200 Quick & easy experiments

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Quickly “age” paper with tea bags to create a beautiful worn-looking texture, then use it to create maps, journals, posters, and more.

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Heat up a cup of water in the microwave or in a pot. Add a tea bag and allow it to steep for at least 10 minutes.  

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Take your paper and tear around the edges to make it look worn.  

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Allow tea bag to cool enough so it is safe (and comfortable) to handle. Do not ring out too much tea from the bag, but enough so you do not over saturate the paper. Use the tea bag as a paint brush and cover the entire piece of paper.  

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If desired, allow the first coat to dry and repeat for a darker color.

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You can also create the tea paper on paper that has not been torn along the edges. Here the student is creating tea paper to use to make a old-fashioned circus poster!

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Once the paper is dry, use it to make a map.

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Or to create a poster that looks weathered by time.

1 tea bag

water

white paper (construction or computer paper)

Making Tea Paper for Maps, Journals and More

books

art project

painting

school supplies

Try some simple stamping techniques using yarn, bubble wrap, or other materials from home. Then dress up your textbooks with custom patterns that will stand out from the crowd.

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Start by covering your textbook! If you already know how to do this, skip to step 5. Start by cutting a piece of paper that is is an extra 2" larger than your book cover. Keep in mind that you need to include the thickness of the book!

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Wrap the side edge of the book by tucking in the extra paper. Make sure the book can close once the paper is tucked into the front and back covers.

When you wrap your book, push your book down, so the spine touches the kraft paper.

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There should be about 1-2" of excess paper on top and bottom of the book. Cut  2 slots that match the folded crease along the binding. Cut out the small tab. Tuck in the top and bottom edge of paper and use tape to secure it. (Make sure you don't tape onto the actual book!). Do the same for the other cover.

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To create your stamps, cut out some cardboard pieces. These will be the bases of your stamps. Use yarn or thick string and wrap the cardboard piece to create a striped pattern. Use tape to secure the yarn on the backside of your cardboard stamp.

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Use a paintbrush to carefully apply some paint onto your stamp. Test out your stamp on a scrap piece of paper before you stamp onto the book cover.

Cover your workspace since paint can get a little messy!

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Cover your text book in any pattern you want! We decided to try a gradient by mixing in more blue each time we stamped.

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Look around the house for other stamping materials! Bubble wrap creates a fun polka dot texture.

cardboard

paper bag / wrapping paper

string

Tape

acrylic paint

paintbrushes

Hand-Stamped Book Covers

nature crafts

nature walk

nature

leaves

Thanksgiving crafts

Thanksgiving

decorations

fall

This year we wanted to make our family's place card holders for Thanksgiving feel festive and fun. Using a folding technique, we were able to create beautiful leaves and created a colorful and unique place card holder for everyone.

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Leaves: First, fold your paper in half vertically, and cut a "U" shape.

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Then accordion fold your paper upwards, and with every fold cut the end with your scissor. 

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Once you are finished folding your paper, open it back up, and cut down the center line. 

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Accordion fold the two pieces of paper up, and glue together to make a leaf shape. You can finesse the shape by creating a mini fan. Tie and glue a piece of string at the bottom of the leaf to create a stem. 

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Stands: Glue one cork to one block. Let it dry. Once dry, paint the cork gold, and the wooden block brown.

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Then glue a paper leaf onto one side of the wooden block. 

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Wire: If you are using wire, ask a grown-up assistant to use wire cutters to cut a 5-inch long strand. Poke the wire or paper clip into the cork. Curl one end into a circle. This will be where you place your notecard.

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Display! Write down the names of the guests at your Thanksgiving table and set up the cardholders.

Glue

cork

paint brush

Scissors

colored paper

Leaf Place Card Holders

bird

playdate activities

family activity

toy design

By building simple levers out of paper, brads, and paper clips, you can create a whole flock of mechanical flapping birds!

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Print out the flying bird toy&nbsp;<a href="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.kiwicrate.com/printables/KiwiCrate_FlyingBirdToy.pdf">template here</a>.Your paper color will be the base color of your bird!

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Cut out the template along the black lines. Use a hole punch to punch out the circles.

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Fold the two flaps back along the orange lines.

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Overlap the two top tabs so the blue area is covered. Secure it with a piece of tape.

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Grab a wing and align the hole closer to the center of the wing to the holes on the body flap. Use a brad to attach the wing in place. Repeat on the other side.

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Loop some string through the holes on the wing tips. Then, tie the string. Make sure not to over tighten the loop or the wings may tear!

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Add a face to your bird! We cut out and glued on some eyes, a beak and feet. When we did this project with our kid testers, they created some aliens and little monsters. Get creative and see what creature you create!

