Mix bicarb soda and vinegar to make a colourful eruption and discover what a chemical reaction is.
Outdoor · Hands-on · easy
You'll need: Bicarbonate of soda (2 tablespoons), White vinegar (½ cup), A small cup or bottle…
Science & STEM Holiday Activities
Children are natural scientists. These experiments and engineering challenges use things you already have at home and focus on the most important science skill of all: predicting, testing and explaining what happened.
Every activity lists its safety precautions. Read them first, and supervise anything involving the kitchen, water or the outdoors.
11 free activities
Using only paper and tape, design a bridge between two books that holds as many coins as possible.
Indoor · Hands-on · medium
You'll need: 5 sheets of A4 paper, Sticky tape, Two books of the same height…
Become a weather scientist for a week: observe the sky, measure rain, and compare your notes to the forecast.
Outdoor · Printable · easy
You'll need: This page printed, A clear jar and a ruler (for a rain gauge), A pencil
Explore your backyard or local park to find, sort and sketch living things — no collecting required.
Outdoor · Printable · easy
You'll need: This page printed, A pencil, A magnifying glass (optional)
Fold three paper plane designs, run fair tests and find out which flies furthest — and why.
Indoor or outdoor · Hands-on · easy
You'll need: A4 paper, A tape measure or long-step counting, Paper and pencil for results
Stack honey, dishwashing liquid, coloured water and oil into a stripy tower, then predict where small objects will float or sink.
Indoor · Hands-on · easy
You'll need: A tall clear glass or jar, Honey, Dishwashing liquid…
Sprout a bean in a clear jar so you can watch the roots and shoot grow, recording changes over two weeks in an observation diary.
Indoor · Printable · easy
You'll need: This page printed, Two or three dried beans from the pantry (such as broad beans or borlotti beans), A clear jar…
Use cardboard tubes, boxes and tape to build a marble run up a wall or down the stairs — then improve it to make the marble's journey as long as possible.
Indoor · Hands-on · medium
You'll need: Cardboard tubes (paper towel and toilet roll tubes), Cereal boxes or other thin cardboard, Masking tape or painter's tape…
Record sunrise and sunset times for a week, work out the length of each day and graph the pattern to see how daylight changes.
Indoor or outdoor · Printable · medium
You'll need: This page printed, Internet access with a parent's permission, or a printed almanac, Graph paper or plain paper and a ruler…
Learn the four main cloud families, then head outside to spot them, name them and guess what the weather might do next.
Outdoor · Printable · easy
You'll need: This page printed, A pencil, A blanket or towel to lie on…
Turn a plastic bottle, sand, gravel and cotton wool into a layered filter, then test how well it cleans muddy water.
Outdoor · Hands-on · medium
You'll need: A large clean plastic bottle (an adult cuts it in half), Cotton wool balls or a coffee filter, Clean sand (about 1 cup)…