Every day is chock-full of new discoveries when you are a kindergartner! These hands-on kindergarten science experiments and activities take advantage of kids’ boundless curiosity. They’ll learn about physics, biology, chemistry, and more basic science concepts, gearing them up to become lifelong learners.
To make things even easier, we’ve rated every one of these kindergarten science experiments based on difficulty and materials:
Difficulty:
- Easy: Low or no-prep experiments you can do pretty much any time
- Medium: These take a little more setup or a longer time to complete
- Advanced: Experiments like these take a fairly big commitment of time or effort
Materials:
- Basic: Simple items you probably already have around the house
- Medium: Items that you might not already have but are easy to get your hands on
- Advanced: These require specialized or more expensive supplies to complete
Jump to:
Food Science Experiments for Kindergarten
What better way to dive into the world of science than to play with your food? These food science experiments for kindergartners are sure to grab their interest.
Use apples to learn what science is all about
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This apple investigation is a great way to start. It encourages kids to examine an apple using a variety of techniques to learn its properties. Get a free printable worksheet for this activity at the link.
Learn more: Apple Investigation at Preschool Play & Learn
Eat your way through soil layers
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Layer a variety of foods to represent the soil layers, from bedrock on up. If candy doesn’t fit your school’s nutritional guidelines, use fruits, yogurt, granola, and other healthy options. Either way, the results are scrumptious!
Learn more: Edible Soil Layers at Super Teacher Blog
Dehydrate your own raisins
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Easy
Have students dry grapes in the sun over a period of days to see them turn into raisins. Then talk about the process of dehydration as a method of preserving food.
Learn more: Homemade Raisins at Learn Play Imagine
Cook up edible glass
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Basic
Just like real glass, this edible glass is made from tiny opaque grains, but in this case from sugar instead of sand. Cooked and then cooled, it becomes what’s known as an “amorphous solid.” So cool!
Learn more: Edible Glass at Go Science Kids
Paint with salt
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
OK, little learners probably won’t remember the word “hygroscopic,” but they’ll enjoy watching the salt absorb and transfer colors in this neat kindergarten science experiment.
Learn more: Salt Painting at A Dab of Glue Will Do
Play with “magic” milk
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Sometimes science seems like magic! In this case, dish soap breaks down milk fats and causes a colorful swirling reaction that will mesmerize little learners.
Learn more: Magic Milk at Natural Beach Living
Explore buoyancy with oranges
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Expand your exploration of buoyancy with this cool demo. Kids will be surprised to learn that even though an orange feels heavy, it floats. That is, until you peel off the skin!
Learn more: Orange Buoyancy at Playdough to Plato
Bounce popcorn with sound waves
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Sound may be invisible to the naked eye, but you can see the waves in action with this demo. The plastic wrap–covered bowl is the perfect stand-in for an eardrum.
Learn more: Popcorn Sound Waves at Premeditated Leftovers
Build a Three Little Pigs STEM house
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Can your little engineers create a house that protects a little piggie from the Big Bad Wolf? Try this kindergarten STEM challenge and find out!
Learn more: Three Little Pigs STEM Challenge at Sweet Sounds of Kindergarten
Make egg geodes
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Engage your students in the steps of the scientific method to create these stunning lab-grown geodes. Compare the results using sea salt, kosher salt, and borax.
Learn more: Egg Geodes at TinkerLab
Water Science Experiments for Kindergarten
Water play is a kindergarten favorite, so use it to engage them in these projects and activities. They make science for kindergarten students to much fun!
Change the color of flowers
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
This is one of those classic kindergarten science activities everyone should try at least once. Learn how flowers “drink” water using capillary action, and create beautiful blooms while you’re at it!
Learn more: Capillary Action at Fun Learning for Kids
Assemble a lava lamp
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Help your students make their very own lava lamp using simple household ingredients. Then personalize the lamps by adding a couple of drops of food coloring to each bottle.
Create a tower of instant ice
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Place a water bottle in the freezer for a couple of hours, but don’t let it freeze all the way through. Then, pour some of the water onto a couple of ice cubes perched on top of a ceramic bowl and watch a tower of ice form.
Learn more: Instant Ice at Only Passionate Curiosity
Watch colored water walk
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Fill three small jars with red, yellow, and blue food coloring and some water. Then place empty jars in between each. Fold paper towel strips and place them in the jars as shown. Kids will be amazed as the paper towels pull the water from full jars to empty ones, mixing and creating new colors!
Learn more: Walking Water at Messy Little Monster
Create a tornado in a jar
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
As you fill in the weather during daily calendar time, you might have a chance to talk about severe storms and tornadoes. Show your students how twisters form with this classic tornado jar experiment.
Learn more: Tornado in a Jar at One Little Project
Suspend water inside a jar
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Lots of kindergarten science activities involve water, which is terrific because kids love to play in it! In this one, show your students how air pressure keeps water in a jar, even when it’s upside down.
Learn more: Water Pressure Experiment at A Mothership Down
See popcorn kernels dance
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Here’s an activity that always feels a bit like magic. Drop an Alka-Seltzer tablet into a glass of water with popcorn kernels, and watch as the bubbles cling to the kernels and make them rise and fall. So cool!
Learn more: Dancing Popcorn at Everyday Chaos + Calm
Find out what sinks and what floats
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Kids learn about the property of buoyancy and get some practice making predictions and recording the results with this easy experiment. All you need is a container of water to get started.
