Chemical experiments. Entertaining science: how to conduct a chemistry experiment at home to interest your child? Performing the experiment step by step

More than 160 experiments that clearly demonstrate the laws of physics and chemistry were filmed, edited and posted online on the scientific and educational video channel “Simple Science”. Many of the experiments are so simple that they can be easily repeated at home - they do not require special reagents or equipment. About how to make simple chemical and physical experiments at home, not only interesting, but also safe, which experiments will captivate kids and which will be of interest to schoolchildren, Denis Mokhov, author and Chief Editor scientific and educational video channel “Simple Science”.

– How did your project begin?

– Since childhood, I have loved various experiences. For as long as I can remember, I have been collecting various ideas for experiments, in books, TV shows, so that I can then repeat them myself. When I became a father myself (my son Mark is now 10 years old), it was always important for me to maintain my son’s curiosity and, of course, to be able to answer his questions. After all, like any child, he looks at the world completely differently than adults. And at a certain point, his favorite word became the word “why?” It is from these “why?” home experiments began. After all, telling is one thing, but showing is something completely different. We can say that my child’s curiosity was the impetus for creating the “Simple Science” project.

– How old was your son when you started practicing experiments at home?

– We have been doing experiments at home since the moment our son went to school. kindergarten, somewhere after two years. At first it was completely simple experiments with water and balance. For example, jet pack , paper flowers on the water , two forks on a match head. My son immediately liked these funny “tricks.” Moreover, like me, it is always interesting for him not so much to observe as to repeat them himself.

– You can conduct interesting experiments in the bathroom with young children: with a boat and liquid soap, paper boat and hot air balloon,
tennis ball and water jet. From birth, a child strives to learn everything new; he will definitely enjoy these spectacular and colorful experiences.

When we are dealing with schoolchildren, even first-graders, then we can go all out. At this age, children are interested in relationships, they will observe the experiment more carefully, and then look for an explanation of why it happens this way and not otherwise. Here it is possible to explain the essence of the phenomenon, the reasons for the interactions, even if not in entirely scientific terms. And when a child encounters similar phenomena during school lessons (including in high school), the teacher’s explanations will be clear to him, because he already knows this from childhood, he has personal experience in this area.

Interesting experiments for younger students

**Package pierced with pencils**

**Egg in a bottle**

Rubber egg

**- Denis, what do you advise parents in terms of the safety of home experiments?** - I would roughly divide the experiments into three groups: harmless, experiments that require care and experiments, and the last **-** experiments that require compliance with safety precautions. If you are demonstrating how two forks rest on the end of a toothpick, then this is the first case. If you are doing an experiment with atmospheric pressure, when a glass of water is covered with a paper sheet and then turned over, then you need to be careful not to spill water on electrical appliances **–** do the experiment over the sink. When experiments involve fire, keep a container of water just in case. And if you use any reagents or chemicals (even ordinary vinegar), it is better to go out into the fresh air or into a well-ventilated area (for example, a balcony) and be sure to put on safety glasses on the child (you can use ski, construction or sunglasses).

**– Where can I get reagents and equipment?** **– ** At home, when conducting experiments with children under 10 years of age, it is best to use publicly available reagents and equipment. This is what each of us has in the kitchen: soda, salt, chicken egg, forks, glasses, liquid soap. Safety is paramount in our business. Especially if your “young chemist,” after successful experiments with you, tries to repeat the experiments on his own. Just don’t need to prohibit anything, all children are inquisitive, and the prohibition will act as an additional incentive! It is better to explain to the child why some experiments cannot be done without adults, that there are certain rules, somewhere an open area is needed to conduct the experiment, somewhere rubber gloves or goggles are needed. **– Have there been any cases in your practice when an experiment turned into an emergency?** **– ** Well, nothing like that happened at home. But in the editorial office of “Simple Science”, incidents often happen. Once, while doing an experiment with acetone and chromium oxide, we slightly miscalculated the proportions, and the experiment almost got out of control.

And recently, while filming for the Science 2.0 channel, we had to do a spectacular experiment when 2000 table tennis balls fly out of a barrel and fall beautifully to the floor. So, the barrel turned out to be quite fragile and instead of a beautiful flight of balls, there was an explosion with a deafening roar. **– Where do you get ideas for experiments?** **–** We find ideas on the Internet, in popular science books, in the news about some interesting discoveries or unusual phenomena. The main criteria are **–** entertainment and simplicity. We try to choose experiments that are easy to repeat at home. True, sometimes we produce “delicacies” **–** experiments that require unusual devices and special ingredients, but this does not happen too often. Sometimes we consult with professionals from certain fields, for example, when we do experiments on superconductivity at low temperatures or in chemical experiments when rare reagents are required. Our viewers (whose number this month has exceeded 3 million) also help us in finding ideas, for which we, of course, thank them.

Such a complex but interesting science as chemistry always causes an ambiguous reaction among schoolchildren. The children are interested in experiments that result in the production of substances of bright colors, the release of gases, or precipitation. But only a few of them like to write complex equations of chemical processes.

The importance of entertaining experiences

According to modern federal standards V secondary schools introduced Such a program subject as chemistry also did not go unnoticed.

As part of the study of complex transformations of substances and solving practical problems, the young chemist hones his skills in practice. It is through unusual experiences that a teacher develops an interest in the subject in his students. But in regular lessons, it is difficult for a teacher to find enough free time for non-standard experiments, and there is simply no time to conduct them for children.

To correct this, additional elective and optional courses were invented. By the way, many children who are interested in chemistry in the 8th and 9th grades become doctors, pharmacists, and scientists in the future, because in such classes the young chemist gets the opportunity to independently conduct experiments and draw conclusions from them.

What courses involve fun chemical experiments?

In the old days, chemistry for children was available only from the 8th grade. No special courses or extracurricular activities Children were not offered any chemical education. In fact, there was simply no work with gifted children in chemistry, which had a negative impact on the attitude of schoolchildren to this discipline. The children were afraid and did not understand complex chemical reactions, and made mistakes in writing ionic equations.

In connection with the reform modern system education, the situation has changed. Now in educational institutions are also offered in lower grades. The children are happy to do the tasks that the teacher offers them and learn to draw conclusions.