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Add a paper clip on each wing tip. This will bring the wing back down after each flap.

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Place a string through the top two holes and tie. 

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It's time to start flying! Hold onto the top loop and gently pull down on the bottom string. If your wings are having trouble dropping back down, check to make sure your brads are not too tight and that your paperclips are still in place.

colored cardstock

brads

paper clips

hole punch

Flying Bird Toy

chemistry

chemical reactions

food experiments

edible experiments

sweet snacks

eruptions

Are you in for a surprise treat to share with your friends and family? This homemade version of the classic pop rocks will get you fizzy with baking soda and citric acid! Personalize this candy with your own flavor and experience this chemical reaction in your mouth!Want to explore more kitchen science experiments? Explore the tastier side of learning with <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/science-of-cooking-bread-butter-project-kit/5463">Science of Cooking: Bread &amp; Butter</a> from the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store">KiwiCo Store</a>!

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Spread the powdered sugar over a metal baking sheet. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of citric acid over the powdered sugar. 

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Measure out the other 2 tbsp of citric acid into a small bowl and set it aside. 

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In a medium saucepan, add the granulated sugar, the water, and the corn syrup. Place the saucepan of the medium heat. 

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Stir the mixture until it boils. Then stop stirring and wait until the mixture just starts to turn brown at 305 degrees F. This will take about 5 minutes.

Watch this step very carefully - once the sugar starts to brown, it will burn very quickly.

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Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 3-5 minutes, or until the bubbles subside. While it's cooling, measure out the baking soda, food coloring, and flavoring oil into a small bowl.

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Add the baking soda mixture to the pan and mix until combined. Be careful, the sugar mixture in the saucepan is still very hot. Then immediately pour it out onto the powdered sugar you spread on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp of citric acid over the hot sugar. Let it cool to room temperature.

Break up the cooked candy into small pieces with your hands or by crushing it with a rolling pin. Pop some in your mouth and feel the fiz! For maximum fizz, crunch the candy and then hold it in your mouth for a few seconds. Do the bubbles tickle your tongue?

What's going on?
This recipe keeps the citric acid and baking soda separate until you eat it. When these two ingredients combine with the saliva in your mouth, it creates carbon dioxide gas. It doesn't "pop" like the fizzy candy sold in stores, but you are still experiencing a chemical reaction in your mouth!

powdered sugar (1/4 cup)

canning citric acid (available on amazon) (3 tbsp )

granulated sugar (1 cup)

water (3 tbsp)

light corn syrup (2 tbsp)

baking soda (1 1/2 tsp)

flavoring oil (of your choice) (1/8 tsp )

food coloring (3 drops)

Fizzy Candy

anatomy

human body

biology

science project

quick experiment

experiment

heart

Curious about how your heart pumps blood? Use this model to learn about the right atrium and ventricle!Discover more about the science of pressure with a <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/store-bottle-rocket-project-kit/4588" target="_self">Bottle Rocket kit</a> from the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store" target="_self">KiwiCo Store</a>! Assemble a launcher, rocket, funnel, and launch mixture to experience some extremely fizzy fun.

If you’ve ever squeezed your hand together to shoot pool water, you’re familiar with the basics of how your heart works. It’s a muscle that squeezes together to pump blood around your body! But shooting pool water with your hand is pretty messy and splashy. Your heart has to be a lot more orderly. In fact, because of how your body uses blood, your heart needs to pump blood in just one direction. Blood carries oxygen on it, and all the parts of your body need oxygen to work right. If the blood pumped backward, your body would get blood that had no oxygen in it!In order to keep your blood flowing in the right direction, your heart has two pretty cool design features: chambers and valves. The chambers fill with blood, then squeeze tight to pump it out. Each side of your heart has an entry chamber called an atrium and an exit chamber called a ventricle (so your heart has four chambers total!). The entry and exit chambers pump one after the other to push your blood forward.Each chamber also has an exit door called a valve. These keep blood from getting pumped backwards. When the ventricle contracts, the atrium’s exit valve closes so blood won’t push back into it. When the ventricle relaxes, its own exit valve closes to keep blood from spilling backwards into it. That way, the pumping of each chamber moves your blood forward! To see more about how the chambers and valves work, follow the steps to build this model.

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Cut the neck off of two balloons. Then, tape the cut end of the balloon neck closed. 

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Cut a very small slit (enough to insert a straw) in the neck of each balloon about ½ inch below where you taped. Then, insert a clear straw into the slit of one balloon. Set the other balloon aside. 

Panda Crate

Sprout: Koala Crate

Labs: Kiwi Crate

World: Atlas Crate

Studio: Doodle Crate

Labs: Tinker Crate

Studio: Maker Crate

Labs: Eureka Crate

100 fun household craft projects for kids

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