Preschool Science Experiments – Seven Easy Chemical Reactions for your Preschooler

Looking for some easy chemical reactions you can do with your preschooler using household ingredients? All of these preschool chemical experiments are done with safe and common household objects, with no flame or heat required. While these preschool chemical reactions may be a little bit messy, your preschooler will learn a great deal about how to combine two different ingredients to create a totally different substance and the beginnings of chemical reactions.

 

Make slime with this easy preschool chemical reaction. Mix white glue (not washable) with an equal amount of water. In a separate container dissolve about two tablespoons of Borax (look in the laundry section of the store) with about a cup of water. Then add a few tablespoons of the Borax solution to the glue solution and stir quickly. Slime will form. Check my blog for pictures of the slime I created with my sons and for more information about this preschool chemical experiment.  

 

This is a very basic preschool science experiment, but it produces great results. Just combine baking soda and vinegar or lemon juice and stand back. Your preschooler will love the effect. This is the chemical reaction used if you want to build a volcano with your preschooler. For variation, try this preschool science experiment using a small and empty soda bottle and then put a balloon over the neck of the bottle. Because this preschool chemical reaction produces gas, a balloon will actually inflate.   

Food Coloring Fun

Drip a few drops of food coloring into a clear glass of water. While there isn’t a huge preschool chemical reaction, your preschooler will enjoy seeing the food coloring diffuse in the water.  If they’re old enough, you can teach them that this reaction is called diffusion.

 

Create glop with your preschooler with two easy substances in your kitchen. Mix equal amounts of cornstarch and water. The resulting substance will become thick, goopy and oddly hard. The goop is somewhere between a liquid and a solid. Roll up your preschooler’s sleeves as they play with this preschool chemical reaction. 

 

Let your preschooler paint a picture with lemon juice. When the paper dries, your preschooler’s art will have disappeared. Then you’ll want to paint the paper with iodine to make their drawing reappear. While you can use a candle or a flame to create the same preschool chemical reaction, using a candle around a preschooler is not recommended. 

 

Add a few drops of vinegar to a bowl of milk and watch the milk curdle. Use a straw or a toothpick to pick up the curdles to show your preschooler. With this simple preschool chemical reaction, you’ve actually created curds and whey from the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet. Make sure you throw the milk away and don’t let your preschooler drink it; it may make them sick. 

 

In a clear glass, add about a quarter to half a cup of water. Add a few drops of food coloring to it so you know which level is water. Slowly add about a quarter to half a cup of corn syrup to your water. It will float through the water to the bottom. Next add about a quarter to half a cup of oil. The oil will form a layer on the top. Corn syrup is the heaviest, so it floated to the bottom with oil staying on the top. This is a fun chemical experiment to do with a variety of liquids. Try to form other layers using vinegar and other substances (add the other substances extremely slow so they don’t mix with the water or oil).