The title is confusing right? How can we make crafts from a part of plants? No, I am not talking about stem as a part of plant, I am talking about science technology engineering and mathematics which is know as S.T.E.M in short. Yes,we are going to have fun with science. Kids think that science is difficult and boring but it’s not true. Science is really interesting, fun and easy to learn. How? Read on to find out.
Glowing bubbles – Stem Crafts for Kids
We all have heard about glowing water, but glowing bubbles? That’s interesting right? It’s really simple to make. All we need is a small dish, a highlighter pen and some bubble liquid. Do take help of an adult. First, take out the tip of the pen and put it in the dish. Now, add the bubble liquid in the dish. Squeeze out all the ink from the highlighter with the help of pliers. Ask an adult to do this for you. Allow the liquid to settle down for some time. Use an uv light so that when you turn off the lights, you can see the mixture glow in the dark. Now, blow out the bubbles and see them glow. Isn’t it interesting? Simple science which will make the kids love science even more. You can use this trick during halloween too. For visual representation, watch this video.
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Walking water – Stem Crafts for Kids
How can water walk? It sounds insane but it’s possible with science. For this, we need some 6-7 glasses, food colouring of different colours and some paper towels. First, arrange the glasses in a line and fill water in the alternate glasses. Keep in mind that the level of water in the glasses should be different. Now add the food colouring to the glasses containing water. Take a paper towel and twist it. Keep one end of the towel in first glass containing water and the other end in the glass next to it, which is empty. Take another paper towel and twist it and then put one end in the empty glass and the other one in the next glass containing water. Continue the process. Now, leave them for some hours. You will observe that water has filled the empty glasses and that even the colours are mixed in those empty classes. This happens because water travels from higher level to lower level and here the paper towel acts as a medium for water to travel from the filled glasses to the empty ones. It actually appears as if the water is walking.
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Robot arm from popsicle sticks
Yes you read it right. We can make a robot arm out of popsicle sticks. Just grab some popsicle sticks, a wooden skewer and some bottle caps. First make 3 holes in popsicle sticks. One hole at the centre and the other two at the corners. Take two popsicle sticks and arrange them in a ‘X’ structure. Cut out a piece of wooden skewer and insert it through the holes at the centre of the popsicle sticks. Take another two popsicle sticks and do the same. Now take both the ‘X’ structures and join them by inserting the wooden skewer through the holes made at the corner of the sticks. Continue this process until you get the desired length for your robotic arm. At the end, stick two very small pieces of popsicle sticks which would act as the claws for the arm to hold things. Now all we have to do is, cut out the inside part of the bottle caps and stick them to the arm with the skewer so that we can operate it. There you go, a robotic arm ready. You can help your kids to do this experiment. Watch this video for steps.
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Lava lamps – Stem Crafts for Kids
Making lava lamps is really easy. We need a bottle, food colouring, vegetable oil, alka seltzer tablets or aspirin or even eno tablets. Fill 1/3rd of the bottle with water and the remaining with oil. Keep the bottle at rest so that the bubbles formed in the oil will disappear. You can see that the oil floats on the water, as oil is less dense than water. Now add some drops of the food colouring. You will see that the drops of the food colouring settles down in the water and not in oil, as it is more dense than oil. Now drop the aspirin tablets in the water and see the reaction. Bubbles are formed from the water which travel to the oil due to the reaction. For more effect, switch off the lights and keep the bottle on top of a flash light. It looks really beautiful and you can even use this bottle as many time as you want. Just add the tablets for the reaction. For decorative purposes, you can add glitters too. You can even do this experiment in a glass. For more details, watch this video.
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Clear slime balls – Stem Crafts for Kids
Slime balls are available in markets but they do cost a lot. Why not try to make slime balls at home? It can be made by household items. We need clear PVA glue and borax powder. Take help from an adult, as we are using borax powder. First add the glue in a container and stir it till it appears as a clear liquid and keep it aside. Take another container and add a spoon of borax powder and some hot water. Stir it till the borax melts and gets cooled. To this mixture, add the liquid glue which you had made earlier. Now comes the sticky part. Wear your gloves for this. We have to mix the borax mixture and the liquid glue with our hands til we get a sticky substitute. Remove the extra borax water. Let the slime dry. You can make slime balls from these. For colourful slimes, just add colours to the glue. You can even add glitters if you want. Here is video tutorial for more details.
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Clouds in a jar
Clouds look so beautiful in the sky. What if I tell you that you can make clouds in a jar? Yes, it’s possible with science. For this experiment, we need boiling water, hair spray, an empty jar and some ice cubes. Add some boiling water in the empty jar and place the lid on top of the jar in upside down position. Place the ice cubes on the lid and let it sit for a minute or so. Now remove the lid and add some hairspray and then put lid back in upside down position with the ice cubes still in it. Now let it sit for a minute, so that the clouds can be formed. Remove the lid and watch the clouds coming out of the jar. Isn’t it cool? For more details, watch the video below.
Read: 20 Best Robot Crafts and Activities for kids
Water bottle rockets – Stem Crafts for Kids
Water bottle rockets are easy to make and would also be a fun activity for your kid. We need a bottle, a cork, a nail, a tennis ball, a foam board, some tape and a bike pump. Cut the foam board in the shape of a right angle triangle. You need four such triangles to make the fins or wings of the rocket. Stick these triangles in the bottle, near the top. Now, stick the tennis ball on the base of the bottle with tape. Take the cork and make a hole in it with the nail. Remove the cap, as we need the cork in its place. Add water in the bottle. Now place the cork, and to create pressure use the bike pump to pump in air through the hole in the cork. Place the bottle as shown in the video below and pump in air. After 3-4 pumps, the bottle will fly as a rocket. It happens due to the pressure exerted on the sides of the bottle due to the bike pump. For more details, watch the video below.
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Paddle boat from popsicle sticks – Stem Crafts for Kids
We get a variety of paddle boats in the market. Instead of buying them, why not try to make a paddle boat at home? It’s really easy. For making a paddle boat, we need some popsicle sticks and an elastic band. Two simple things which are easily available. This paddle boat works on the principle of energy stored in the elastic band. By twisting an elastic band, some amount of energy gets stored in it which helps the boat to travel in water. Watch the video below to get the steps to make a paddle boat.
Hope you liked these videos. For amazing activities for kids, don’t forget to visit our special collection for kids. You can also visit Kidp!d to nurture curiosity among your kids.
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