Simple Science Experiments for 8-Year-Old Kids

Hello, young scientists! Have you already buckled up to dive into the realm of science and explore the unexplored? Join us on a fascinating journey and intrigue yourself with splashing concoctions, and exhilarating scientific experiments. Abate breath and pique your inquisitiveness as we spark your passion for exploration in this article. 

No matter your age, we have made science the easiest here. Let’s uncover together some gripping yet simple science experiments for 8-year-olds.

Age Doesn’t Matter! Benefits of Hands-on Science Experiments for Children

We believe science should be fun for kids of all ages. And with hands-on experiences, specially designed for children, you can make them curious about the reasons behind the magics they witness daily – from kaleidoscopic chemical reactions to gravity-defying contraptions, different scientific experiments not only grasp their attention but also invigorate them to ask and find the answer behind “why” and “how.”

It’s like igniting the inner scientist and making them mini explorers, sowing the seed of future inventors!

Let’s look into the benefits of hands-on scientific experiments for children:

Improves Problem-solving Skills

Kids, who get hands-on experience on different scientific events at a very early age, become keen thinkers and observers. It ignites their inquisitiveness laying the bedrock for future scientific pursuits. Do you know Marie Curie? She is famous for her pioneering discovery of radium and polonium, and her enormous contribution in developing therapeutics against the deadly cancer disease. She was a sponge for knowledge from a tender age and started experimenting at science labs – thanks to her father who was a science teacher. This is how she achieved two Nobel Prizes as a token of remembrance of her contribution to the field of radioactivity.  

Improves Motor Skills

There is no better way to enhance the motor skills of a kid than to involve them in scientific experiments. This is because most scientific experiments require calculative moves – from measuring solvents in the pipet to fizzing mixing colour activities – kids must calculate in almost all experiments that test their motor skills.

Enhances Memory and Retention of Learning

Scientific experiments foster multi-sensory learning in kids by engaging them in hands-on exploration and observation. It allows them to use multiple senses – touch, smell, or observe at a time. What better way to enhance their memory and retention of learning than by engaging them in interactive and fun science experiments?

Builds Executive Functioning Skills

Another key benefit of engaging kids in science experiments from a very early age is that it helps augment their functional skills. They keep observing, thinking, and testing an experiment until they nail it. With each attempt, they learn, go through a trial and tribulation process, and organize the process with a deeper understanding and improved mastery of the subject matter. This iterative process not only improves their problem-solving capabilities but also makes them more resilient, and persevere while also increasing their critical thinking skills – essential components of strong executive functioning.

Scientific Experiment for 8-Year-Old

For an 8-year-old kid, science should come with colours where fun explodes! Labs should be filled with curiosity, experiments should be on the edge of fiction, and learning should feel like an exhilarating rollercoaster ride through the universe’s marvels. Let’s go through some fin-tastic scientific experiments for an 8-year-old kid. Don’t worry, they are safe, fun-filled, and can be performed from home.

1. Bicarb and Vinegar Volcano Eruption

Materials Needed:

• 10 ml of dish soap
• 100 ml of warm water
• 400 ml of white vinegar
• Food coloring
• Baking soda slurry (fill a cup about ½ with baking soda, then fill the rest of the way with water)
• Empty 2-liter soda bottle

Instructions:

NOTE: Experiment outside if you don’t want your home to look messy!

1. Take a 2-liter empty soda bottle and add 100 ml of lukewarm water, 10 ml of dish soap, 400 ml of white vinegar, and a few drops of food coloring (if you want colourful volcanic eruption to splash you).
2. Take another cup and fill half of it with baking soda slurry with the other half filled with water. Keep mixing it until you get a nice liquid.
3. Now the most awaited moment – pour this slurry into the soda bottle and hold your breath to witness the eruption that will blow you away!

How it Works:

The magic behind this volcanic eruption lies in the chemical reaction between baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and white vinegar (acetic acid). These two substances are mixed, and the product is gaseous carbon dioxide gas (CO2). As you shake the mixture, the CO2 gas gets super excited and starts jigging around, trying to spread out everywhere! But since there is not enough room in the bottle to accommodate the gas, it comes out quickly what you have named eruption!