Chemistry-related electives help high school students gain skills in working with laboratory equipment, and those designed for junior schoolchildren contain vivid, demonstrative chemical experiments. For example, children study the properties of milk and become familiar with the substances that are obtained when it sours.

Experiences related to water

Entertaining chemistry is interesting for children when, during an experiment, they see an unusual result: the release of gas, a bright color, an unusual precipitate. A substance such as water is considered ideal for conducting a variety of entertaining chemical experiments for schoolchildren.

For example, chemistry for 7-year-old children can begin with an introduction to its properties. The teacher tells the children that most of our planet is covered with water. The teacher also informs the students that in a watermelon there is more than 90 percent of it, and in a person it is about 65-70%. After telling schoolchildren how important water is for humans, you can offer them some interesting experiments. At the same time, it is worth emphasizing the “magic” of water in order to intrigue schoolchildren.

By the way, in this case, the standard chemistry set for children does not involve any expensive equipment - it is quite possible to limit yourself to affordable devices and materials.

Experience "Ice Needle"

Let us give an example of such a simple and at the same time interesting experiment with water. This is the construction of an ice sculpture - a “needle”. For the experiment you will need:

• water;
• salt;
• ice cubes.

The duration of the experiment is 2 hours, so such an experiment cannot be carried out in a regular lesson. First you need to pour water into an ice tray and place it in the freezer. After 1-2 hours, after the water turns into ice, the entertaining chemistry can continue. For the experiment you will need 40-50 ready-made ice cubes.

First, children should arrange 18 cubes on the table in the form of a square, leaving a free space in the center. Next, after sprinkling them with table salt, they are carefully applied to each other, thus gluing them together.

Gradually all the cubes are connected, and the result is a thick and long “needle” of ice. To make it, just 2 teaspoons of table salt and 50 small pieces of ice are enough.

You can tint the water to make the ice sculptures multi-colored. And as a result of such a simple experience, chemistry for 9-year-old children becomes an understandable and fascinating science. You can experiment by gluing ice cubes in the shape of a pyramid or diamond.

Experiment "Tornado"

This experiment does not require special materials, reagents or tools. The guys can do it in 10-15 minutes. For the experiment, let's stock up:

• plastic transparent bottle with a cap;
• water;
• dishwashing detergent;
• sparkles.

The bottle should be filled 2/3 with plain water. Then add 1-2 drops of dishwashing detergent to it. After 5-10 seconds, pour a couple of pinches of glitter into the bottle. Screw the cap tightly, turn the bottle upside down, holding it by the neck, and twist it clockwise. Then we stop and look at the resulting vortex. Before the “tornado” starts working, you will have to spin the bottle 3-4 times.

Why does a “tornado” appear in an ordinary bottle?

When committed by a child circular movements a whirlwind similar to a tornado arises. The rotation of water around the center occurs due to the action of centrifugal force. The teacher tells the children about how scary tornadoes are in nature.

Such an experience is absolutely safe, but after it, chemistry for children becomes a truly fabulous science. To make the experiment more vivid, you can use a coloring agent, for example, potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate).

Experiment "Soap Bubbles"

Do you want to tell your children what fun chemistry is? Programs for children do not allow the teacher to pay due attention to experiments in lessons; there is simply no time for this. So, let's do this optionally.

For elementary school students, this experiment will bring a lot of positive emotions, and it can be done in a few minutes. We will need:

• liquid soap;
• jar;
• water;
• thin wire.

In a jar, mix one part liquid soap with six parts water. We bend the end of a small piece of wire into a ring, dip it into the soap mixture, carefully pull it out and blow out of the mold a beautiful soap bubble of our own making.

For this experiment, only wire that does not have a nylon layer is suitable. Otherwise, children will not be able to blow soap bubbles.

To make it more interesting for the children, you can add food coloring to the soap solution. You can arrange soap competitions between schoolchildren, then chemistry for children will become a real holiday. The teacher thus introduces the children to the concept of solutions, solubility and explains the reasons for the appearance of bubbles.

Entertaining experience “Water from plants”

To begin with, the teacher explains how important water is for cells in living organisms. It is with its help that nutrients are transported. The teacher notes that if there is not enough water in the body, all living things die.

For the experiment you will need:

• alcohol lamp;
• test tubes;
• green leaves;
• test tube holder;
• copper sulfate (2);
• beaker.

This experiment will require 1.5-2 hours, but as a result, chemistry for children will be a manifestation of a miracle, a symbol of magic.

Green leaves are placed in a test tube and secured in a holder. In the flame of an alcohol lamp, you need to heat the entire test tube 2-3 times, and then do this only with the part where the green leaves are located.

The glass should be placed so that gaseous substances, released in the test tube, fell into it. As soon as heating is completed, add grains of white anhydrous copper sulfate to the drop of liquid obtained inside the glass. Gradually the white color disappears, and the copper sulfate becomes blue or dark blue.

This experience brings children into complete delight, because before their eyes the color of substances changes. At the end of the experiment, the teacher tells the children about such a property as hygroscopicity. It is due to its ability to absorb water vapor (moisture) that white copper sulfate changes its color to blue.

Experiment "Magic Wand"

This experiment is suitable for an introductory lesson. elective course in chemistry. First you need to make a star-shaped blank and soak it in a solution of phenolphthalein (indicator).

During the experiment itself, the star attached to the “magic wand” is first immersed in an alkali solution (for example, in a solution of sodium hydroxide). Children see how in a matter of seconds its color changes and a bright crimson color appears. Next, the colored form is placed in an acid solution (for the experiment, it would be optimal to use a solution of hydrochloric acid), and the crimson color disappears - the star becomes colorless again.

If the experiment is carried out for children, during the experiment the teacher tells a “chemical tale”. For example, the hero of a fairy tale could be an inquisitive mouse who wanted to find out why there are so many bright flowers in a magical land. For students in grades 8-9, the teacher introduces the concept of “indicator” and notes which indicators can determine the acidic environment, and which substances are needed to determine the alkaline environment of solutions.

"Genie in a Bottle" Experience

This experiment is demonstrated by the teacher himself, using a special fume hood. The experience is based on the specific properties of concentrated nitric acid. Unlike many acids, concentrated nitric acid is capable of entering into chemical reaction with metals located after hydrogen (with the exception of platinum, gold).

