40 Easy Kindergarten Science Experiments for Hands-On Learning

Every day brings a new discovery!

Kindergarten Science Experiments including balloon rockets and a tornado in a jar
We Are Teachers; Hands On Teaching Ideas; One Little Project

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 anytime
  • 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

Apple science investigation worksheet for kindergarten science students
Preschool Play & Learn

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

Plastic cup with layers of foods representing soil layers, including topsoil, subsoil, and bedrock
Super Teacher Blog

Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium

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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

Kindergarten science student holding a handful of homemade raisins
Learn Play Imagine

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

Child's hands holding a sheet of edible "glass" made of sugar
Go Science Kids

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

Kindergarten science student using a dropper to add blue water to a lowercase H made from salt and glue
A Dab of Glue Will Do

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 Experiment (With Free Printable Student Recording Sheet)

Explore buoyancy with oranges

Tall glass vase of water with unpeeled orange floating and peeled orange sunk at the bottom
Playdough to Plato

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

Yellow bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap, with popcorn on top, next to a boom box
Premeditated Leftovers

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

House model built of toothpicks and gumdrops, with construction paper pig inside (Kindergarten Science Activities)
Sweet Sounds of Kindergarten

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

Series of photos showing a science experiment using crystallization to turn eggshells into geodes
TinkerLab

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

Clear cups filled with colored water, holding white carnations tinted the colors of the water
Fun Learning for Kids

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

White ceramic bowl turned upside-down with ice cubes on top. A person is pouring water onto the ice from a plastic bottle.
Only Passionate Curiosity

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

Jars of colored water in a circle, with paper towels running from one to the next
Messy Little Monster

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

Mason jar of blue water, with a tornado-like shape showing inside
One Little Project

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

Student's hand lifting an upside-down jar from a bowl of green water, with water kept inside the jar by air pressure
A Mothership Down

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 Experiment (With Free Student Printable Recording Sheet)

Find out what sinks and what floats

Child's hand placing items in a bin of water to see if they sink or float
Buggy and Buddy

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

Clear jar filled with water, with shaving cream floating on top and water coloring dripping from the shaving cream
One Little Project

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

Glass of water with piece of paper behind it showing arrow pointing to the right. Piece of paper not behind water has arrow pointing left.
Go Science Girls

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

A packet of homemade recycled paper tied with twine
The Craftaholic Witch

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

Kindergarten science student holding a model of the spine made from string and egg carton pieces up to their back
Mombrite

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 Experiments

Move a paper butterfly’s wings with static electricity

Student's hand holding a blue balloon over a tissue paper butterfly, with wing attracted to the balloon
I Heart Crafty Things

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

Students holding the ends of balloons taped to drinking straws on a string
Hands On Teaching Ideas

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

Helium balloons floating with a bag attached to the string
Mess for Less

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

Leaf floating in a bowl of water
KC Edventures With Kids

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

Paper bag and cotton balls with scented items like spices
Raising Lifelong Learners

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

Child's hands holding a spray bottle over colorful ice cubes on a wood surface
The Play-Based Mom

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

Small bottles labeled cherry, almond, cucumber, grapefruit, peppermint
Share and Remember

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

Plastic bottles filled with pipe cleaners and metal springs with a large blue mar magnet (Kindergarten Science)
Left Brain Craft Brain

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

Worksheet showing drawing of a boot, covered with various materials like plastic, foil, and paper
Science Sparks

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

Child examining dirt on a white tarp with a magnifying glass (Kindergarten Science Activities)
Go Science Kids

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

Bartholomew and the Oobleck book next to a bowl of thick green liquid
ABCs of Literacy

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

Red pipe cleaner twisted into the shape of a Q, with crystals grown on it (Kindergarten Science Activities)
Gift of Curiosity

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

Child holding up a balloon with an enlarged blue fingerprint on it (Kindergarten Science Activities)
The Natural Homeschool

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

Child using a magnet to move a metal marble through a paper maze
Go Science Girls

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

Jar filled with damp paper towels and a seed growing roots
How Wee Learn

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

Keep the learning going with these Kindergarten Math Games That Make Numbers Fun From Day One.

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Teach kindergarten science students to explore the world around them with these hands-on experiments, projects, and activities.