Our Summer holidays are about to start, so I thought it would be a good time to spruce up this post full of Summer Science Challenges for kids. All the activities are very simple and use mostly things you probably already have around the house.

For an ultimate summer of science, try one activity each day, or just pick and choose the ones you like when you have a bit of spare time!

FREE Printable Science Challenges

The lovely Mrs Mactivity has created some fun printable science challenges that you can cut out and use as prompts. Scroll to the bottom of the post to download.

If you haven't heard of Mrs Mactivity, do go and take a look at her website; she has some wonderful primary resources available.

Science Challenges for Summer

Build a tower with sugar cubes

A sugar cube tower is a fantastic, inexpensive STEM challenge. Children can build tall towers or bigger structures.

• How tall can you build a tower before it falls down?
• What happens if you spray the cubes with water?
• Can you add anything to stop water travelling up the columns of cubes?

Make your own lava lamp

All you need to make a lava lamp is oil, water and an Alka Seltzer or effervescent vitamin tablet. These are great as they can be used over and over again. Just wait for the reaction to stop, add a bit more Alka Seltzer, and it'll start all over again!

Make a treasure map

Use coffee or tea to colour paper and create a fun treasure map.

This is great for experimenting with different concentrations of liquid. A more concentrated tea or coffee solution will give a darker coloured map.

Invisible ink

Mix a little lemon or lime juice with water and write a message on a piece of paper.

Ask an adult to put it in the oven, and the message will appear.

What can you build with a cardboard box?

Can you build something functional with a cardboard box?

We added a kitchen roll holder and space for a sink to our cardboard kitchen.

Make a solar oven

Make a delicious dessert with a solar oven! This is a great activity for learning about reflecting and absorbing materials.

Simple sinking and floating

Design a sinking and floating experiment. This is a great paddling pool science activity on a warm summer day.

Children can make predictions first, then investigate to see if they're correct. Some items might surprise them!

Spinning Felt Tip Pens

Use cardboard discs to make spinning pens. You can make these with paper and thinner or thicker card to see which works best.

Coke and Mento Reaction

Drop a mento into a bottle of fizzy drink and watch what happens. Remember to stand back and drop the mento in as fast as you can!

As an extra challenge, kids can investigate whether low sugar drinks erupt better than full sugar varieties.

The coke and mento reaction is a science activity everyone should try at least once.

Investigate which substances react with baking soda

Can you predict which substances will react with baking soda? Were your predictions correct?

Go on a bug hunt

Looking for bugs is a fantastic summer science challenge that doesn't cost anything. Download my FREE bug hunt template to make it even easier!

Set up an easy egg drop experiment

Something like our Humpty Dumpty egg drop experiment always works well. The idea is to place an egg in a bag filled with a protective material and then drop the bag to investigate which material best protects the egg.

Blow up a balloon

Blow up a balloon with Alka Seltzer or an effervescent vitamin tablet. Alka Seltzer and water react together, releasing carbon dioxide gas. The gas fills the space in the container and then fills the balloon, inflating it!

Build a structure with marshmallows and straws

Warning - marshmallow and straw towers can be a bit sticky, but is great fun and a fantastic team building science activity.

Make a marble maze

Design and build a LEGO marble maze? Or use marbles inside a cardboard box.

Make a Baking Soda Volcano

The volcano below is made using papier mache, but sand also works well!

Check out our baking soda volcano ideas for inspiration.

Baking Soda Reactions

Set up some simple baking soda reactions outdoors. These could be fairy themed, witchy potions or just simple messy play.

Make Music

Play a tune using water and glass bottles. If you don't have glass bottles, make a guitar by stretching elastic bands over a cardboard box.

Square Bubbles

You can't really create a square bubble, but you can create something that looks like a square bubble using a cube frame dipped in bubble mix.

How strong is a Candy House

Build a house from sweets. We usually experiment with different types of "glue" to find out which works the best.

Once the house is built, the fun bit is testing how strong it is!

Ice Painting

Try some ice painting, simply freeze a sheet of ice or an ice shape and paint over the top. Once finished, you can wipe away your creation and start over.

Find the colours of the rainbow

Search for the colours of the rainbow in a bubble. When light from the sun shines through the bubbles, it is reflected and dispersed, splitting white light into its different wavelengths and revealing all the colours of the rainbow!

Split light with a prism

Can you split light into a rainbow using a prism?

Make ice cream with ice and salt

Use ice and salt to make ice cream from milk. This is a delicious activity for a sunny day. The salt lowers the freezing point of the ice, which then draws heat from the milk mixture, causing it to freeze.

Dissect a flower

Can you dissect a flower and separate the parts? Do you know the function of each?

Fairy Potions

Make a fairy potion, collect flowers and herbs to make a lovely smelling potion. Does the water change colour? Which smells are the strongest?

Jumping Frogs

Can you make some jumping frogs and learn about static electricity?

Sand Volcano

Make a volcano with sand. We covered this one with cling film to keep the sand clean.

Baking Soda Explosion

Can you make a fizzy baking soda explosion?

Build a raft

Can you build a raft with sticks and test to see if it floats?

Cork boats

Can you make a cork boat and test to see if it floats?

Rainbow in water

Can you spot a rainbow in a spray of water? This is an easy way to see light split into its constituent colours!

Spin art pictures

Use a salad spinner to make a spin art picture.

Slime time!

Create colourful slime using cornstarch, water, and food colouring.

Scrunch it to make it solid and then watch it run through your fingers as it turns into a liquid!

Football Box Game

Make a football in a box game by blowing down a straw to move marbles covered in paint. How many goals can you score?

Playdough Brain

Can you make a playdough brain? This is a fantastic way to learn about the various parts of the brain and their functions.

How to make an egg float

Try a bit of science magic and make an egg float. All you need for this simple science trick is an egg, jug, water and salt.

Why does Pizza Dough Rise?

Do you know why pizza dough rises ? Find out while making a delicious meal!