You need to pour it into a test tube and add a piece of copper wire there. Under the hood, the test tube is heated, and the children observe the appearance of “red gin” vapors.

For students in grades 8-9, the teacher writes an equation for a chemical reaction and identifies signs of its occurrence (change in color, appearance of gas). This experiment is not suitable for demonstration outside the walls of a school chemistry laboratory. According to safety regulations, it involves the use of vapors of nitrogen oxide (“brown gas”) that pose a danger to children.

Home experiments

In order to whet the interest of schoolchildren in chemistry, you can offer a home experiment. For example, conduct an experiment on growing table salt crystals.

The child must prepare a saturated solution of table salt. Then place a thin twig in it, and as the water evaporates from the solution, crystals of table salt will “grow” on the twig.

The jar of solution should not be shaken or rotated. And when the crystals grow after 2 weeks, the stick must be very carefully removed from the solution and dried. And then, if desired, you can coat the product with colorless varnish.

Conclusion

There is no more interesting subject in the school curriculum than chemistry. But in order for children not to be afraid of this complex science, the teacher must devote sufficient time in his work to entertaining experiences and unusual experiments.

It is the practical skills that are formed during such work that will help stimulate interest in the subject. And in the lower grades, entertaining experiments are considered according to the Federal State Educational Standards as independent project and research activities.

Entertaining chemical experiments will prepare children for studying chemistry at school. Most of the experiments carried out at home are not dangerous, educational, and effective. Some experiments are provided with a written description, which will help explain to the child the essence of the processes taking place and awaken interest in chemical science.

When conducting chemical experiments at home, the following safety rules must be observed:

Simple experiments for little ones

Chemical experiments for young children, carried out at home, do not require any special substances.

Colored bubbles

For one such experiment you will need:

• fruit juice;
• sunflower oil;
• 2 effervescent tablets;
• decorative transparent container.

Stages of experience:

You can create bubbles with a stronger shell yourself by mixing water and dishwashing detergent in a 2:1 combination + a little granulated sugar. If you add glycerin instead of sugar, the bubbles will reach very large sizes. Adding food coloring to the soap solution will create colored glowing bubbles.

Night light

At home using simple substances you can make a night light. To do this you will need:

• tomato;
• syringe;
• sulfur heads from matches;
• hydrogen peroxide;
• bleach.

Sequencing:

1. Place sulfur in a bowl, add bleach, and leave for a while.
2. Draw the mixture into a syringe and prick the tomato from all sides.
3. To start the chemical reaction, hydrogen peroxide must be introduced. This is also done with a syringe in the place where the petiole was located.
4. When in a dark room, the tomato will emit soft light.

Carefully! You can no longer eat this tomato.

Sizzling balls

You can make your own sizzling balls for children's bathing.

During work, hands should be protected with gloves.

Sequencing:

Floating worms

For the next experiment you will need:

• 3 jelly worm candies without sugar sprinkles;
• soda;
• acetic acid;
• water;
• glass glasses.

Stages of work:

1. The first glass is half filled with acetic acid.
2. Pour warm water into the second glass and dilute 60 g of soda.
3. Place candy in the solution and leave for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the candies from the soda solution and place them in a glass with the essence.
5. The surface of the candy will immediately become covered with bubbles; they will continuously rise to the surface and fall to the bottom of the glass. This happens because soda first fills the pores of the candy, then, reacting with vinegar, it releases carbon dioxide, which lifts the candy up.
6. When they come into contact with air, the bubbles burst, the candy sinks to the bottom and again becomes covered with bubbles and rises.

Experiments for older children

Chemical experiments for children at home can be more complex and interesting.

Volcano

So, any schoolchild can simulate a volcanic eruption at home:

Colored foam

To experience creating colored foam you will need:

Sequencing:

1. The glasses are placed on a tray, half filled with soda, and dyes are added.
2. Mix vinegar with detergent and pour into glasses.
3. Colored foam will come out of each glass. You can pour the vinegar mixture into glasses several times until all the soda is released.

Malachite egg

The experiment of dyeing a chicken egg the color of malachite is lengthy, but interesting:

1. To do this, remove the contents from the egg: make 2 holes and blow it out.
2. For weight, a little plasticine is placed in an empty egg.
3. Dissolve a spoonful of copper sulfate in 0.5 liters of water (it can be purchased at a hardware store).
4. Dip the egg into the solution; the shell should be completely immersed in the solution.
5. After a few days, gas bubbles will appear.
6. After a week, the shell will acquire a light blue-green color.
7. After a month, the color of the shell will become rich malachite.

Fireworks

Making fireworks with your own hands:

1. Magnesium shavings are very finely ground.
2. Sulfur match heads are separated from the wood. You will need 2-3 boxes of matches. Crushed magnesium is mixed with sulfur powder.
3. Take a metal tube and seal one of the holes tightly with plaster.
4. Pour a mixture of magnesium and sulfur into the tube. The mixture should not occupy more than half of the tube.
5. The tube is wrapped several times with foil. A wick is inserted into the free hole.
6. Such fireworks can only be exploded in deserted places.

Coloring water blue

For coloring colorless liquids Blue colour needed:

• alcohol solution of iodine;
• hydrogen peroxide;
• vitamin C tablet;
• starch;
• glass glasses.

Performing the experiment step by step:

1. A vitamin C tablet is ground into powder and dissolved in 55 ml of warm water.
2. Pour 5 ml of the resulting solution into a glass, add 5 ml of iodine and 55 ml of heated water. The iodine should be discolored.
3. Separately mix 18 ml of hydrogen peroxide, 5 g of starch, 55 ml of water.
4. The iodine solution is poured back and forth into the starch solution several times.
5. The colorless liquid will turn dark blue. Iodine loses color when it reacts with vitamin C. Starch turns blue when mixed with iodine.

Simple experiments on the properties of metals

Chemical experiments for children at home can be carried out with metals.

For simple experiments you will need:

• fire;
• pieces of various metals;
• foil;
• copper sulfate;
• ammonia;
• acid.

