Cool Kitchen Science Experiments for Kids

Picture it… It’s 5 PM and you’re trying to get dinner ready. But the kids are hanging around alternating “I’m hungry!” “I’m bored!” and “Can I stir the pot? Can I? Can I?” If they’re going to be underfoot, you might as well bring out some fun distraction. In the kitchen. Like these cool Kitchen Science Experiments.

This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.”

Have fun in the kitchen with these cool kitchen science experiments for kids. Think magic milk, walking water, oobleck, food science, and more!

Walking Water Paper Towel Science Experiment

First up is a very cool color experiment using paper towels.  Here’s what you need:

  • 3 Bounty Advanced paper towels
  • 6 glasses, ideally all of similar size
  • Red, yellow & blue liquid watercolors or food coloring
  • Water

Walking Water Science Experiment Supplies

  1. Lay out your six glassed in a circle. Add yellow watercolor into one glass, skip a glass, pour red watercolor into one glass, skip a glass and pour blue watercolor into the last one. Add water to the glasses with color.
  2. Cut each of the three paper towels into half the long way. You can use any kind of paper towels you want, but Bounty Advanced really works the best because it picks up so much water.Drape one piece of paper towel over the tops of two glasses.
  3. Now wait! Immediately, you’ll see colored water wicking up the paper towel. After many hours, you’ll see colored water make it into the empty glasses. After a day or so, you’ll see the secondary colors of the color wheel show up.

Walking Water Science Experiment Left Brain Craft Brain

What’s the Science Behind Walking Water?

This color wheel gets created thanks to capillary action, the same action that helps plants move water from the ground through it’s roots into their leaves. It allows the water to defy gravity and move upwards inside small gaps in the Bounty Advanced paper towel.

The leftover Bounty Advanced paper towels are so gorgeous too! We’re busy scheming how to use them in other art projects.

Colored Paper Towels Left Brain Craft Brain

Oobleck Dough

Have you tried oobleck with the kids? It’s a cool messy science experiment because sometimes it feels like a liquid and sometimes it feels like a solid. Usually you make it with water and cornstarch. But if you replace the water with some Dawn Platinum Advanced Power you can turn your oobleck into a totally unique play dough.

Pouring Soap Left Brain Craft Brain

For the full description and instructions, click on over to the Oobleck Dough post.

Oobleck Dough and Soap Left Brain Craft Brain

Luckily Costco isn’t running out of Dawn Platinum Advanced Power this week, because there are so many ways to use it! Like bubbles. Dawn® makes the absolute best Bubble Mix.

 

What’s the Science Behind Oobleck?

Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid, a fancy name for a material that changes viscosity (thickness) with pressure. Give it hard push, it feels solid. Be more gentle, and it flows like a liquid. Oobleck and slime are examples of shear-thickening non-Newtonian fluids, meaning they get thicker with more pressure. Nail polish and ketchup are examples of shear thinning non-Newtonian fluids, meaning they get thinner with pressure.

Magic Milk Science Experiment

This one’s a classic, but never fails to impress the kids. Even the jaded grown-ups :)  Pour some milk into a bowl. Add liquid watercolors or food coloring, keeping the colors separate. Then get ready for the magic. Drop a little Dawn into the middle of the bowl and watch the colors quickly float to the edges and mix.

You can try this same experiment with a little pepper too. It’s fun to see the flakes fly.

What’s the Science Behind Magic Milk?

This one’s really all about the soap. Dish soap like Dawn has the amazing ability to bind with fat which is why it’s so great at cleaning your dishes. It’s also great at binding with the fat in milk so when you add a drop of soap to the bowl of milk, the color quickly moves around as the soap tries to find all the milk fat molecules in the bowl.

Food Science Experiments

If a kid cooks it, they’ll eat it. As the mom of an extremely picky eater, we’ve always taken to heart this advice. I’d be lying if I said that it actually works to get her eating stuff, but it does help her have fun and learn. Here are a few of our favorite projects.

Have you ever made homemade yogurt? Sooo delicious and totally worth the time. Plus, when you fire up the cultures, the kids can learn about the Biology of Yogurt.

Yogurt Jars Left Brain Craft Bran

Bread is another delicious way to study science. So pull out the yeast and watch it bloom with this delicious Homemade Bread recipe.

loaf of bread left brain craft brain

And this one is our all time favorite edible project… Edible Polymers. Because who knew that homemade fruit gummies have natural polymers in them? Make a batch and teach the kids a whole new science topic.

Peaches and Cream Fruit Gummies LBCB FB

After all of this cool kitchen science fun, I’m guessing that you might need to do a little laundry. You could even try the classic science fair experiment where you see which detergent works the best on different stains. We’re totally a Tide Pods family and with a messy five year old, we successfully attempt the stain experiment EVERY day.

Love Kitchen Science? You'll love STEAM Kids in the Kitchen!

Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that use can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Kids in the Kitchen: Hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math Hands-On Recipes and Activities for Kids ebook! It’s packed full of 70+ Bring STEAM learning fun into the kitchen with these hands-on activities and recipes. Learn what makes bread rise, colors change, and how to make an epic pudding model of the Earth.

 
 

Cool Kitchen Science Experiments for Kids FB Left Brain Craft Brain

Scroll to Top