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Knowledge is sweet -

Learn about the crystallization process by growing rock candy in a glass. You dissolve three cups of sugar in one cup of water over heat, pour it into a cup, insert a skewer with the help of a clothespin to keep it from touching the bottom, and wait.

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Grow a bean -

There are tons of foods you can grow at home from leftovers. For example, you can grow a bean in a clear cup and watch it germinate!

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Tornado in a bottle -

Tape two plastic bottles together neck to neck, the bottom filled with water and the top empty, and swirl quickly as you flip it over. As the water flows down, air must flow up, so you get a spiraling tornado.

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Mix Diet Coke and Mentos -

Stand back to watch the explosion!

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Whip up some Oobleck -

Taking its name from a substance found in a Dr. Seuss story, this fascinating non-Newtonian fluid acts like a liquid when being poured, but like a solid when a force is acting on it. It takes one cup of water, just under two cups of corn starch, and you can add food coloring of your choice.

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A rainbow you can drink -

Adding sugar to liquid makes it more dense, so separate glasses of water with different amounts of sugar in them and add different food coloring to them. Add these layers to a clear glass and they will layer on top of each other in order of density.

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DIY spy kit -

Use lemon juice to write messages in invisible ink that can only be seen when held up to a heat source.

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The classic volcano -

This tried-and-tested experiment relies on the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar, creating "lava" that can bubble out of a model volcano.

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DIY ice-cream -

Make homemade ice-cream in a bag! In a large resealable plastic bag, combine ice and salt. Place a smaller bag with cream and sugar inside, and shake vigorously for about seven minutes, using mittens to hold the bag because it gets quite cold, or until you see ice-cream. Then, enjoy!

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Dabble in physics -

Stick to the basics and fold a paper airplane, then bend and alter its shape to see how it changes the flight path. 

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Grow your gummies -

Do three different tests to see the strongest: leave a gummy bear in a cup of water, another in a cup of saltwater, and yet another in a cup of saltwater with vinegar, then see which grows the most!

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Air balloon without heat -

Drop Pop Rocks into a bottle of soda, then quickly place a balloon onto the opening and watch it inflate.

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Egg-citing times -

Try to build a container for an egg that will protect it from breaking, and test it out by dropping it from high. These are lessons slow-learned.

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Learn about density -

Change whether an egg floats or sinks in a glass of water by adding salt.

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Make plastic out of milk -

Turn milk into a material that acts like plastic by heating one cup in a pan, then stirring in one tablespoon of vinegar. The vinegar will cause the milk to quickly separate into curds and whey, and the acid in the vinegar causes the protein strands in the milk to coagulate.

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Experiment with the senses -

Have your family close their eyes and hold their nose, then see if they can still identify different foods by taste.

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Undressing eggs -

You can dissolve the shell right off an egg by simply placing it in a cup of vinegar.

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Make non-sticky putty -

This satisfying non-sticky putty is made by combining cornstarch and dish soap.

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Water music -

Set up a row of bottles or cups with varying amounts of liquid and then blow across the bottle openings or tap the glasses to hear the different tones.

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Get in on the slime craze -

Mix a combination of 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of white school glue with 1/2 tablespoon of Borax dissolved in 1/2 cup of water. Stir and knead until you get the gooey consistency you want.

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Make your own butter -

Get some exercise while you're at it by shaking a jar half-filled with heavy cream. Remove the solids that eventually form and pour cold water over the new butter, using your hands to squish it into a ball.

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Pepper and soap experiment -

Sprinkle pepper over a plate of water, then dip a toothpick in dish soap and touch the end to the center of the plate, and watch the magic happen.

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Pasta rocket -

Want to make a hybrid rocket engine? All you'll need is to mix yeast and hydrogen peroxide in a jar together to create pure oxygen gas, which you will funnel through a piece of dry pasta fixed into the lid. Just add fire and you've got a pasta rocket.

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Instant ice -

Usually, non-purified water has particles that enable ice to form, as ice needs a nucleus in order to form solid crystals. Instead, put purified water in the freezer for three hours, as it can reach a colder temperature before becoming solid, then pour this icy water slowly over a piece of actual ice, thus giving it nuclei and causing it to freeze on impact.

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Play with static energy -

Rub a balloon on your head and deliver some shocks to each other, then hold a charged up balloon next to a thin stream of water and watch it move the water.

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Put some drops of water on a hot pan -

What you’ll see is the Leidenfrost effect, a phenomenon wherein a liquid exposed to a surface significantly hotter than its boiling point produces an insulating vapor layer that keeps the liquid from boiling rapidly and instead makes it run around the pan.

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Raise water levels -

Light a small candle and put it in a plate of water, then place a jar over the candle and wait. You’ll see that the water level goes up in the jar because the air inside shrinks!

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DIY lava lamp -

Pour vegetable oil into a clear cup of water (perhaps with some food coloring), and then sprinkle salt on it to make the blob of oil move. Since oil is lighter than water but salt is not, the salt sinks down and takes some oil with it, but then the salt dissolves and the oil floats back up.

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Another lava lamp variation -

Put oil into a small amount of water with food coloring, then crumble in an alka-seltzer tablet and watch it react with the water, causing colored droplets to rise to the top where they then pop, release air, and sink back to the bottom.

See also: The best science podcasts for curious minds

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