To experiment with copper wire, a small piece of metal is twisted into a spiral and heated strongly over a fire. Then immediately lower it into a container with ammonia. The reaction will occur instantly: the metal will begin to hiss, and the black coating formed when exposed to fire will disappear. The copper wire will shine again. It is better to do the experiment several times, then the color of the ammonia will turn blue.

For the next experiment you will need solid iodine, crushed aluminum, and warm water. Iodine is mixed with aluminum in equal parts. Water is added to the mixture. The powder begins to burn, releasing purple smoke.

Another experiment will involve:

• chrome-plated paper clip;
• galvanized steel nail;
• pure steel screw;
• acetic acid;
• 3 test tubes.

Stages of experience:

1. Metal objects are placed in test tubes, filled with acid, and left for observation. In the first days, hydrogen evolution is observed.
2. On the 4th day, the acid in test tubes with coated metal objects begins to turn red. In a test tube with a steel screw, the acid becomes Orange color, a precipitate appears.
3. After 2 weeks in a test tube with a paper clip, the acid turns red, but only in upper layers. Where the paperclip is located, the acid is colorless. After removing the paper clip, you can see that its appearance has not changed.
4. The acid in a test tube with a nail is colored with a smooth transition from red to pale yellow. The nail hasn't changed.
5. In the 3rd test tube, layered coloration of the liquid and sediment are also observed. The screw turned black, the upper microlayers of the metal collapsed.

Conclusion: unprotected iron is susceptible to corrosion.

For the next experiment, you need to prepare a blue solution of copper sulfate (dissolve several crystals in water, stir). Place non-rusty nails in a test tube and fill with solution. After some time, the solution will turn green and the nails will turn copper-colored. This happened because iron displaced copper from the liquid, and the displaced copper settled on metal objects.

To conduct the “Hydrogen Glove” experiment you will need:

Sequencing:

1. The saline solution and copper sulfate solution are simultaneously poured into the flask. When mixed, a sea-green liquid is obtained.
2. Make a lump of foil and place it in the hole of the flask. Immediately, hydrogen begins to rapidly evolve.
3. Put a rubber glove on the neck, it will instantly fill with gas.
4. When the glove comes into contact with fire, it ruptures and the gas ignites. The liquid in the vessel gradually acquires a dirty gray tint.

The most spectacular chemical experiments for children

Chemical experiments for children at home are very diverse, and some are very impressive.

Colored foam

To make a large amount of colored foam you need:

Bleached green

For the experiment on bleaching greenery you will need:

• brilliant green solution;
• glasses;
• bleach;
• ammonia;
• vinegar;
• hydrogen peroxide;
• activated carbon tablets.

Sequencing:

1. Water is poured into 6 glasses, a drop of greenery is added to each.
2. The 1st glass is set aside for comparison, bleach is added to 2, ammonia to 3, peroxide to 4.
3. Ammonia instantly discolors the liquid.
4. Small bubbles appeared in the glass with bleach, and the solution became colorless.
5. Hydrogen peroxide will discolor the liquid gradually, over about 15 minutes.
6. Adding vinegar to the solution will make the liquid brighter.
7. After 30 min. the liquid becomes lighter.
8. Activated carbon brightens the solution.

Pharaoh snake

Conducting an experiment called “Pharaoh’s Snake” will require:

Stages of experience:

1. The sand is soaked in alcohol and formed into a cone.
2. A recess is made at the top.
3. Mix soda with sugar and pour into the well.
4. The soaked sand is set on fire.
5. The mixture will turn into black balls, soda and sugar will begin to decompose.
6. After burning the alcohol, a snake will appear, consisting of the products of burning sugar.

Pharaoh's snake made from sugar and soda:

Fire without a spark

To create a fire without a spark, you need potassium permanganate, glycerin and paper.

Sequencing:

1. Place approximately 1.5 g of potassium permanganate powder in the center of a sheet of paper, cover with the free edge of the sheet.
2. Apply 3 drops of glycerin to the paper in the place where the powder is located.
3. After 30 seconds, potassium permanganate will begin to hiss, smoke and produce black foam. The exothermic reaction will heat the paper and it will catch fire.

Fireworks

To make small fireworks at home, you need to choose a small fireproof dish with a long handle.

Sequencing:

1. On a paper sheet you need to pour a crushed tablet of activated carbon, the same amount of potassium permanganate and the same amount of iron filings.
2. Fold a piece of paper in half to combine the powders (powders should not be mixed with spoons or spatulas; they may ignite).
3. Carefully pour into a fireproof container and heat over the burner. After a few seconds. the heated mixture will begin to emit sparks.

Chemistry sets for children

Chemical experiments for children at home will help you carry out special sets of substances and tools.

Experiment kit “Vulcan”

Designed for children over 14 years old, it allows you to independently reproduce the eruption of a small volcano.

Equipment:

To conduct the experiment, you first need to make the volcano itself; sand or gypsum is suitable as a material. When the mountain has frozen, a special powder is poured into the depression and set on fire. The substance begins to burn spectacularly, throwing out sparks, and ash appears.

The advantages of such an experiment include a visual representation of flammable substances. Disadvantages: presence of harmful substances, can only be used once.

Price: 440 rub.

Chemistry set

The kit provides for growing crystals at home.

The set includes:

• ammonium crystal;
• dye;
• polypropylene container;
• gloves;
• colored glass base;
• stirring tool;
• instructions.

Stages of work:

• Pour crystalline powder into a container and mix with 150 ml of boiling water.
• Stir until completely dissolved.
• The base of the crystal is immersed in the liquid.
• Cover with a lid for 60 minutes.
• Add a substance to form a crystal into the cooled water and close the lid.
• After a day, remove the lid.
• Wait until the top of the crystal appears above the water.
• The water is drained, the crystal is removed and dried.

The experiment is very interesting for children and is practically safe, but it will take at least 4 days to complete.

Cost of the set: 350 rub.

Set for chemical experiments “Traffic light”

Set includes:

• sodium hydroxide;
• glucose;
• indigo carmine;
• 2 measuring cups;
• gloves.