DIY Lava Lamp Experiment

Materials Needed:

• Water
• vegetable oil
• Clear plastic bottle
• Food coloring
• Alka-Seltzer tablets

Instructions:

1. Take a clean transparent plastic bottle and fill three-fourths of it with vegetable oil.
2. Fill most of the rest of the bottle with water, leaving a very small part of the bottle empty for air.
3. Add a little bit of food colouring to the mixture.
4. Shatter an Alka-Seltzer tablet and dip a small amount in the bottle.
5. Can you see the colorful blobs hoof up and down in the bottle, like a lava lamp at a cool party?

How it Works:

The vegetable oil and water do not mix. They are immiscible – water is a polar component while oil is non-polar. As you add colours to the bottle it dissolves in the water, creating colourful water droplets inside. Oil is less dense than water. When you add an Alka-Selter tablet in it, it reacts with water and produces gaseous carbon dioxide as one of the products. The CO2 bubbles adhere to the water droplets, creating a temporary bond between the two substances. Soon after CO2 sticks to the water droplets, they start dancing upward within the bottle. The bubbles soon come back and burst on the surface, creating a mesmerising lava-lamp effect!

Dancing Raisins

Materials Needed:

• Clear glass
• Carbonated soda
• Raisins

Instructions:

1. Pour carbonated soda into a clear transparent glass
2. Add a few raisins to it
3. Wait until you notice bubbles from soda to cling to the raisins. It will cause the raisins to float to the bottom.
4. See the ravishing show as the raisins dance up and down in rhythm, to sailing and then dipping as the bubbles explode.

How it Works

The process is similar to the “Lava lamp” experiment. As you add raisins to the glass, CO2 gas bubbles released from carbonated soda get attached to the irregular surface of the raisins that act as nucleation sites for the CO2 bubbles. The bubbles carry raisins to the surface. Soon after reaching the surface, the raisins sink back to the bottom by losing buoyancy. This grooving up and down in the bubbly beats of carbonated soda seems like a fizzy disco for these mini creatures. This sparkling fun in the glass continues for several minutes depending on the volume of CO2 produced and the size of the raisins.

Rainbow Milk Experiment

Materials Needed:

• Milk (full-fat works best)
• Food coloring (multiple colors)
• Dish soap
• Cotton swabs

Instructions:

1. Pour enough milk to cover the bottom of a shallow dish.
2. Add drops of different food coloring to the milk.
3. Dip a cotton swab in dish soap and then touch the milk surface with the soapy end.
4. Observe as the colors swirl and mix in a beautiful rainbow pattern due to the surface tension disruption.

How it Works:

Milk contains fat molecules that are repelled by water but attracted to soap.

When soap is added to the milk, it breaks the surface tension and causes the fat molecules to move, carrying the food coloring along.

The movement creates a mesmerizing display of swirling colors resembling a rainbow in the milk.

Oobleck Sensory Fun

Materials Needed:

• Cornstarch
• Water

Instructions:

1. Mix 1 cup of cornstarch with 1/2 cup of water in a bowl until you achieve a gooey substance.
2. Play with the oobleck by picking it up and rolling it into a ball (it behaves like a solid), then letting it ooze through your fingers (acting like a liquid).

Rainbow Milk Magic

Materials Needed:

• Milk
• Food coloring
• Dish soap
• Cotton swab

Instructions

Add milk into a bowl or a shallow dish and ensure it covers the bottom of the dish. Always use 2% or whole milk for the best result.

1. Add colours you want in the center of the milk.
2. Now comes the culminating moment – take a cotton swab, dip it into dish soap and gently touch the milk surface with it. Bingo! Have the colours already started to swirl?

How It Works

One of the key components of milk is fat constituting around 3-4% of the product. While water repulses these fat molecules, the hydrophobic tail in soap binds with them. As soon as you add soap to the milk, the party starts for the fat molecules. The surface tension gets defied and they start bopping and mingling with the food coloring. The result is the birth of an awe-inspiring rainbow dance in the milk.

Magnetic Cereal Exploration

Materials Needed:

• Iron-fortified breakfast cereal
• Magnet
• Plate

Instructions

1. Take a plate as your experiment plot and place iron-fortified breakfast Create on it.
2. Bring the magnet closer to the cereal and move it here and there. You can see the flakes brought to life, moving, dancing, and sticking to the magnet as if they were friends reunited after a long separation!

How it Works

As you know, magnets attract iron and iron-grade products. Since we have taken iron-fortified cereal, it also gets attracted due to the magnetic pull it experiences as the magnet gets closer to it.