Even More Science Challenges

Make Raisins Dance

Make raisins dance around a glass with some clever science. Adding baking soda causes the raisins to move around, as if they're dancing!

Build a Giant Catapult

We used our giant catapult as a tennis ball launcher, but you could also try using water balloons or table tennis balls.

Science Challenge Cards

New for 2018 are these amazing Science Challenge printable cards, created for us by the wonderful Mrs Mactivity.

If these aren't quite what you're looking for, try one of my other fun science experiments for kids.

The post Summer Science Challenges for Kids appeared first on Science Experiments for Kids.

Beat the heat or embrace the cold with my collection of cool ice cube experiments. From exciting colour changes to gravity defying tricks and icy engineering challenges, get ready for some surprisingly simple, hands-on science that's sure to make your summer cooler.

You only need ice and salt for most of these investigations, making them fun and inexpensive!

Science Experiments Using Ice Cubes

Lift ice with string

Find out how to lift ice cubes with string ( and a little salt ). This is a brilliantly visual science trick that always looks impressive.

Make ice cream with ice cubes

Use ice cubes and salt to make ice cream from milk! This tasty science experiment uses salt to lower the freezing point of water, drawing heat from the surroundings ( the milk ) to do it.

When salt is added to the ice in the outer bag, the ice starts to melt. Melting needs energy, which in this case comes from the milk mixture in the inner bag. Heat energy is absorbed from the milk, causing ice crystals to form, which then turn the milk into ice cream.

Ice Decorations

Ice decorations are fun to make in winter or summer. Children can hang these from trees or around a garden and observe how long it takes for them to melt. We like to use shaped ice cube trays and add small petals and flowers to decorate them.

Ice Excavations

Set up an ice excavation. Ice excavations can be made to any theme, and allow children to experiment with warm water, cold water and salt to try to melt the ice.

If the weather is very cold, you can leave water in a tray out overnight to see if it freezes!

Create Frost on a Can

Use ice cubes to make frost appear on the outside of a tin can. This activity visually demonstrates to children how adding salt to an ice and water mixture lowers the temperature of the water.

Find out if ice melts faster in salt water or freshwater

Pop an ice cube in salty water and an ice cube in freshwater to see which melts the fastest.

Ice Cube Towers

Building a tower from slippery ice cubes might sound impossible, but if you leave the ice cubes to melt a little and add a sprinkle of salt to each one. Salt makes the water melt, then refreeze, sticking the ice cubes together!

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Summer is a brilliant time to explore science outdoors with children. You don't have to set up fancy experiments, even just looking at properties of plants and leaves or testing to see if different items sink or float in a paddling pool is great, simple science for little ones.

Older children will love building bottle rockets, setting up chain reactions and making square bubbles.

I've compiled a fun list of our favourite summer science ideas from Science Sparks and many other fantastic blogs to keep kids of all ages happy all summer.

My DIY science camp also has some great summer science ideas, so check those out, too!

Awesome summer science ideas for kids

Summer Science Experiments Using Water

Garden washing line

Set up an Aliens LOVE Underpants washing line to investigate how different materials absorb different amounts of water. This is a brilliant hands-on science activity for learning about the different properties of materials.

Paddling Pool Science Experiments

Next time you get the paddling pool out, try one of my five paddling pool experiment ideas. These include sinking and floating, making boats and learning about density!

Ice Excavation

Set up some simple ice excavations. These are super easy. Just freeze some small plastic toys in ice and ask children to rescue them using warm water or salt!

Waterproof a roof

Test different materials on a small LEGO® house to learn about their properties and discover which are waterproof.

Try a fun trick for keeping a paper towel dry from Creative connections for Kids.

Weather Science Investigations

Homemade Barometer

Make an easy barometer to learn about air pressure! This is a great science activity for observing changes over time.

DIY Wind Vane

Build a homemade wind vane to learn about wind strength, or follow Red Ted Art's easy instructions for making a DIY kite.

Rain Gauge from a Bottle

Make a super simple rain gauge from a plastic bottle to measure rainfall. A rain gauge is another easy activity for observing changes over time.

Pinecone Weather Station

A pinecone weather station is ALWAYS fun and a great example of super simple, inexpensive science for kids.

DIY Sundial

Find out how to tell the time with a sundial. This is another brilliant low resource science activity.

Summer Bubble Science Experiments

Rainbow Bubbles

Make rainbow bubbles. Bubbles are great fun for any time of year, but there's not much better than chasing bubbles around a sunny garden.

Bubble Snakes

Bubble Snakes are fantastic fun, too! As an extra challenge, children can experiment with different materials at the end of the bottle to find out which makes the best bubbles. This activity now comes with a FREE bubble machine experiment sheet.

Square Bubble

Did you know you can make a square bubble? You can't really, but you can create an illusion of a slightly wonky cube with a special frame!

Summer Science Experiments Using Sand

Sand Volcano

Last winter, we made an awesome snow volcano, but sand also works really well. If you do it in a tray, it is a great low-prep erupting volcano project.

Evaporation Activities

Learn about evaporation using sand and water on a sunny day. Another visual way to learn about evaporation is using coloured water and salt.

Sand and Water Ratio for a Sandcastle

Investigate to find what you need to make the perfect sandcastle. We experimented to find the perfect ratio of sand to water.

Set yourself up with a science lab in the garden and try a dissolving investigation.

Forces and Motion Experiments

Bottle Rocket

How high can you get a bottle rocket to launch? Remember to stand back as these shoot up with a bang!

Bottle rockets are a fantastic team building STEM challenge because they require a bit of engineering. They'd also make a fantastic class or school competition.

Straw Shooters

Make straw shooters with friends. We like to set up a competition to see whose mini rocket can travel the furthest.

Egg Parachute

Building a parachute for an egg is ALWAYS a fun activity. If you're feeling brave, use an unboiled egg!