Sequence of experience:

1. Glucose (4 tablets) is dissolved in 1 glass using a small amount of boiling water. Add 10 mg sodium hydroxide solution.
2. A little indigo carmine is dissolved in the 2nd glass.
3. A solution of glucose and alkali is poured into the resulting blue liquid.
4. When mixing the solutions, the liquid will turn green (oxygen in the air oxidizes indigo carmine).
5. Gradually the solution will turn red, then yellow. If the vessel with the yellow solution is shaken, the liquid will turn green again, then red and yellow.

The experiment is spectacular, interesting and safe. The disadvantages include insufficiently detailed instructions.

Set price: 350 rub.

Advantages and disadvantages of home experiments

Experience name	Advantages	Flaws
Pharaoh snake	Availability of materials, entertainment	Not safe
Growing Crystals	Complete security, visibility	The experiment is quite long
Volcano	Clearly demonstrates the interaction of substances	Long preparations for the experiment
Experiment on the interaction of metals with various liquids	Effectiveness, safety	Requires a lot of time to carry out
Home fireworks	Entertainment and availability of substances used	Not safe

Most chemical home experiments, when carried out correctly, do not harm the child’s health, but it is better to carry them out under adult supervision. All the necessary substances can be found in any kitchen.

Experiments will reveal to children the secrets of the interaction of substances and arouse interest in understanding the world.

Article format: Svetlana Ovsyanikova

Video on the topic: chemical experiments for children

Home miracle laboratory: chemical experiments for children:

It’s slushy and cold outside, you can’t have a good walk anymore, but you need to somehow entertain the children. Maybe do a couple of “science experiments”? And at the same time explain to the child that all substances in the world have different densities: for example, the density of oil is lower than the density of water. What follows from this? They will never mix, and this can be taken advantage of.

Fireworks in a jar

Everything you need for this experiment is already in your kitchen: a jar, water, vegetable oil and food coloring. And everything looks impressive and does not require a lot of time and effort.

1. Fill the jar about two-thirds full with warm water.
2. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a small bowl and drop food coloring of different colors into it (if you have powdered coloring, make an aqueous solution).

1. Mix the oil and dye with a fork to create smaller, multi-colored drops - water and oil will not mix, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

1. Carefully pour the oil and paint into the water and watch what happens.

The food coloring will begin to slowly dissolve in the water, forming streaks of color, and then mix to create new colors.

The essence of what is happening is that the oil will always float on the surface, but the paint will sink, it is heavier than the oil. It all looks like little colored explosions - hence the name: fireworks in a jar.

Lava lamp

This experiment uses: a tall bottle, for example, from under water, or a container for bulk substances, vegetable oil, water, food coloring and effervescent tablets: Alka-Seltzer, soluble aspirin, in general those that emit carbon dioxide when in contact with water. The result will be something like a paraffin lamp, which were popular twenty years ago, only without paraffin and heating, but with the same meditative effect.

1. You need a lot of oil: fill the bottle a little more than halfway.
2. Top up the rest with water and wait until all the water is at the bottom. Now add ten drops of food coloring.

1. Break the effervescent tablet into four pieces and drop one piece at a time into the bottle of oil and colored water. Don't overdo it: if too much carbon dioxide is released at once, the bubbles will be smaller and the effect less interesting.

1. Watch until you lose interest.

Discussion

Cool experience :) We've already tried it. Have you tried making invisible water? You light a candle and pour vinegar into a jug and add soda. Then you bring the jug to the fire and, as it were, water it. Carbon dioxide will extinguish the flame. It's like invisible water!! My child was very impressed;) By the way, even more experiments using improvised means can be found in Professor Nicolas’s book or on YouTube :) we are already hooked;)

Thanks for the idea, we will do the same today.

It turns out beautifully!

Comment on the article "Experiments for children: a chemistry lesson for the little ones"

How to spend your holidays fun and usefully, learn a lot of new things and meet new friends? We know the answer! Come to the entertaining science museum LabyrinthUm of the Peter-Rainbow shopping mall for an interesting and incredibly fun show program "Scientific Vacations". Fun lessons await you: fascinating mathematics, fun chemistry, entertaining physics, curious Russian language and much more. During the program, each child will definitely take part: conduct experiments in chemistry, conduct an experiment in physics or...

Friends, the Museum of Entertaining Science “LabyrinthUm” in the “Piter-Raduga” shopping center (metro station Victory Park) invites children and their parents to take part in the exciting interactive program “Scientific Holidays”. How to have fun and usefully spend your holidays, learn a lot of new things and prepare for new things academic year? The Museum of Entertaining Sciences "LabyrinthUm" invites you to the "Scientific Vacation" program. Fun lessons await you: exciting mathematics, fun chemistry, entertaining physics, interesting Russian language and...

Dear friends, we invite you to visit the “Scientific Holidays” show program at the “LabyrinthUm” museum on Petrogradskaya! In the secret laboratory, extraordinary lessons await you: fascinating mathematics, fun chemistry, entertaining physics, interesting Russian language and much more! Our professors will prove to you that class can be more fun than recess! Children will be able to conduct experiments on their own and learn a lot of new things, and their parents will have the opportunity to remember school course physics and chemistry! With our show...

I had the worst grades in chemistry, but it was still interesting to “chemistry” in class (even if the results were 3). Can memorizing formulas in advance without reference to experiments really contribute to interest in the subject?

My children and I were fortunate enough to receive and test MEL Chemistry kits from MEL Science. Perhaps this is the most modern and convenient opportunity today to introduce children to chemistry without waiting until they start studying it 1 hour a week in the 8th grade. The program can be said to have three components. These are kits for conducting safe chemical experiments at home; project website, which provides subscription and scientific support; And...

The quality of the lessons has changed, my little kick was enough. And, most importantly, I saw how my child behaves and feels in class. I even managed to explain to my child a topic in chemistry that the teacher could not explain in class.

How to attract children to chemistry? - Show an interesting, spectacular, stunning experiment! “But such an experiment requires equipment, materials, knowledge,” you say. And... you will be wrong! For a minimal, but equally spectacular pharaoh snake you just need to go to the pharmacy and then to the Hunter/Fishing or hardware store. And take some precautions, the same as, for example, when launching fireworks. This is exactly the experiment - the classic "Pharaoh's Snake", which...

