Chemistry in everyday life: Easy at-home experiments for kids

Does chemistry sound like something that only happens inside a lab? On the contrary, it’s already happening on your kitchen counter, at your breakfast table or while doing your household chores. In fact, kids don’t need sophisticated equipment to do chemistry experiments at home. For example, a bit of baking soda, some vinegar, salt, and food colouring are enough to try real experiments at home with your little ones. 
With a grown-up around to help, these little observations can turn out to be simple, safe, and genuinely fun. Without even realising it, kids start building something that matters, the habit of paying attention and asking questions. 

Check out our science concept pages for more. 

Check out these fun and safe experiments you try your little science enthusiasts at home…

1. Ice floating on water
Try this the next time you pour yourself a cold drink. Drop in a few ice cubes and watch. They float every time without fail. Now, that might not sound like a big deal, but it actually is. Most solid things sink in their own liquid, but ice doesn’t. When water gets cold enough to freeze, it spreads out instead of squishing together. This happens because ice is less dense than liquid water.

2. Soap removing dirt from our hands
Ever tried washing greasy hands with just water? It doesn’t work, right? The grease just sits there. However, when you use soap, everything changes. Soap has a clever little trick. One part of it clings to water, while the other part sticks to the grease and dirt. So, when you rub soap over your hands, it basically grabs all the mucky stuff and holds onto it. 

Also read: Biology made easy for kids: Simple experiments using kitchen ingredients

3. Plants producing oxygen
Next time you’re sitting in a garden or walking past a tree, spare a thought for what that plant is actually doing, because it’s not just standing there looking nice. Plants take in sunlight, soak up water from the ground, and pull in carbon dioxide from the air. They mix all three to make their own food. And while they’re at it, they supply oxygen. The same oxygen you’re breathing right now. 

4. Rusting of Iron
Leave an old bike outside for a few weeks or just carelessly place a tin can in the garden. Come back a few weeks later, and you’ll likely find that familiar reddish-brown coating spreading across the surface. That’s rust, and it’s chemistry happening right in front of you. When iron sits in the open air, where there’s moisture around, something starts happening. The iron slowly reacts with the oxygen in the air and the moisture around it. That’s not dirt, but simply the paint peeling off. 

5. Baking soda and vinegar reaction
If you’ve ever worked on a school science project, there’s a good chance this one has come up. You mix baking soda and vinegar, and suddenly it fizzes, bubbles, and overflows like a tiny volcano. Vinegar is a type of acid, while baking soda is the opposite. It’s what’s called a base. When an acid and a base come together, they react. That bubbling you see is carbon dioxide gas being released, and the same gas that makes drinks fizzy. 

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