200 Quick & easy experiments

Crazy chemistry experiments

Electronics & Robotics

Engineering & Building

Motion & Mechanics

Anatomy & Biology

Toy & game design

Math made fun

STEM Activities

750+ Quick & easy craft ideas

Recycled creations

Fun & functional projects

Jewelry & Fashion design

Handmade cards & gifts

Art & Creativity

Fun & Games

Hands-on learning

Sound & Music

Pretend play

Play & Learn

Kitchen science

Fun with food

Sweet & salty snacks

Treats & Dessert

Cooking for kids

Cooking & Baking

Animals & Bugs

Plants & Rocks

Seasons & Weather

Radical rainbows

Outdoor Adventures

Space exploration

Nature & Adventure

Birthday fun

Pi Day

Earth Day

Easter

Holiday & Events

engineering

easy experiment

Fourth of July

flight

rocket

These mini rockets are so easy to make and so fun to set off, you’ll want to launch them again and again. Parent supervision and eye protection are highly recommended for this project! Never point your pop-top rocket at yourself or anyone else. This project must be done outside.

af9d99a4bde49.jpg

If your container has an attached lid, cut it off. This will help your rocket fly straighter.

a7d329ad5a43c.jpg

Decorate your rocket however you’d like! We added a nose cone, fins, and some shiny mylar flames.

ab0bc2b028b7a.jpg

Fill your container one third of the way full with water. Then grab all of your materials and your safety glasses and head outside. You’re almost ready to launch! 

Important: put your safety glasses on now! This step happens fast, so you need to be ready before you start. Make sure you’re working on a smooth outdoor surface, away from any obstructions.

aee2294677810.jpg

Break off a small piece of the fizzy tablet and drop it into the water. Immediately snap the lid of your rocket container back on, then place it lid-side down on a smooth surface. Step back and watch it fly!

ae41c5917401a.jpg

You can launch your rocket again and again, so feel free to experiment! After our first launch, we were able to put the lid back on and get a second launch without adding more fizzy tablet. Or, when it runs out of fizz, just add more water and fizzy tablet and try again. Try using a larger or smaller piece of fizzy tablet and see what happens.

What’s going on?
To see what’s going on here, try dropping a fizzy tablet into clear glass of water and watch what happens. You’ll see the tablet immediately create lots of tiny bubbles that rise up to the surface of the water. Those bubbles are carbon dioxide gas, created by a chemical reaction between two ingredients in the tablets.&nbsp;
When that reaction takes place inside your pop-top rocket, the carbon dioxide gas has nowhere to go. More and more builds up inside your rocket until… pop! Eventually the pressure from the gas becomes too great and the pop-top seal lets go, sending your rocket shooting up into the air.

pop-top lid container

fizzy tablets (like Alka-Seltzer antacid)

water

Paper

Tape

Scissors

safety goggles

Pop-Top Rockets

experiment

science project

indoor project

See what happens when oil, water, and a fizzy tablet collide! This lava lamp experiment has some serious chemistry behind the colorful show and it makes a pretty great Fourth of July activity, too. This is an easy way for your child to explore the nature of different properties while celebrating the holiday.

20260617_122929.jpg

20260617_123407.jpg

Pour ¾ cup vegetable oil in your container.

20260617_123424.jpg

Add ¼ cup water to your container.

20260617_124135.jpg

Mix a few drops of acrylic paint into a cup.

20260617_124305.jpg

Add water to the cup with the acrylic paint.

20260617_124443.jpg

Pour the paint mixture into the oil-water container.

20260617_124740.jpg

20260617_125534.jpg

Break up a fizzy tablet and drop it into the container and watch your lava lamp come to life!

20260617_154335.jpg

Make red, white and blue versions.

Watching bubbles dance in a lava lamp is almost as fun as watching fireworks. A lot of chemistry has to happen first, though.&nbsp;Pour oil and water into the same jar and the water sinks straight to the bottom. Shake it (cap on) as hard as you want — they'll always separate back out. Two things explain it. Water molecules carry a tiny positive charge on one side and a tiny negative charge on the other, like a magnet with a north and south end. Oil molecules have no charge at all, so the water molecules have nothing to latch onto and the two stay separate. Density plays a role, too. A cup of water weighs more than a cup of oil, which means water is denser — and denser liquids sink.&nbsp;Drop in a piece of Alka-Seltzer and everything changes. The tablet reacts with the water and releases carbon dioxide gas bubbles. The bubbles latch onto drops of colored water and carry them up through the oil. At the top, the gas escapes, the drops get heavy again, and they sink back down. Then it starts all over.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt5d966d0d1776691c/blt22fe9fcbe5e1d40c/6a399a194f5dc2818b55bfad/20260617_154407.jpg" alt="20260617_154407.jpg" height="auto"/>

glass jars

measuring cups

vegetable oil

acrylic paint

confetti

fizzy tablets

July 4th Lava Lamps

launcher

motion

physics

party game

outdoor game

game

craft

homemade craft

summer crafts

easy craft

3 material crafts

3, 2, 1, launch! Try making these super simple paper cup launchers for a backyard rocket launch competition that’s out of this world.

a03e1737ad618.jpg

a73540dfec7a0.jpg

Place two rubber bands lengthwise across the cup, making a cross shape over the opening.

ab121959ec7dd.jpg

Add a third rubber band around the cup, to secure the two rubber bands in place. This will be the "rocket."

a4ca648c9a19e.jpg

Get ready to launch! Place a second cup upside down on a flat surface. Put the "rocket" over the base cup. Holding the lip of the rocket cup, pull down and release! Watch your "rocket" go flying!

cups (2)

rubber bands (3+)