The curious Chevostik cannot sit still and together with Uncle Kuzya he decided to go on a new journey - into the world of fascinating chemistry. [link-1] He had long wanted to know the answers to many, many unexpected questions. For example: what does everything around consist of? What happens if you boil sand? What do a pencil lead and a diamond have in common? Let's hit the road! Stop #1: What is chemistry? - Chevostik, today we will learn a lot of new words. The first word is chemistry. This is science. Amazing and necessary. She...

Experience from life and from sources gleaned. For children at school - on the basis of the same thing. And I don’t think that such conversations with parents would give the child any less. But it's school! And electives are more correct. Some children sit out their lessons, no one needs this.

I dropped my cell phone on all the children in the RD, apparently experience teaches nothing) nothing, everyone is alive and well) 02/10/2013 10:21:26 It’s just that mine is still so small, only 5.5 weeks 02/09/2013 13:44:22 , Such a joke. reading courses for children. weeping sore. online chemistry lessons.

The Academy of Interests is a project with a truly personal story. In 2005, a young mother, Zhanna Ryzhova, created the children's animation studio “Elephant” for her young son and the children of friends, because there was nothing like it in Moscow. The experience turned out to be successful, the children loved the classes at Slon, and their parents suggested adding other educational activities to the animation, educational programs. This is how the idea was born to organize a children’s club with a diverse theme. "Elephant" has grown into the Academy of Interests...

Best friend. Window to a magical world. A time machine that can transport you right from the spot in time and space. All this is about the book. I have loved reading since childhood - thanks to my mother, who told me fairy tales so intriguingly that I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen in the end. So I had the incentive to learn to read from the age of three. At four, I had already re-read all the recommended literature for preschoolers like “The Wizard of Oz,” “Dunno,” “Hottabych” and “Winnie the Pooh,” and in elementary...

ABC for kids from Berg Sound studio

In my experience:). Although here (in the country in general) the year is not the same, yes. When my daughter was in the 5th grade, she had even fewer lessons than in some schools. For children in biochemistry classes, extra chemistry and biology is a welcome break from annoying mathematics and...

I bought a white coat here for a chemistry lesson. The most expensive robe cost 380 rubles. My son is small and thin. We bought it for 6th grade. A robe is not meant to “get children and parents”, but a basic concern for the safety of clothing.

There is less stress for the child, and better than he knows, he still won’t write. Khimichka. “Whoever doesn’t want to go to my lessons, don’t go, there will be no sanctions. I don’t need empty eyes in class,” this is how she greeted the seventh graders at the first chemistry lesson.

Robe for Chemistry lessons white can be purchased on the website [link-1]. Both small and large sizes 09/18/2016 21:10:15, Katari-na. "Workwear" stores, the northernmost part >.

In fact, there are no experiments that could clearly prove that this food or food additive = poison. There’s another bread nearby, it contains much less of this chemical, we’d rather buy it.”

Especially small. The child throws himself into home lessons and tries his best. The desks are free! When I myself was studying at school, we had a chemist who, as knowledge of chemistry, required that the flask be drawn to a certain amount...

My personal experience in teaching chemistry has shown that a science like chemistry is very difficult to study without any prior knowledge and practice. Schoolchildren very often neglect this subject. I personally observed how an 8th grade student, when he heard the word “chemistry,” began to wince, as if he had eaten a lemon.

Later it turned out that due to dislike and misunderstanding of the subject, he skipped school secretly from his parents. Certainly, school program is designed in such a way that the teacher must give a lot of theory in the first chemistry lessons. Practice seems to fade into the background precisely at the moment when the student cannot yet independently realize whether he needs this subject in the future. This is primarily due to the laboratory equipment of schools. IN big cities Currently, the situation with reagents and instruments is better. As for the province, just like 10 years ago and now, many schools do not have the opportunity to conduct laboratory classes. But the process of studying and becoming interested in chemistry, as well as other natural sciences, usually begins with experiments. And this is no coincidence. Many famous chemists, such as Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Paracelsus, Robert Boyle, Pierre Curie and Marie Sklodowska-Curie (schoolchildren also study all of these researchers in physics lessons) began experimenting from childhood. The great discoveries of these great people were made precisely in home chemical laboratories, since studying chemistry in institutes was available only to people of means.

And, of course, the most important thing is to interest the child and convey to him that chemistry surrounds us everywhere, so the process of studying it can be very exciting. This is where home chemical experiments come to the rescue. By observing such experiments, one can further look for an explanation of why things happen this way and not otherwise. And when in school lessons young researcher encounters similar concepts, the teacher’s explanations will be more understandable to him, since he will already have his own experience of conducting home chemical experiments and the knowledge gained.

It is very important to start learning science with common observations and real-life examples that you think will be most successful for your child. Here are some of them. Water is Chemical substance, consisting of two elements, as well as gases dissolved in it. Man also contains water. It is known that where there is no water, there is no life. A person can live without food for about a month, but without water - only a few days.

River sand is nothing more than silicon oxide, and is also the main raw material for glass production.

A person himself does not suspect it and carries out chemical reactions every second. The air we breathe is a mixture of gases - chemicals. During exhalation, another one is released compound- carbon dioxide. We can say that we ourselves are a chemical laboratory. You can explain to your child that washing hands with soap is also a chemical process of water and soap.

An older child who, for example, has already started studying chemistry at school, can be explained that almost all elements can be found in the human body periodic table D. I. Mendeleev. Not only are all chemical elements present in a living organism, but each of them performs some biological function.

Chemistry also includes medicines, without which many people nowadays cannot live a day.

Plants also contain the chemical chlorophyll, which gives leaves their green color.

Cooking is complicated chemical processes. Here is an example of how dough rises when yeast is added.

One of the options for getting a child interested in chemistry is to take an individual outstanding researcher and read the story of his life or watch an educational film about him (films about D.I. Mendeleev, Paracelsus, M.V. Lomonosov, Butlerov are now available).

Many people believe that real chemistry is harmful substances, experimenting with them is dangerous, especially at home. There are many very exciting experiences that you can do with your child without harming your health. And these home chemical experiments will be no less exciting and instructive than those that come with explosions, acrid odors and clouds of smoke.

Some parents are also afraid to conduct chemical experiments at home because of their complexity or lack of necessary equipment and reagents. It turns out that you can get by with improvised means and those substances that every housewife has in her kitchen. You can buy them at your local hardware store or pharmacy. Test tubes for conducting home chemical experiments can be replaced with bottles of tablets. To store reagents, you can use glass jars, for example, baby food or mayonnaise.

