Chemistry Experiments with Household Materials

Did you know you can do some cool chemistry experiments with just some household materials?  Science activities do not have to cost a lot of money!  kids can have lots of fun with hands-on science using easy to find materials. 
Here are a few of my favorites:

Turning Pennies a Greenish-Blue

This lesson only takes a few pennies, vinegar, water and paper towels.  

Simply place the pennies in vinegar and observe the changes over the next couple of days. 

These lessons along with interactive notebook flaps and nonfiction articles are available in my store. Chemistry with Pennies
Lesson 1: Turning a Penny Greenish-Blue (oxidation)

Lesson 2: Cleaning a Tarnished Penny (chemical reaction)
Lesson 3: Turning a Nail Copper Colored (includes information on atoms and negative and positive charged particles)

Chemical Reaction With Kool-Aid

Kool-Aid with Baking Soda is another inexpensive lesson to do.  Use plastic cups and a paper plate underneath to make clean up easier. The students love the dramatic results of this lesson. And all you need is a Kool-Aid Packet, a tsp. of baking soda and water.

The lesson and follow up pages are available in my store. Chemical Reaction With KoolAid

Elephant's Toothpaste

Elephant's Toothpaste may require one extra trip to the beauty supply store, but the results are dramatic and you get a great example of an exothermic reaction that the kids can feel.  The materials needed are dish soap, a packet of dry yeast, water, and hydrogen peroxide 20 volume.  

Available in my store with all the flaps and folds and nonfiction articles to explain the science behind the fun and step by step directions with safety information.   Elephant's Toothpaste

These resources are available individually or you can purchase them in a bundle and save 20%.

Bundle of Chemical Reactions

Chemical Reaction Bundle

The following NGSS are addressed:
5-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen. 

5-PS1-4.Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances. 

MS-PS1-2.
Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. 


MS-PS1-6. Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.

Crosscutting Concepts: 
Cause and Effect
Scale, proportion and quantify

Science and Engineering Practices:
Planning and Carrying Out and Investigation
Analyzing and Interpreting data
Constructing explanations
Communicating information

Reading Skills Addressed Include:
Quoting text and explaining meaning
Vocabulary
Summarizing
Reading back in the text
Answering Text Dependent Questions
Author's Purpose

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you will tryout some of these great experiments.  It does not have to cost a lot of money to do some really cool hands-on science.  

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