

You built a protractor.

Confection Construction

You built 3D shapes with some handy kitchen items.

Magical Angles

You built a mariner’s quadrant.

Bottled Rainbow

You made a kaleidoscope.

Not for the Faint of Heart

You made a stethoscope.

Periscope

You built a periscope.

Look Out Below

You built a parachute for small toys.

Liquid Layers

You discovered the relative density of various liquids.

Ice Slice

You made a cut in an ice cube, and you may have cleaved it in half!

Melt Magic

You melted an ice cube in water.

Crystal Clear

You discovered an easy way to make ice that’s as clear as glass.

Enchanted Ice

You found a way to capture an ice cube with a piece of yarn.

Grow a Snowflake

You let a snowflake-shaped frame soak in a borax solution overnight.

Creamy Ice

You made ice cream or a fruit juice slushy!