Lollystick Chain Reaction

We once had a great summer creating chain reactions with lolly sticks. They take a bit of setting up, but are most definitely worth the effort. A giant lollystick chain reaction would also make a fantastic start or finish to a science day or event.

Outdoor Kitchen Science for Summer

Oobleck

Oobleck is a fancy name for cornflour and water. It makes a lovely sensory mixture that feels solid when squeezed in your hands and then flows like a liquid when the pressure is released.

We can't wait to try these goop and flower cupcakes from The Imagination Tree.

Melting ice cream investigation

Make ice cream soup with Rainy Day Mum to explore melting with a delicious reward.

Solar Oven

A solar oven is good for making s'mores, but you'll need a hot, sunny day and some time.

Filtering Investigation

Test out filtering by cleaning up dirty water in the garden. Children can use kitchen towel, stones, charcoal or anything else they think might clean the water.

Summer Nature Science Experiments

How tall is a tree?

Find out how tall a tree is using a math trick. You might be surprised at how easy this is.

Flowers Activities

Learn about transpiration with white flowers, food colouring and water.

Dissect a flower to learn about the different parts. This is a very visual, hands-on way for children to learn about the structure of plants and flowers.

Make a wormery

Find out all about Earthworms and how useful they are with a wormery.

Butterfly Activities

Watch butterflies grow with Red Ted Art. I also have a delicious edible butterfly life cycle activity.

Explore the lifecycle of a ladybird with a simple fingerprint activity from Reading Confetti.

Make lovely Chromatography butterflies with Buggy and Buddy

Build a den with sticks and leaves. Do some research first. The Wildlife Trust has some great den-building tips.

Bug Hotel

Design and build a bug hotel. These can be made very simply or on a bigger scale with pallets.

Make rose petal perfume to explore mixing and scents with The Imagination Tree.

Ice Experiments for Kids

Try mixing some colour with ice made from fruit juice. At the end, you'll have a delicious cold smoothie to drink.

Make lovely, pretty summery ice with The Imagination Tree. We like to either speed up the melting of the ice with a bit of salt or warm water, or leave cubes of ice in different places to find out where they melt the fastest.

Giant or even mini ice excavations are great for summer. We once created one so big it took ALL day to melt. One fun variation on trying to make ice melt is trying to make an ice cube last as long as possible without melting.

Summer Science Challenges

We've got enough easy summer science challenges to keep you busy ALL summer, too!

Phew, can you think of any more summer science ideas for us?

I also have a delicious round-up of 50 kitchen science experiments for a rainy day or if you need to escape the sun for a while.

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The last two days have been so hot in the UK that we've had the paddling pool out, so it seemed like the perfect time to try some water based investigations.

For each mini investigation, I asked the children a question, and then we discussed what we thought would happen and why.

I've also got many non paddling pool water experiments you can try!

Five things to investigate in your paddling pool

Will the sun make the water warmer?

My five-year-old thought the sun would heat the water if we left the water in the paddling pool during the hottest part of the day. We didn't use a thermometer as I didn't have one to hand, but that would have been a good idea in retrospect.

We found that the water was much warmer if the paddling pool was filled up in the morning and left for a few hours in the sun rather than just filled and used immediately.

Can you make a boat move?

We used a small plastic boat. Z tried to move it by blowing initially, which worked well but found he could make it move much faster by placing the hosepipe behind it. We had lots of fun making the boat race around the pool.

Another idea is to make and test your boats made from recycled materials.

Will the water level rise if we all sit in the pool?

We decided the water level would rise, but the children couldn't tell me why. So we tried it, and the water did rise a little bit. Do you know why this is?

It's all down to the Archimedes Principle!

Will a heavy ball float?

Everyone thought the heavy ball would sink, but it floated!

If you can find a ball that does sink, try covering it with bubble wrap. It should now float, as adding bubble wrap makes it less dense.

Objects need to be less dense than water to float.

More Science in the Paddling Pool

Try making boats with tin foil and investigating how many coins you can put before they sink.

Mix sand with some water in a small pot or tray and leave in the sunshine while you splash around. The water will evaporate, leaving just the sand behind.

Freeze some plastic fish into ice cubes with string and do some paddling pool fishing!

Make a small toy figure float

Use materials from around the house to make a small toy figure float!

Can you think of any more science for the paddling pool?

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We've all been there, it's a hot day, and you really want an ice pop ( popsicle ), but it's too cold to hold at first, and then the sun melts it before you can really enjoy it. This ice pop STEM challenge solves both problems!

A fun twist on this, if popsicles aren't your favourite snack, is a save the chocolate STEM challenge.

The Ice Pop STEM Challenge

Challenge

To design and make an ice pop holder to protect your hands from the cold and also slow down how fast the ice pop melts.

Extra challenge

Make the ice pop holder either reusable or recyclable so there's less waste.

You'll need

Frozen ice pops/popsicles

Recycled or craft items to make the ice pop holder. For example -

Bubble wrap

Kitchen foil

Paper

Tape

Felt

Ice Pop STEM challenge Instructions

Step 1

Design a holder for an ice pop/popsicle.

Think about functionality as well as how it looks. For example, the ice pop holder needs to contain an insulating material to protect hands from the cold and shield the ice pop from the heat of the sun.

Step 2

Make the ice pop holder. The design can be tweaked at this stage.

Step 3

Test the ice pop holder.

Does it protect your hands from the cold?

Does it slow down how fast the ice pop melts? To test this, you'll need to set up a small investigation.

Leave on ice pop uncovered in the sun. Cover a second ice pop with the holder and leave it in the same place.

Check on both ice pops every 5 minutes and monitor how fast each melts.

My free design and experiment sheet is a great addition to this activity!

I also have more generic STEM challenge templates available if you prefer.

Top tips for choosing materials

Bubble wrap is a great choice as it will insulate the ice pops from the heat of the sun as the tiny pockets of air trap the heat. Bubble wrap is a good insulator.

White reflects heat, so a white or light-coloured material on the outside will help keep the ice pop cool. Black paper will absorb heat and speed up how fast the ice pop melts.