Learn more: Sink or Float? at Buggy and Buddy
Make it rain with shaving cream
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Here’s another neat weather-related science experiment. Make shaving cream “clouds” on top of the water, then drop food coloring in to watch it “rain.”
Learn more: Shaving Cream Clouds at One Little Project
Bend light with water
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Light refraction produces some incredible results. Your students will think it’s magic when the arrow on the paper changes direction … until you explain that it’s all due to the way water bends the light.
Learn more: Light Water Play at Go Science Girls
More Kindergarten Science Experiments
We’ve got even more ideas about teaching science to kindergarten students here, from plant and dirt science to static electricity and more.
Craft some recycled paper
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Teach your kindergartners how to transform something old into something new. Use scrap paper, old newspapers, and magazine pages to create beautiful handcrafted paper.
Learn more: Homemade Paper at The Craftaholic Witch
Make their hair stand on end
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Kids love to play with balloons! Find out all about the properties of static electricity with these three fun and super-easy balloon experiments. (Get more fun balloon experiments here.)
Create a model of the human spine
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Kindergarten science students love to learn through play. Make this simple egg carton spine model to encourage your students’ interest in the human body and how it works.
Learn more: Spine Model at Mombrite
Inflate a balloon without blowing into it
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Teach your students the magic of chemical reactions using a plastic bottle, vinegar, and baking soda to inflate a balloon. This classic experiment is a wonderful way to explore science for kindergarten kids.
Learn more: Balloon Experiment at Hands On Teaching Ideas
Move a paper butterfly’s wings with static electricity
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Part art project, part science lesson, all fun! Kids make tissue paper butterflies, then use the static electricity from a balloon to flap the wings.
Learn more: Static Electricity Butterfly at I Heart Crafty Things
Race balloon rockets
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Introduce little ones to the laws of motion with easy-to-make balloon rockets. When the air shoots out one end, the balloons will sail off in the other direction. Whee!
Learn more: Balloon Rockets at Hands On Teaching Ideas
Lift a bag with balloons
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
You’ll need helium balloons for this one, and kids are gonna love it. Ask them to guess (hypothesize) how many balloons it will take to lift various items in a bag attached to the strings.
Learn more: Helium Balloon Experiment at Mess for Less
Discover how plants breathe
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Kids might be surprised when you tell them that trees breathe. This kindergarten science experiment will help prove it’s true.
Learn more: Leaf Transpiration at KC Edventures With Kids
Learn how germs spread
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
There’s never been a better time to add a handwashing experiment to your list of kindergarten science activities. Use glitter as a stand-in for germs, and learn how important washing your hands with soap really is.
Explore the properties of mystery items
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Mystery bags are always a hit with kids. Tuck a variety of objects inside, then encourage kids to feel, shake, smell, and explore as they try to determine what the items are without looking.
Learn more: Mystery Bags at Raising Lifelong Learners
Play with fizzing ice cubes
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
While kinders may not entirely understand the concept of acid-base reactions, they’ll still get a kick out of spraying these baking soda ice cubes with lemon juice and watching them fizz away!
Learn more: Fizzing Ice at The Play-Based Mom
Sniff scented sensory bottles
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Here’s another way to engage the senses. Drop essential oils onto cotton balls, then seal them inside spice bottles. Kids sniff the bottles and try to identify the smell.
Learn more: Scent Jars at Share and Remember
Play with magnets
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Magnet play is one of our favorite kindergarten science activities. Place a variety of items into small bottles, and ask kids which ones they think will be attracted to the magnets. The answers may surprise them!
Learn more: Magnet Jars at Left Brain Craft Brain
Waterproof a boot
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This experiment lets kindergartners try their hand at “waterproofing” a boot with a variety of materials. They use what they already know to predict which materials will protect the paper boot from water, then experiment to see if they’re right.
Learn more: Waterproof a Boot at Science Sparks
Dig into some soil science
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Ready to get your hands in the dirt? Scoop up some soil and examine it more closely, looking for rocks, seeds, worms, and other items.
Learn more: Dirt Science at Go Science Kids
Mix up some oobleck
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Perhaps no book leads so perfectly into a science lesson as Dr. Seuss’s Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Just what is oobleck? It’s a non-Newtonian fluid that looks like a liquid but takes on the properties of a solid when squeezed. Weird, messy … and so much fun!
Learn more: Oobleck at ABCs of Literacy
Grow crystal letters
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
No list of kindergarten science activities would be complete without a crystal project! Use pipe cleaners to make the letters of the alphabet (numbers are good too), then grow crystals on them using a supersaturated solution.
Learn more: Crystallized Letters at Gift of Curiosity
Blow up your fingerprints
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
You don’t need a microscope to look at fingerprints up close! Instead, have each student make a print on a balloon, then blow it up to see the whorls and ridges in detail.
Learn more: Balloon Fingerprints at The Natural Homeschool
Play a marble maze game
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Tell kids they’re going to move a marble without actually touching it, and watch their eyes widen in surprise! They’ll have fun drawing mazes to guide a metal marble through with a magnet from underneath.
Learn more: Magnet Marble Maze at Go Science Girls
Germinate a seed
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
There’s something about seeing a seed develop roots and shoots with your very eyes that’s just so incredible. Sprout bean seeds in paper towels inside a glass jar to give it a try.
Learn more: Germinate a Seed at How Wee Learn