High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (2024)

An experienced chemistry professor used to say that it took about one explosion per week to maintain college students' attention in chemistry lectures. At that rate, we'd get in pretty big trouble with a lot of parents and teachers! Don't worry, we still have lots of bubbles, fizzes, bangs, and color changes for you to explore.

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Featured

Take the Science Buddies Engineering Challenge!

Try the annual Engineering Challenge from Science Buddies! Open to all students worldwide, a new challenge and prizes are announced every January. Explore the current challenge as well as ones from past years! Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (3)

Make an Alka-Seltzer Powered Lava Lamp

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Have you ever seen a lava lamp? They were the height of 1960's "groovy" room decorations. A few minutes after turning it on, a lava lamp has blobs of colored liquid floating towards the top of the lamp and then drifting back down. Making an actual lava lamp that you plug in would require some effort and unusual supplies, but you can create a non-electric version in just a few minutes with the help of the fizzing power of Alka-Seltzer. In this activity you can find out how to make your own… Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (5)

Explore Glow-in-the-Dark Water!

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Have you ever been fascinated by things that glow in the dark? It can be a lot of fun to play with bracelets, wands, and other toys that are glow-in-the-dark, like some stickers and creepy, crawly, plastic insects! Have you ever wanted to make something at home that glows? It turns out that it is not that hard to do — all you need is tonic water and a black light! Some common household chemicals can also affect this beverage's glow. In this science activity, you will make tonic water glow… Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (7)

How to Grow the Best Crystals

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Have you ever wondered how crystals are made? Crystals come in all different shapes and sizes. However, the purest and cleanest crystals are usually also the ones that grow to be the largest in size. In this activity, you will compare the size and shape of crystals grown at different temperatures. With just water and Borax, a household cleaning product, you can discover the method for growing large, pure crystals! Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (9)

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Make String from Algae

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Did you know that the seaweed you've seen in the ocean or even eaten as a snack is inspiring innovators to imagine new materials? Large brown algae, like kelp, contains polymers—long chains of molecules—that are more environmentally friendly than the ones in most plastics. These natural polymers (alginates) could eventually be used to create sustainable everyday objects. Try your hand at using a bit of chemistry to turn biodegradable polymers from algae into your own custom… Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (11)

Launching Homemade Baking Soda Rockets

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Have you ever enjoyed watching something lift off into the air, like fireworks at a show or a spacecraft launching? It can be an amazing experience. It is thrilling to see something lift off against Earth's gravity. To launch a spacecraft, its rockets give it a strong push that is due to a chemical reaction. This means that every time you see a spacecraft launch, you are watching chemistry at work. In this activity you will get to blast an object into the air using two simple… Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (13)

Making Homemade Bath Bombs

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Have you ever had a refreshing bath using a bath bomb? It can be quite the relaxing experience, especially if your bath bomb has a nice fragrance or includes some bath salts. Have you ever wondered what causes a bath bomb to become so fizzy when it touches the water in the bathtub? It is due to a chemical reaction taking place between different ingredients within the bath bomb. In this activity, you will get to make your own homemade bath bombs and explore how changing the amounts of the… Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (15)

Color-changing Cabbage Chemistry

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What if you could take a single liquid, and change it into a rainbow of colors without using food dye. You can! In this activity you will use red cabbage to make what is called an indicator solution. Indicator solutions can change colors depending on what you add to them. In this case adding something acidic (like lemon juice) will change it to one color while adding something basic (like bleach) will change it to another. Try and see how many colors you can make using different household… Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (17)

Homemade Rice Paper

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Have you ever encountered "paper" on your plate—perhaps in the form of thin paper for spring rolls, or cake decorating? Did it make you wonder how this paper relates to the paper you write on? You will find out in this activity! In addition, you can discover the recipe to make the edible paper you like best. Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (19)

Dye Eggs Using Silk Ties for Egg-cellent Colors

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Have you ever dyed eggs? Turning eggshells from white into different, dazzling colors can be a lot of fun! People often do this using dye tablets to make different colors in a liquid bath. They then dip the egg into the liquid and wait till it turns the desired color. Eggs can be dyed in many other ways, and one neat method uses silk ties. Sounds strange to use clothing to dye eggs, right? But it actually works really well! In this activity, you will dye eggs with silk ties and… Read more

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (21)

Build a Bathtub Toy Raft Powered by Surface Tension

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Have you ever wondered why a water strider can walk on water? Or how detergent can clean your dishes? If you look around you carefully, you can find dozens of similarly interesting phenomena that are all linked to the surface tension of water. In this science activity, you will make a little toy raft that is actually powered by surface tension, and use your vessel to investigate how surface tension works! Read more

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Free science fair projects.