Extension Ideas

• Cover one ice pop with white paper and one with black paper to investigate reflecting and absorbing materials. Remember you'll need a control ice pop that is uncovered and all three left in the same place.
• Set up an investigation to discover whether leaving an ice pop in the shade slows down how fast it melts.
• Design and build a lolly pop shelter to shade a lolly pop from the sun.

If you liked this popsicle stick STEM challenge, don't forget to try my other FREE summer STEM challenges!

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The UK is hot, hot, hot at the moment, so today, I'm sharing some fun and cooling summer science experiments that are great for kids of all ages on a sunny day!

Sometimes, science experiments outside feel so much easier than making a mess inside. They are a great way to keep kids entertained during school holidays. A mini outdoor lab is easy to set up, and kids can keep coming back to it all summer long.

We love making slushy drinks with ice and salt, tracking the sun's movement with a DIY sundial, and, of course, making delicious s'mores!

What are you waiting for? Grab some supplies and fill your summer with science experiments and STEM challenges.

Summer science for hot days

Science experiments with ice

Summer 5-minute slushy drink

One of our favourite summer activities is exploring the melting and mixing of colours by making slushy drinks with fruity ice.

You'll need salt, ice, two sealable plastic food bags and various different fruit juices to make a colourful slushy drink in minutes!

Paint on ice

Painting on a sheet of ice is a lovely, creative science activity for summer. The paint slips beautifully over the ice, making it a fantastic sensory activity and a creative way to learn about melting and changes of state.

Melting ice cubes

Make ice cubes and investigate where they melt the fastest. Try them inside, in the fridge, outdoors in the sunshine and outdoors in the shade.

Or, try creating an ice excavation. You could go all out and make a huge one or set up lots of mini ones icy rescues.

Make ice cream in a bag

Find out why salt melts ice, and use your new knowledge to make ice cream in a bag or cool a drink down quickly.

The ice and salt trick means you can have cold ice cream made from flavoured milk or a chilly, refreshing drink ready in less than 5 minutes!

Science in the paddling pool

If you have a paddling pool, I have 5 paddling pool science activities that make playing in the pool even more fun than usual!

Lolly stick races

Challenge your friends to a lolly stick race. These are great fun and an unusual water table or paddling pool activity.

Once you've finished racing, use the soapy water to clean outdoor toys!

Sink or float experiments

Finally, testing objects to see whether they sink or float is always fun! Older children can try wrapping objects that sink in bubble wrap to find out if reducing their density helps them float, or make mini boats for sinking objects.

Science in the kitchen

Do you love ice cream? How about making some ice cream soup like Rainy Day Mum? Melty ice cream in the sun is a lovely, tasty treat and a delicious way to learn.

Or, make s'mores in an easy garden solar oven?

Cool a drink quickly using the cooling power of ice and salt. This uses the same science concept as ice cream in a bag.

Adding salt to a mixture of ice and water lowers the freezing point of the ice. The melting ice draws heat from the drink, cooling it down!

Outdoor summer science activities

DIY sundial

Track the movement of the sun with a sundial made with a stick or straw. This sundial looks impressive and is a very visual way to see how the sun's position changes throughout the day.

Water Wall Ideas

Little ones love a water wall, and it's easy to make a DIY version using my homemade water wall ideas. Water walls are a great design challenge for older children, too.

Shadow frames

Shadow frames are brilliant fun. Another idea is to make an empty frame and draw a picture in the middle to cast a shadow!

Drawing the shadow a toy creates is a simple, creative activity that allows children to observe how the shape of the shadow changes throughout the day.

More summer science for kids

Our 50 fun summer science activities will keep you busy all summer long!

If you prefer a challenge, my summer science challenges could be just what you're looking for! NOW with FREE printable challenge cards!

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I've been posting summer science ideas for years, but this summer I have something a little special. Welcome to my Pick and Mix Summer Science Camp!

The idea is to print off the front cover, choose and print the experiments you want to try, and you have your very own personalised, super exciting summer science camp!

If you don't fancy any of the activities below, browse my other printable science experiment instructions, and hopefully, you'll find something you like!

I've got lots more printable science experiments to add very soon, so do keep popping back.

I love to see your creations, so please tag me on social media or leave a comment below.

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The summer solstice is the longest day of the year when the Earth's North Pole is tilted closest to the sun. There are two solstices each year. One in June and one in December. The time of the solstice is the same all over the planet, but the season depends on where on Earth you are ( Northern or Southern Hemisphere ).

The term solstice is made up of the Latin sol meaning the sun, and sistere which means make stand still.

In the Northern Hemisphere the June solstice is the first day of summer and the December solstice the first day of Winter. In the Southern Hemisphere it's the other way round.

Why are the days longer in summer?

There are more hours of daylight in summer because of how the Earth revolves around the sun.

In the Northern Hemisphere ( the half of the world above the equator ), the longest day is the 20th or 21st of June.

The opposite happens in the Southern Hemisphere, where the longest day is the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere.

This is because the Earth is tilted. The half of the Earth tilted towards the sun is in summer, and that part of the Earth tilted away from the sun is in winter. You can see in the image below that each hemisphere of the Earth is tilted towards the sun for one-half of the year and away from the sun for the other half of the year.

What is the longest day of the year?

The longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is the 20-22nd June.

When is the shortest day of the year?

The shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is the 20th-23rd December.

Why does the exact date of the Summer Solstice change?

This is because of leap years which cause the date to change a little each year.

What is an Equinox?

The equinox is the day of the year when the tilt of the Earth is 0, and there are equal hours of day and night. This happens twice a year, on the first day of Spring and the first day of Autumn. Equinox means equal.

Summer Solstice Activities for Kids

These easy ideas are super simple and should help children understand the science behind the summer solstice.

Why do we have night and day?

This simple demonstration I wrote for Lets Lasso the Moon many years ago is a great practical demonstration as to why we have night and day.