It is worth remembering that the container with reagents must have a label with the inscription and be tightly closed. Sometimes the test tubes need to be heated. In order not to hold it in your hands when it heats up and not get burned, you can build such a device using a clothespin or a piece of wire.

It is also necessary to allocate several steel and wooden spoons for mixing.

You can make a stand for holding test tubes yourself by drilling through holes in the block.

To filter the resulting substances you will need a paper filter. It is very easy to make according to the diagram given here.

For children who do not yet go to school or are in elementary school, performing chemical experiments at home with their parents will be a kind of game. Most likely, such a young researcher will not yet be able to explain some individual laws and reactions. However, perhaps it is precisely this empirical method of discovering the surrounding world, nature, man, and plants through experiments that will lay the foundation for the study of natural sciences in the future. You can even organize some kind of competitions in the family to see who has the most successful experience and then demonstrate them at family holidays.

Regardless of your child's age or ability to read and write, I recommend keeping a laboratory journal in which you can record experiments or sketch. A real chemist always writes down a work plan, a list of reagents, sketches the instruments and describes the progress of the work.

When you and your child first begin to study this science of substances and conduct home chemical experiments, the first thing you need to remember is safety.

To do this, you must follow the following safety rules:

2. It is better to allocate a separate table for conducting chemical experiments at home. If you do not have a separate table at home, then it is better to conduct experiments on a steel or iron tray or pallet.

3. You need to get thin and thick gloves (they are sold at a pharmacy or hardware store).

4. For chemical experiments, it is best to buy a lab coat, but you can also use a thick apron instead of a coat.

5. Laboratory glassware should not be further used for food.

6. Chemical experiments at home should not include abusive relationship with animals and violations ecological system. Acidic chemical wastes must be neutralized with soda, and alkaline ones with acetic acid.

7. If you want to check the smell of a gas, liquid or reagent, never bring the container directly to your face, but, holding it at some distance, direct the air above the container towards you by waving your hand and at the same time smell the air.

8. Always use small quantities of reagents in home experiments. Avoid leaving reagents in a container without an appropriate inscription (label) on the bottle, from which it should be clear what is in the bottle.

You should start learning chemistry with simple chemical experiments at home, allowing your child to master the basic concepts. A series of experiments 1-3 allow you to get acquainted with the main states of aggregation substances and properties of water. To begin with, you can show your preschooler how sugar and salt dissolve in water, accompanying this with an explanation that water is a universal solvent and is a liquid. Sugar or salt are solids that dissolve in liquid.

Experience No. 1 “Because - without water and neither here nor there”

Water is a liquid chemical substance consisting of two elements as well as gases dissolved in it. Man also contains water. It is known that where there is no water, there is no life. A person can live without food for about a month, and without water - only a few days.

Reagents and equipment: 2 test tubes, soda, citric acid, water

Experiment: Take two test tubes. Pour baking soda and citric acid into them in equal quantities. Then pour water into one of the test tubes, but not into the other. In a test tube in which water was poured, carbon dioxide began to be released. In a test tube without water - nothing has changed

Discussion: This experiment explains the fact that without water many reactions and processes in living organisms are impossible, and water also accelerates many chemical reactions. It can be explained to schoolchildren that an exchange reaction occurred, as a result of which carbon dioxide was released.

Experiment No. 2 “What is dissolved in tap water”

Reagents and equipment: transparent glass, tap water

Experiment: Pour tap water into a transparent glass and leave it in a warm place for an hour. After an hour, you will see settled bubbles on the walls of the glass.

Discussion: Bubbles are nothing more than gases dissolved in water. Gases dissolve better in cold water. As soon as the water becomes warm, the gases stop dissolving and settle on the walls. Such a home chemical experiment also allows you to introduce your child to the gaseous state of matter.

Experiment No. 3 “What is dissolved in mineral water or water is a universal solvent”

Reagents and equipment: test tube, mineral water, candle, magnifying glass

Experiment: Pour mineral water into a test tube and slowly evaporate it over a candle flame (the experiment can be done on the stove in a saucepan, but the crystals will be less visible). As the water evaporates, small crystals will remain on the walls of the test tube, all of them of different shapes.

Discussion: Crystals are salts dissolved in mineral water. They have different shapes and sizes, since each crystal has its own chemical formula. With a child who has already started studying chemistry at school, you can read the label on mineral water, where its composition is indicated, and write the formulas of the compounds contained in the mineral water.

Experiment No. 4 “Filtering water mixed with sand”

Reagents and equipment: 2 test tubes, funnel, paper filter, water, river sand

Experiment: Pour water into a test tube and add a little river sand there, mix. Then, according to the scheme described above, make a filter out of paper. Insert a dry, clean test tube into the rack. Slowly pour the sand and water mixture through a funnel with a paper filter. The river sand will remain on the filter, and you will get clean water in the test tube.

Discussion: Chemical experiment allows us to show that there are substances that do not dissolve in water, for example, river sand. The experience also introduces one of the methods for purifying mixtures of substances from impurities. Here you can introduce the concepts of pure substances and mixtures, which are given in the 8th grade chemistry textbook. In this case, the mixture is sand and water, the pure substance is the filtrate, and river sand is the sediment.

The filtration process (described in grade 8) is used here to separate a mixture of water and sand. To diversify the study of this process, you can delve a little deeper into the history of drinking water purification.

Filtration processes were used as early as the 8th and 7th centuries BC. in the state of Urartu (now the territory of Armenia) to purify drinking water. Its residents built a water supply system using filters. Thick fabric and charcoal were used as filters. Similar systems of intertwined drainpipes, clay channels, equipped with filters were also on the territory of the ancient Nile by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Water was passed through such a filter several times, ultimately many times, ultimately achieving best quality water.

One of the most interesting experiments is growing crystals. The experiment is very visual and gives an idea of ​​many chemical and physical concepts.

Experiment No. 5 “Growing sugar crystals”

Reagents and equipment: two glasses of water; sugar - five glasses; wooden skewers; thin paper; pot; transparent cups; food coloring (the proportions of sugar and water can be reduced).