High School, Chemistry STEM Activities for Kids (2024)

FAQs

How can I make high school chemistry fun? ›

We've identified nine ways to make your chemistry teaching life more manageable and fun!
  1. Use interactive visuals. ...
  2. Flip the classroom/lab. ...
  3. Do Interesting Experiments. ...
  4. Relate chemistry to everyday life. ...
  5. Learn through storylines. ...
  6. Help students develop chemical imagination. ...
  7. Use the 5E approach. ...
  8. Go on a virtual field trip.

What is a good science fair project for chemistry? ›

All Projects List
Accelerate RustingAcids And BasesAnt Microphotography
CO2 & PhotosynthesisCollecting DNAColoring Matter in Food
Colors And TemperatureComposition of a ShellConstruct a Lung Model
Corrosiveness of SodaCreate a Heat DetectorCultivate Slime Molds
Cup of LavaDehydrated PotatoDetergents and Plants
40 more rows

What activities are related to chemistry? ›

Activities to Explore Chemical Reactions
  • Elephant Toothpaste. ...
  • Chemical Reaction Lava Lamp. ...
  • Lemon Volcano. ...
  • Invisible Ink. ...
  • Bath Bombs. ...
  • Exploring Enzymes. ...
  • Fire Snake. ...
  • Cabbage Chemistry.
Oct 9, 2023

Is chemistry the hardest class in high school? ›

Chemistry is often considered one of the hardest science classes in high school. It involves abstract ideas, challenging formulas, and requires a high level of lab precision.

How do you make chemistry less boring? ›

Depends what level you're at, but these are a few ways.
  1. Make up organic chem structures into fun shapes and learn new functional groups to get more interesting shapes.
  2. Organic chemistry is a bunch of puzzles. ...
  3. Think about compounds that interest you and ask yourself why they interest you.
Jun 2, 2020

What is a good science fair project question? ›

These are examples of good science fair project questions: How does water purity affect surface tension? When is the best time to plant soy beans? Which material is the best insulator?

What not to do on a science fair project? ›

Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. This includes plagiarism, forgery, use or presentation of other researcher's work as one's own and fabrication of data.

How to do a high school science fair project? ›

Scientific Method
  1. Step 1: Determine the problem or question. In this step you decide what it is that you will study. ...
  2. Step 2: Develop your hypothesis. ...
  3. Step 3: Design an experiment to test your hypothesis. ...
  4. Step 4: Conduct your experiment and collect the data. ...
  5. Step 5: Draw Conclusions from your data.

What are 2 activities that chemists may perform? ›

Analyze substances to determine their composition and concentration of elements. Conduct tests on materials and other substances to ensure that safety and quality standards are met. Write technical reports that detail methods and findings. Present research findings to scientists, engineers, and other colleagues.

What is 5 examples of chemistry in everyday life? ›

What Is the Application of Chemistry in Daily Life?
  • Brushing your teeth. ...
  • Making that first cup of joe. ...
  • Eating safe food. ...
  • Cooking food is also a part of chemistry in our daily lives. ...
  • Pharmaceutical drugs are essential chemistry in daily life. ...
  • Chemistry and Covid-19. ...
  • The clothes we wear on our backs. ...
  • The bottom line.
Feb 21, 2022

What activities do you use chemistry in daily? ›

Although we may not realize it, every day we apply knowledge of chemistry when cooking food, using medicines, using cleaning products or selecting clothes to protect us from cold, heat or corrosive substances. We can carry out all these activities safely and effectively because chemistry is part of our education.

Is it OK to skip chemistry in high school? ›

If chemistry is listed as a prerequisite for your chosen major and you haven't taken it in high school, the college may require you to take the course during your college years. However, it's important to note that not all majors or programs require chemistry.

How to survive high school chemistry? ›

Be prepared to study.
  1. Take responsibility for your learning. If you are confused, let your instructor know this. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
  2. View chemistry class as an opportunity rather than a chore. Find something you like about chemistry and focus on that. Having a positive attitude can be a key to your success.
Jan 19, 2019

Why is high school chemistry so hard? ›

Chemistry Uses Math

Part of the reason many people find chemistry so daunting is because they are learning (or re-learning) math at the same time they are learning chemistry concepts. If you get stuck on unit conversions, for example, it's easy to get behind.

How do you ace chemistry in high school? ›

First of all, know that you aren't alone - Some of the best students struggled in chemistry at some point so keep with it!
  1. Learning Chemistry takes time! ...
  2. Dig Deep on practice problems. ...
  3. Do the reading and warm up problems BEFORE lecture. ...
  4. Lab Sections really do matter. ...
  5. Ask lots and lots of questions!

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