How does the Earth orbit the sun?

This very simple, hands-on demonstration shows how the Earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the Earth.

Visit Stonehenge

Stonehenge needs an article to itself, as the history behind it is incredible. At each solstice, the rising sun reaches the middle of the stones, but if you happen to be passing by, it really is an amazing sight to see regardless of the time of year.

Make a rainbow

Did you know sunlight ( white light ) is actually made up of a spectrum of 7 different colours? You can see these when a rainbow forms. Another way to show the spectrum of colours in white light is to make a rainbow using a prism.

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These simple ice decorations are very easy to make, look fantastic, and provide lots of learning opportunities as children observe water freezing, becoming ice, and then melting back into a liquid.

Young children will enjoy feeling the ice ( let it melt a little first ) and trying to melt it by dropping warm water on top. Droppers or pipettes are good to use for sprinkling water on ice and also help improve fine motor skills.

Older children can try hanging the decorations in different areas outdoors to see where they melt the fastest.

Another idea is to try to stop the ice from melting by building a shelter for one of the ice cubes or wrapping it in a material that will reflect heat from the sun or insulate the ice from the sun's heat.

You'll need

• A selection of natural items - only choose flowers that have fallen to the ground.
• water
• a freezer
• small paper cups
• string - cut into short lengths

How to make spring ice decorations

Place the flowers, leaves and other natural items into the paper cups.

Fill to almost the top with water.

Place a piece of string in each cup, ensuring one end is submerged in the water.

Place in the freezer until frozen.

When you're ready to play, take the cups out of the freezer and let them melt for a few minutes.

Push on the bottom of each cup to release the ice decorations.

Either hang the decorations somewhere safe ( remember they may fall off the string as they melt ) or experiment with them!

Investigation ideas

Race a friend to find out who can free their spring treasures from the ice first.

Place one decoration in warm water and one in cold water to discover where the ice melts fastest.

Leave a decoration in a sunny spot and one in the shade to find out if the ice in the sunny spot melts faster.

Use a large container to make a big flower ice block. Try to melt the ice using sprinkles of warm and cold water or even a little salt.

More outdoor science ideas

Try one of my science ideas for a sunny day.

Find out what happens to a dandelion in water.

Build a tin foil river like Farm Wife Crafts. This would be a great activity for trying some dam building too!

Once you've finished with the ice, try to dissect one of the flowers. This is a great way to learn about the different parts of a plant.

Try one of my other ice excavation ideas.

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SUMMER STEM CHALLENGE CARDS

Sugar Cube Structures

Make sugar cube towers and place different materials, such as kitchen foil, cling film, etc, between the cubes to investigate which material is the most waterproof.

This is a great activity to turn into a game of who can build the tallest tower before it collapses!

Treasure Maps

Use cold coffee or tea to make white paper look old, then draw a map of your garden, house or even a map from a story!

It's an old-school activity ( I remember making treasure maps as a child ), but they are easy, creative, and great fun for the summer holidays.

Secret Messages

Write secret messages with lemon or lime juice!

Lemon and lime juice look almost invisible when painted on paper, but react with oxygen, which makes them turn brown when they are exposed to heat.

Fizzy Potions - Summer STEM Challenge

There's nothing better than a fizzy potion outdoors on a sunny day. Add baking soda, vinegar and dish soap for a super eruption!

To make this extra exciting, add a little red cabbage indicator to make colour changing potions!

Ice Painting

Freeze a sheet of ice and paint over the top. Once you've finished, wipe the ice clean and start again! The ice sheet is a lovely surface to paint over, it feels sticky at first and then smooth as it starts to melt.

Flower Dissection

The best way to learn about the different parts of a flower is to take one apart! Can you spot all the different parts?

Once the stem, petals, leaves and roots have been identified, try to spot the male and female parts of the flower.

Jump Up!

Make jumping frogs, jumping unicorns and anything else you fancy with this easy static electricity experiment.

Build a Raft - Summer STEM Challenge

Make a raft from whatever materials you have around the house and test how much weight it can hold.

Play Dough Models

Make a play dough model of a brain, bone, heart, or anything else you fancy! Play dough brains are a fantastic way for kids to learn about the different hemispheres of the brain and their functions.

Bubble Wands

Build your own bubble wands with pipe cleaners and straws! This is also a fun activity to learn about how rainbows form.

Bean in a Jar - Summer STEM Challenge

Did you know you can grow a bean in a jar? Or use paper or a sheet of card to construct a beanstalk for Jack! This is a great activity for learning about germination.

More STEM Challenges for Kids

Try our fun newspaper STEM Challenges, make shoes, towers, dens and more.

I've also got some easy Fairy Tale STEM Challenges to try! Make a beanstalk for Jack, a raft for the Billy Goats and more!

We'd love to see your summer science adventures, so don't forget to share them!

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Can you believe it's been over 50 years since humans landed on the moon for the first time? This historic event was not only an incredible feat of science and engineering but also led to many innovations that have improved human life since. If you have children who are fascinated by space travel ( or if you want to inspire them ) this fun collection of space themed science experiments will make a great home space camp!

Don't forget I also have a fun space themed book This Is Rocket Science, which explores the principles behind space flight explaining difficult concepts through simple but exciting, hands-on and easy space themed experiments.

DIY Space Camp for Kids

Docking in Space

Docking in space is quite a task, if you've seen the movie Apollo 13 I bet you were holding your breath when the astronauts had to dock with the lunar module. This fun docking activity is very simplified but a nice, simple demonstration of how tricky docking in space must be. It requires a bit of teamwork so it is a great first space camp activity!

Did you know Apollo 14 struggled to dock the Command Service Module with the Lunar Module?

Our Expanding Universe

Did you know the Universe is expanding? A fun way to demonstrate this is with a balloon!

How does the Earth orbit the Sun?

Discover how the earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the earth with a super simple orbit activity.

