Activities for 5-8 Year Olds to Do At Home

Explore why some things float and some items sink using this fun superhero challenge.

With fall around the corner and brisk air upon us, we decided to create nature-inspired paintbrushes! All you need are some leaves, twigs, twine, and your creativity.

Write secret messages to your friends and family and then let them decode it with any source of heat - like a candle or an incandescent light bulb!

Want to learn more about chemistry without the hassle of gathering materials? Explore the science of thermochromism with Color Changing Slime from the KiwiCo Store!

My son and I have found a hobby and that is making homemade gifts. We love to find fun items to make for his teachers and our family. A lot of the time we enjoy what we make so much we keep one for ourselves. With the holidays around the corner it was time for us to make his teachers a gift. This homemade hand scrub was perfect.

Looking for more ways to help your little one create handmade gifts? Animal Bath Bombs from the KiwiCo Store are the perfect way for your little crafter to dip their toes into bubbly bathtime chemistry!

Embellish your notebook with this cute Narwhal! All you need is a glue stick, a sheet of light-blue scrapbook paper and a composition notebook.

Macrame wall hangings are popular crafts and home decor, but learning all those knots can be complicated. Start with this easy macrame project that’s perfect for kids!

Fizz, fizz, zoom! This baking soda experiment boat is easy to build and fun to race.

Discover more about the science of pressure with a Bottle Rocket kit from the KiwiCo Store! Assemble a launcher, rocket, funnel, and launch mixture to experience some extremely fizzy fun.

See how a drop of soap can create an explosion of color with this easy experiment!

Want to learn more about chemistry without the hassle of gathering materials? Explore 11 fun chemistry experiments with a Chemistry Play Lab from the KiwiCo Store!

With your kitchen as your lab and baking supplies as your ingredients, create your own underwater firework spectacular! These underwater fireworks go off because of density. Density means how much something weighs for a given volume of it. Denser things like iron and stone sink. Less dense things like wood and rubber float.

In this experiment, you use four different liquids with four different densities: oil, water, food coloring, and saltwater. The oil sits on top of the water because it’s less dense than water. The water sits on top of the saltwater for the same reason. Food coloring is denser than oil and a little bit denser than water, but it isn’t as dense as saltwater. When the drops of food coloring hit the dense saltwater, they disperse like exploding fireworks!

Eager to learn more about the world around us? Explore the science of volcanic eruptions with a Geologist Starter Kit from the KiwiCo Store!

Melting. It's a natural process that we can see every day: the ice in a glass of water, the butter on bread right after it’s toasted, the candles on a birthday cake. Let’s try to melt crayons into a work of art!

Pull a couple of cereal boxes from the shelf and test their iron content with this simple experiment. It's fun to see your breakfast whiz across the surface of milk using a magnet!

Want to explore more kitchen science experiments? Explore the tastier side of learning with Science of Cooking: Ice Cream from the KiwiCo Store!

Want to see a chemical reaction in action? With this egg in vinegar experiment, we observed and followed a regular egg through a transformation to become a bouncy egg. You can too with just a few repurposed ingredients you may have around the house for Easter!

This experiment allows you to see how two common household materials react — eggshell and vinegar. When these materials come in contact, a (safe) chemical reaction takes place and creates new compounds. This easy experiment is great for children to do on their own, and fun to observe how the egg changes over time.

Want to explore more kitchen science experiments? Explore the tastier side of learning with Science of Cooking: Ice Cream from the KiwiCo Store!

For a backyard craft, transform simple rocks into bugs and other animals.

A kaleidoscope is a toy that uses light and mirrors to make pretty patterns with symmetrical designs. Symmetry is when two or more parts of a thing are identical. Think of butterfly wings, matching socks, and spiderwebs —they all have parts that match. In this experiment, with a little help from Ziploc® brand bags, you’ll learn how kaleidoscopes use reflections in a mirror to create symmetry. When you spin the wheel, the pattern you see changes. Why do you think that is? Download the printable template here.

Try out this fun science experiment and see how salt melts ice! Not only is this a great learning project, but it's amazingly beautiful to watch.

It is time for these little bears to grow up...and out with this gummy bear science project! Watch as gummy bears grow and shrink in different liquids in this kid-friendly experiment. This project is open for exploration and discovery, so kick things off by asking your child what they will happen to a gummy bear in water. Will it dissolve? Will it shrink or grow? Will it fall apart? How long will it take? Don’t forget to grab a notebook to write down their ideas so you can compare what they predicted with what actually happens! You’ll start to see results in just a few hours, and you’ll definitely see big changes in size in just a day.

Want to explore more kitchen science experiments? Explore the tastier side of learning with Science of Cooking: Ice Cream from the KiwiCo Store!

Want to create some art that will surprise you? Create unique pieces of artwork by pulling strings across a piece of paper!

Levers are simple machines that help us move or lift something. See how levers work by making your own dancing puppet!

Thankfully, we've been getting a lot of rain in our area, so our garden has been in full bloom this spring. I decided to take advantage of the lushness to create flower wreaths -- just in time for Mother's Day! This project would work just as well with fake or store-bought flowers and greens.

How do plants grow? In this experiment, you will create a mini greenhouse to learn how plants depend on sunlight and water. Place seeds in a Ziploc® brand sandwich bag with a wet paper towel and put the bag by a sunny window. Record your observations daily to see how long it takes for the seeds to sprout and grow leaves. What do you observe? Download our observation printable here.

Creamy ice cream made with just one ingredient. Yes, that’s right — just one ingredient, and no ice cream maker needed!

Design the board, launch, and play, all while discovering pinball game physics! Build this pinball machine kit, designed just for kids, and play with angles and momentum. Plus, try your hand at geometric artwork to decorate your game board.

Conduct a series of egg-themed experiments that show physics, chemistry, and biology in action. Color eggs using chemical reactions, create sparkly eggshells through crystallization, and more!

Learn about the scientific method, then put together a bubbly chemical reaction in your own fab chemistry lab. Try other color mixing experiments, make some colorful art, and learn about everyday chemical reactions.

Puzzle together the pieces of an LED-powered lantern, fit for any budding explorer. Sharpen your spatial reasoning skills while crafting with wood, foam, and fabric. Learn about the history of lanterns, lantern signals, and secret codes, while lighting the way for pretend play!

Age-appropriate projects that build your child's creative confidence.

Globally inspired projects and activities that explore world cultures and teach new STEAM concepts.