Experiment: The experiment should begin with the preparation of sugar syrup. Take a saucepan, pour 2 cups of water and 2.5 cups of sugar into it. Place over medium heat and, stirring, dissolve all the sugar. Pour the remaining 2.5 cups of sugar into the resulting syrup and cook until completely dissolved.

Now let's prepare the crystal seeds - rods. Sprinkle a small amount of sugar on a piece of paper, then dip the stick in the resulting syrup and roll it in sugar.

We take the pieces of paper and poke a hole in the middle with a skewer so that the paper fits tightly to the skewer.

Then pour the hot syrup into transparent glasses (it is important that the glasses are transparent - this way the process of crystal ripening will be more exciting and visual). The syrup must be hot, otherwise the crystals will not grow.

You can make colored sugar crystals. To do this, add a little food coloring to the resulting hot syrup and stir it.

The crystals will grow in different ways, some quickly and some may take longer. At the end of the experiment, the child can eat the resulting candies if he is not allergic to sweets.

If you do not have wooden skewers, then the experiment can be carried out with ordinary threads.

Discussion: Crystal is solid state substances. He has a certain form and a certain number of faces due to the arrangement of its atoms. Substances whose atoms are arranged regularly so that they form a regular three-dimensional lattice, called crystalline, are considered crystalline. Row crystals chemical elements and their compounds have remarkable mechanical, electrical, magnetic and optical properties. For example, a diamond natural crystal and the hardest and rarest mineral. Due to its exceptional hardness, diamond plays a huge role in technology. Diamond saws are used to cut stones. There are three ways to form crystals: crystallization from a melt, from a solution and from the gas phase. An example of crystallization from a melt is the formation of ice from water (after all, water is molten ice). An example of crystallization from solution in nature is the precipitation of hundreds of millions of tons of salt from sea water. In this case, when growing crystals at home, we are dealing with the most common method of artificial growth - crystallization from solution. Sugar crystals grow from saturated solution with slow evaporation of the solvent - water or with a slow decrease in temperature.

The following experiment allows you to obtain at home one of the most useful crystalline products for humans - crystalline iodine. Before conducting the experiment, I advise you to watch the short film “The Life of Wonderful Ideas” with your child. Smart iodine." The film gives an idea of ​​the benefits of iodine and the unusual story of its discovery, which the young researcher will remember for a long time. And it is interesting because the discoverer of iodine was an ordinary cat.

French scientist Bernard Courtois in the years Napoleonic wars noticed that the products obtained from the ashes of seaweed that washed up on the coast of France contained some substance that corroded iron and copper vessels. But neither Courtois himself nor his assistants knew how to isolate this substance from algae ash. An accident helped speed up the discovery.

At his small saltpeter production plant in Dijon, Courtois planned to conduct several experiments. There were vessels on the table, one of which contained a tincture of seaweed in alcohol, and the other a mixture of sulfuric acid and iron. His favorite cat was sitting on the scientist’s shoulders.

There was a knock on the door, and the frightened cat jumped and ran away, brushing away the flasks on the table with her tail. The vessels broke, the contents were mixed, and a violent chemical reaction suddenly began. When a small cloud of vapors and gases settled, the surprised scientist saw some kind of crystalline coating on objects and debris. Courtois began to investigate it. The crystals of this previously unknown substance were called “iodine”.

Thus, a new element was discovered, and Bernard Courtois’s domestic cat went down in history.

Experiment No. 6 “Obtaining iodine crystals”

Reagents and equipment: tincture of pharmaceutical iodine, water, glass or cylinder, napkin.

Experiment: Mix water with iodine tincture in the proportion: 10 ml iodine and 10 ml water. And put everything in the refrigerator for 3 hours. During the cooling process, iodine will precipitate at the bottom of the glass. Drain the liquid, remove the iodine precipitate and place it on a napkin. Squeeze with napkins until the iodine begins to crumble.

Discussion: This chemical experiment is called extraction or extraction of one component from another. In this case, water extracts iodine from the alcohol solution. Thus, the young researcher will repeat the experiment of Courtois the cat without smoke and breaking of dishes.

Your child will already learn about the benefits of iodine for disinfecting wounds from the film. Thus, you will show that there is an inextricable connection between chemistry and medicine. However, it turns out that iodine can be used as an indicator or analyzer of the content of another useful substance - starch. The following experiment will introduce the young experimenter to a separate, very useful chemistry - analytical.

Experiment No. 7 “Iodine-indicator of starch content”

Reagents and equipment: fresh potatoes, pieces of banana, apple, bread, a glass of diluted starch, a glass of diluted iodine, a pipette.

Experiment: We cut the potatoes into two parts and drip diluted iodine on it - the potatoes turn blue. Then drop a few drops of iodine into a glass with diluted starch. The liquid also turns blue.

Using a pipette, drop iodine dissolved in water onto an apple, banana, bread, one by one.

We observe:

The apple did not turn blue at all. Banana - slightly blue. The bread turned very blue. This part of the experiment shows the presence of starch in various foods.

Discussion: Starch reacts with iodine to give a blue color. This property allows us to detect the presence of starch in various products. Thus, iodine is like an indicator or analyzer of starch content.

As you know, starch can be converted into sugar; if you take an unripe apple and drop iodine, it will turn blue, since the apple is not yet ripe. As soon as the apple is ripe, all the starch contained will turn into sugar and the apple, when treated with iodine, will not turn blue at all.

The following experience will be useful for children who have already started studying chemistry at school. It introduces concepts such as chemical reaction, compound reaction, and qualitative reaction.

Experiment No. 8 “Flame coloring or compound reaction”

Reagents and equipment: tweezers, table salt, alcohol lamp

Experiment: Using tweezers, take a few crystals of coarse table salt. Let's hold them over the flame of the burner. The flame will turn yellow.

Discussion: This experiment allows us to conduct chemical reaction combustion, which is an example of a compound reaction. Due to the presence of sodium in table salt, during combustion it reacts with oxygen. As a result, a new substance is formed - sodium oxide. The appearance of a yellow flame indicates that the reaction has completed. Similar reactions are qualitative reactions for compounds containing sodium, that is, it can be used to determine whether a substance contains sodium or not.