Space Camp - Make a parachute

Discover why parachutes are sometimes used to slow the descent of spacecraft returning to Earth with our fun egg parachute activity. This is a great activity for introducing the concept of air resistance and gravity to kids.

Moon Phase Cupcakes

Learn about the moon with our moon phase cupcakes. Do you know we only see one side of the moon because of how it and the Earth rotates?

Difficulties in space

Try threading pipe cleaners through a colander with bare hands and then wearing thick gloves or washing up gloves. It should feel much harder when wearing gloves.

Imagine being an astronaut and having to do something delicate whilst wearing a space suit!

Make a Rocket!!

A film canister rocket or an easy bottle rocket are both brilliant ways to end a week of space camp! Just remember to stand back as they both fly upwards with a bang.

These are both fantastic for teaching children about Newton's Laws of Motion in a fun hands on way too!

Learn about famous space scientists

Katherine Johnson worked at NASA for over 30 years and played a vital role in putting humans on the moon for the first time. She was also the first African-American woman to attend graduate school at West Virginia University.

Learn about Copernicus's theory of heliocentrism by taking it in turns to play the role of the sun, moon and earth as they orbit each other.

Isaac Newton's infamous Laws of Motion provide the basis for space travel.

Carline Herschel was a pioneering astronomer and the first woman to discover a comet!

Space Camp - Camp out and stargaze

It's not a space camp without some stargazing!

If you can, it's good to camp somewhere away from too much light pollution, but even a back garden stargazing campout is great fun.

Top Tips for Stargazing with Kids

Remember to wrap up warm and use a red torch to help you see in the dark. You can easily make a red torch by attaching a piece of red cellophane over the end of the torch.

Download an app to help identify what you can see, SkyView is a great one to start with.

For more long-term stargazing, start a star diary or journal and record what you can see each night.

The Plough is always a fun group of stars to find, as it looks like a saucepan. It's actually part of Ursa Major, which is a constellation.

Orion's Belt sits in the constellation of Orion ( the Hunter ). The belt is three bright stars in a row, which are usually easy to spot!

Another famous star to locate is the North Star, which sits directly above the North Pole and tends to stay in the same position.

What do you think? Will our DIY space Camp be a hit with your children?

Space Camp Booklet

To make it a bit easier, I've pulled a few activities together into a little space camp booklet, including a moon phase log book and stargazing log pages.

Day 1 - Mini Bottle Rocket

Design, build and launch a mini rocket!

Day 2 - Expanding Universe

Use a balloon to model our expanding universe!

Day 3 - Egg Drop Parachute

Create and test a parachute for an egg.

Day 4 - Phases of the Moon

Learn about the phases of the moon, make an edible moon phase model and observe how the moon changes each day.

Day 5 - Stargazing

Find out how to be a successful stargazer and keep a log of the night sky.

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Do you know how to make a solar oven? I've always wanted to try one, so when the UK was unusually hot last summer we gave it a go. It was actually much easier than I expected and our marshmallows melted very quickly.

If you fancy setting up a few garden activities on a sunny day another idea is to create a DIY sundial.

What you need to make a solar oven

• Cardboard box - like a pizza box
• Aluminium foil
• Matte black paper or card
• Clingfilm
• Food - not raw meat - we used marshmallows
• Plate

How to make a solar oven

Cover the inside of the box lid with foil and the bottom with matte black card.

Place your food on a plate in the base of the box

Position the box so it faces the sun, adjusting the lid so the light is reflected onto the food. Fix the lid at this position with tape, a tack or stick.

Cover the food base with clingfilm to keep your food clean.

After about 30 minutes our marshmallows had melted enough to squish between some biscuits.

How do Solar Ovens work?

The matte black paper absorbs the heat while solar radiation from the sun is reflected from the aluminium foil onto the food.

We tried a different activity with crayons and left one crayon in the sun on a shiny metal plate and one on a plastic plate. The crayon on the metal plate melted fastest. Why do you think this is?

Extension Activities

Does the food heat up faster if you use a matte black plate rather than a white plate? Why do you think this would be?

What extra features could you add to your solar oven? How about a hinge mechanism?

Science concepts

• Heat transfer
• Conduction
• Radiation

This activity is great for:

Key stage 1 and 2 Design and Technology

Improving skills, knowledge and understanding of an iterative design process.

Design

Allowing children to design a purposeful, functional and appealing product for themselves and others.

Generating and developing ideas

Make

Selecting appropriate tools and equipment.

Explore

Exploring the best location and structure of the oven for it's purpose.

Testing their ideas.

Using mechanisms such as hinges.

Once you've made a sundial, how about trying our Pick and Mix Summer Science Camp?

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Homemade Water Walls are a great summer activity. We usually make one at the start of summer and leave it in place for as long as it survives. You can be creative and use a trellis, a fence, or anything else you can wrap tubing around. Add buckets and funnels for a summer of watery fun.

Our DIY water wall ideas are easy to set up with just a few supplies and work well in a school environment or garden at home.

Why Build a DIY Water Wall?

Water walls are great for teaching kids about gravity and how water flows. Charlie ( age 2 ) has already worked out that water will only flow up a pipe if there's enough force to push it through or if someone blows down the end!

Most importantly, water walls are just great fun. My children spend hours pouring, scooping and recycling water through the pipes.

We used a blue metal frame from TTS for this one with clear plastic tubing and funnels.

What you need to build a water wall

Funnels

Tubes

Pipes

Buckets

Empty Milk Cartons

Containers

Cable ties - handy for attaching tubes and funnels.

How to build a DIY water wall

Once you have a frame to build your water wall on ( this could be a fence, crates as we used below, or even a trellis ), the rest is up to you. Just attach pipes, funnels, and containers so the water can flow. It's a good idea to have something at the bottom to catch the water so it can be recycled through the water wall.

This is a very simple water wall we made using cable ties and a trellis.

Below is another example of a water wall we made using the metal frame from TTS. I attached the milk bottles with elastic bands.