Rubber Band Powered Cup Launcher

bugs

nature science

nature crafts

plant science

art-science projects

summer

plants

Nothing ruins a great picnic celebration like mosquito bites. This year, I'm going to make some natural DIY mosquito repellent that also serves as decoration so that my family and I can enjoy the weekend festivities without any unwanted visitors. I was surprised how easy the DIY mosquito repellent jars were to make, and that all I needed were a few ingredients from the produce section of the grocery store. Once I had the lemons, limes, and rosemary, it only took me a few minutes to make each container. Plus, I could make them before the party and just screw the lid on tight until it was party time.

a875f97d6c1e1.jpg

Gather the materials you need to make your natural DIY mosquito repellent.

a3e9752ef6ec7.jpg

Slice up the lemons and the limes. Have a grownup assistant help with this step.

a923fd4e0b688.jpg

ad59dade33b75.jpg

Fill the water about 3/4 of the way up with water. 

a2e6c6cce748f.jpg

Place a few slices of lemon and lime on top of the water. 

af9327ff1a10d.jpg

Place a floating tea light candle on top. Your DIY mosquito repellent is ready! Now, when it's time to party, all you have to do is light the candle. Use them at your next picnic, backyard party, or camping trip to keep those pesky mosquitoes away. It's the natural essential oils in the plants that make this DIY mosquito repellent effective. They don't like them, which means they won't be hanging around your party.

jar / glass jar / mason jar

lemons

limes

rosemary

floating tea light candle

knife

Natural DIY Mosquito Repellent

summer fun

Summer means warm weather, outdoor fun, and fireworks!  My kids are obsessed with the decorations and fun of the 4th of July!  To get ready, we made these fun toilet paper roll fireworks.  The kids had a great time painting them and have loved marching around with the streamers flying behind them.  They are all set for the parades!

cd2479b3fa31.jpg

Gather all materials.  I always keep a basket in the bathroom to collect toilet paper rolls.  You never know when a good project will come along!

f7b1e04d0084.jpg

The kids painted their toilet paper rolls with red, white, and blue washable paints.  My 4-year-old made stripes on hers.  My 2-year-old just painted in abstract bursts, but all of them turned out beautifully.  We always put our paint on paper plates for easy clean-up, but you could also use old applesauce or baby food containers.

a28a2155e967.jpg

Once the toilet paper rolls dried, the kids put foil star stickers on them.  My 3 and 4-year-olds were able to do this with little assistance.  My 2-year-old had some trouble with this, but was able to put them on once I helped him remove them from the sticker sheet.  This is a fun way for little ones to practice their fine motor skills.

61a5f0397c65.jpg

For the top of their fireworks, we traced a cup and cut out a circle.  By cutting a line to the center of the circle (like a radius), we were able to create a cone shape.  

2a30bf39b298.jpg

I added a line of glue to keep the cones closed and the kids helped me count to 10 while we pressed firmly to seal our cones.

d21c1f5726c6.jpeg

The kids then added a line of glue around the top of the toilet paper roll and glued their cones to the top.

toilet paper tubes

construction paper

crepe paper

glue

star foil stickers

Washable paint and brushes

scissors

Toilet Roll Firework Rockets

cardboard crafts

My kids love decorating for the holidays, and garlands are one of the easiest ways to do so. They loved making these sparkly, six-pointed stars out of cardboard tubes. The stars were easy to make...and a great way to recycle!

3965c1ea2c76.jpg

Gather your supplies. We used a glue stick since it dries fast and is less messy. We also used loose glitter and glitter glue to help decorate. (When using loose glue you will want a paper plate or piece of paper to put the glitter on.) 

36700c7d92d5.jpg

Start by cutting the toilet paper rolls in strips, stopping about 1/2 inch from the bottom. Older kids can easily do this themselves. 

988f6e9f7658.jpg

Then fan out each strip and fold it so it lays flat. 

af39ca0b1415.jpg

Then rub the glue stick along each cut strip. 

364db04228a5.jpg

Press the side with the glue on it into the glitter. Then tap to remove the loose glitter. 

fc5948510564.jpg

Then we used the glitter glue to add dimensional detail. 

d26a08d0b5ce.jpg

The stars dried pretty quickly since we used the glue sticks. We punched a hole at the top of each star and placed a string through the holes. Then we hung our festive garland on our mantle to ring in the holidays! 

hole punch

glue stick

glitter

string

Cardboard Tube Star Garland

decorations

birthday party decorations

art project

stars

KiwiCo crate box

With the holiday weekend around the corner, we decided to create a set of patriotic star shapes to create a festive garland. Learn how to use a basic string art technique to create a set of 3D shapes. What other shapes can you make?

s2.jpeg

Cover the cardboard box with a layer of wax paper. This helps prevent the string from sticking to the box. (If you're using styrofoam, you can skip this step!) Draw a star on the surface of your box or styrofoam block. This will be the base to create the shape of your stars.

s3.jpeg

Stick a toothpick into each point of the star. For any larger stars, stick a toothpick into each point and corner, so that you're using 10 total toothpicks.

s4.jpeg

Cut a long length of twine or string, about 15 times the width of your star. If your star is 3" wide, cut about 45" of string. Dip the string into a mixture of 50% glue and 50% water. Make sure the string is fully soaked in the glue mixture!

s5.jpeg

Begin wrapping a string around the toothpicks to create the star shape. Keep going until the whole length of string is wrapped around the toothpicks. Repeat the steps to make a bunch of stars in different colors. The more layers you wrap, the sturdier the star!

s6.jpeg

Let the string dry, and then, carefully remove the toothpicks from the stars to reveal your string art shapes! String them up to create a unique star garland! For extra fun, try adding additional toothpicks in each star to create a randomized pattern!

26 easy fourth of july projects for kids

Screen-free fun!