Colour Mixing DIY Water Wall

This colour mixing water wall is one we made many, many years ago. First the yellow and blue water mixes as it drops into the bottle underneath, then the half plastic bottle under can either tip into a container to collect or drop onto the person below!

Inspire My Play has a brilliant water wall made using equipment from Ikea.

More Easy Science for Kids

I've got lots of easy water science experiments for kids to try, including a water-powered rocket, filtering water, learning about osmosis, and some fun density tricks!

If a summer science challenge is more your thing, I've got lots of those as well!

Or, try one of my FIFTY summer science experiments, including a solar oven, paddling pool experiments, bubble snakes and instructions for making the perfect sand for sand castles!

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The summer holidays are a great time to get outdoors and try some science experiments and investigations. I've chosen some of my favourite summer science experiments to keep the kids busy all summer long!

Science experiments are great for improving critical thinking, teamwork, communication and stimulating creativity. Science experiments in summer can be used to cool off on a hot day and keep kids active and entertained throughout the school holidays.

I also have ideas for a three week summer science camp if you need even more inspiration!

Summer Science Experiments

Ice painting

Freeze a sheet of ice and try painting on ice. This is a great activity for learning about changes of state, or just a fun art project!

3D ice sculptures are also fun to paint as an alternative to a flat tray.

Grow a Grass Head

Create crazy hair styles with Red Ted Art's cool grass heads, or how about a cool cress head? Cress grows quickly, so it is great for science experiments and crafts. Kids will be amazed at how fast the cress grows!

Dig for Dinosaur Eggs

Go digging for dinosaur eggs with Rainy Day Mum or create a fossil excavation sand play area.

Make S'mores!

Make S'mores with an easy solar oven. You need a very sunny day for this to work, and it might take a while, but squishing the melted marshmallows between two biscuits is worth the wait!

Make a slushy drink

Sticking with the ice theme, try making your own slushy drinks. What colours can you make? We like to freeze ice cubes of different coloured juices and then watch the colours mix as they melt.

How to make a sun print

Creative Family Fun has some amazing sun prints. You can also try this using different types of paper instead of the coins to see if some let more light through than others.

Giant bubbles

Giant bubbles are ALWAYS fun. Experiment with different bubble mixtures ( try adding cornflour and/or glycerin ) to create the perfect recipe. Children should be able to find rainbows in the bubbles, too!

Make a volcano

A reusable volcano is another fun summer project. Volcanoes can be a bit messy, so they're perfect for the garden, and we love that you can erupt this one over and over again, thanks to a cling film covering.

Frozen Jelly

We love the look of this frozen jelly activity from The Imagination Tree. I bet it feels amazing.

Launch a Film Canister Rocket

Try a film canister rocket. What happens if you add some extra weight? Can you try launching with Alka Seltzer, baking soda and vinegar and an effervescent vitamin tablet to see which is the best rocket fuel?

Fizzy paint

Make some fizzy paint. It's a bit messy, but it's great fun.

Design and build a water wall

Can you construct a colour mixing water wall? Or any kind of water wall?

More summer science ideas

Inspiration Laboratories has some great outdoor science activity ideas. We especially love the scavenger hunt.

How about making these lovely chalk ice paints from Learn-Play-Imagine?

This backyard tightrope walk looks amazing, courtesy of the Kids Activities blog. Can you try it with different rope materials? Which are the easiest to traverse?

If you've got the paddling pool out, try one of my easy paddling pool science ideas!

There are some great summer science for toddlers ideas over on Inspiration Laboratories, too!

Mama Smiles has some fantastic sun melted upcycled crayons.

Try some weather science, a mini water cycle is always fun.

What are your favourite science experiments for Summer?

Even more summer science experiments for kids

These 10 outdoor summer science experiments include learning about splatter patterns and painting with syringes.

Or, if a STEM Challenge is more up your alley, we've got plenty of summer STEM challenges, too, including free printable challenges!

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Now summer seems to finally be here, we thought we'd get the sand table out and start playing. We tried to make sandcastles with the dry sand, which didn't work at all. They just collapsed.

Can you think why this is? What could you add to make the sand more 'sticky'?

We added a little bit of water, which made the sandcastles slightly better, but still not great.

We kept adding water until we could make an almost perfect sandcastle. It took several attempts to get the right combination of sand and water.

Too much water and the sandcastles fell apart and stuck to the inside of our bucket. Too little water and the sand just flowed out. We found that if we could squeeze the sand into a ball in our hands and it stayed together it made a good sandcastle.

How to make the perfect sandcastle

Sandcastle sand to water ratio

According to PBS the magic sand to water ratio is one bucket of water to 8 buckets of sand!

We put this theory to the test and it worked really well! The sand was sticky, but not too sticky...almost perfect!

Why does water make sand stick together?

You should have noticed that wet sand is much stickier than dry sand. This is because the water forms tiny bridges between the grains of sand which holds them together. This is due to the surface tension of the water. If too much water is added, water fills the space between the grains of sand and the bridges break down.

Read more about the physics of sand on Live Science.

More Science Activities using Sand

Use sand to filter water in this easy activity.

Make a volcano eruption using sand.

Or, try one of our 50 Summer Science Activities.

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Last summer, we held our very own garden science camp. It was brilliant fun, and we all learned a lot! It was a great way to spend time together away from screens and just generally work as a team to solve problems.

If your children love science, I'd definitely recommend trying a DIY science camp this summer, we'll be doing it again, although maybe on a slightly smaller scale.

I've pulled together a list of 15 science experiments we really enjoyed, but if any don't take your fancy, have a look at our other science projects for more ideas.

I've also got lots of easy ideas for science at home, with FREE printable instructions, so do check those out too!

Science Camp Week 1

Day 1 - Giant Bubbles

This is a great activity for kids of all ages as older children can experiment to find the perfect bubble mix of water, dish soap ( washing up liquid ), glycerine and cornflour for making extra-large bubbles.

This bubble recipe on Red Ted Art is a great starting point!

Day 2 - Heart Rate Investigation

Investigate the effect of exercise on heart rate in this fun science experiment. Children can also make their own super simple stethoscope, to listen to a friend's heart.

Day 3 - Colour Changing Flowers

This simple summer science experiment works in just a few hours and is a great way to demonstrate the transport of water in plants.

Day 4 - Fizzy Science

Everyone loves a fizzy baking soda experiment. I just love playing with baking soda and vinegar as it's such a visual experience for children and can be themed in lots of different ways. These witchy potions are great for Halloween, but perhaps for a summer camp fairy potions might work better.

Day 5 - Giant Viscosity Race

This large scale viscosity race is great fun. Children test the viscosity of different liquids by racing them down a giant ramp. As an extension activity, children can even make their own cardboard ramp, but remember, it'll need to be waterproof!

Science Camp Week 2

Day 6 - Make your own slushy drinks

There are two ways to do this. For younger children, you can freeze fruit juice into ice cube trays and let them leave the cubes in different places to see where they melt the fastest. Once the ice starts to melt, children can then use a spoon to make it into a slushy drink.

For older children, use the salt and ice trick to make slushy drinks.

Day 7 - Make a Red Cabbage Indicator

Did you know you can make a pH indictor using red cabbage? Once kids have made the indicator, they can test different ( safe ) substances to see how they change colour. Baby wipes are a fun thing to test as well. Try a water based and non water based wipe.

Day 8 - Surface Tension Experiments

Try a magic milk experiment, race lolly sticks and lots more surface tension activities.

Day 9 - Make a Mini Water Cycle

Learn about the water cycle with this easy mini water cycle model. Children could even make a mini plastic bag water cycle to take home.

Day 10 - Skittles Experiment

Make a rainbow on a plate with this colourful skittles experiment.

Science Camp - Week 3

Day 11 - Candy Chromatography

Sticking with the candy theme, this candy chromatography experiment is great fun and super easy. All you need is some filter paper, paper clips, a container, water and colourful candies.

Day 12  - Make a Magnet Maze

Magnet mazes are great fun and a cool way to learn about magnetism. These can also be easily themed. Children could use their favourite characters from a book or TV show.

Day 13 - Rockets

You can't have science camp without rockets! Film canister rockets are nice and easy but great fun to watch and a water powered bottle rocket would be a fantastic way to end science camp with a bang!

Day 14 - Zip Lines

Homemade zip lines keep kids busy for hours. Children could make a zip line for a favourite teddy or theme it. We once made a zip line for Jack to escape the giant, but this would also work for helping Rapunzel escape from her tower.

Day 15 - Candy House

Create a candy house for Hansel and Gretal or a new house for the three little pigs. My children just loved this activity. We started the day shopping for sweets that we thought would be good for the task and searching for sticky substances to stick everything together.

More Science Camp Experiments

Check out my pick and mix science camp with a selection of experiments you can print to make your very own science camp at home!

Oobleck on a giant scale is always fantastic fun, especially if you can walk on it!

Fantastic Fun and Learning has some brilliant homemade sprinkler ideas to try.

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Did you know you can make homemade ice cream in a bag in less than 10 minutes with just milk, salt and ice? You don't even need a freezer!! Our ice cream recipe is easy for kids to follow and a fun science activity at the same time.

Experiment with different flavours and toppings to find your favourite ice cream dessert!

This awesome kitchen science experiment for kids involves lots of interesting chemistry, is inexpensive and very simple!

What is ice cream?

Ice cream is made up of droplets of fat from milk jumbled up with millions of tiny crystals of ice and pockets of air.

This activity uses the freezing power of salt and ice to create ice crystals in milk without a freezer!

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag Science Experiment

What you need to make ice cream in a bag

A large bag of ice

Salt

Milk - we used chocolate milk, but any kind of milk or non-dairy drink will work

A tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla essence - optional

Resealable bags

Tea towel

How to make ice cream in a bag

1. Pour a cup of milk into a resealable plastic bag. Add the sugar and vanilla essence ( or just use flavoured milk ). Make sure the bag is properly sealed.
2. Half-fill a bigger sealable bag with ice and add a good amount of salt.
3. Put the milk bag into the ice bag and give it a good shake.
4. Keep the milk in contact with the ice as much as possible.
5. Keep rolling the ice over the milk. The ice in the bag will get VERY cold, so put a towel around the bag to protect your hands.
6. Check the milk after 5 minutes. It should be a similar consistency to ice cream. If not, keep going for a bit longer.

Why does ice cream in a bag work?

Pure water freezes at 0°C. The addition of salt lowers the freezing point by a few degrees ( freezing point depression ). This means when salt is added to the ice in the outer bag, the ice (which is at 0°C) is above its freezing point, so it starts to melt. Melting needs energy, which in this case comes from the milk mixture in the inner bag. Heat energy is absorbed from the milk, making ice crystals form between the tiny fat molecules.

The more salt that is added to the ice, the lower the freezing point. For the ice to melt, heat must be absorbed from the surroundings ( in this case, the milk mixture ), causing it to freeze.

The ice will feel VERY cold, which is why you'll need a towel to cover the bag after a  few minutes.

Extension ideas

Create and test different homemade ice cream recipes.

Place a mixture of ice and salt in a freezer to investigate whether it freezes or not.

This activity would be perfect for a science club or a fun STEM Challenge. You could even have a competition to see who can make the COLDEST ice cream!

More Awesome Kitchen Science for Kids

Make a whole meal of science experiments! This is a great science or cooking challenge for homeschooling or school!

Try one of my other easy kitchen science experiments for kids, including finding out why cakes turn brown in the oven, why pineapple stops jelly setting, building towers with toothpicks in a flapjack or brownie base and lots more!

If your children love edible experiments, you might also like my kitchen science book, Snackable Science, which includes SIXTY fun and easy edible experiments!

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