by Rachel Wells
You may not associate Valentine’s Day with science, but there are some super cute experiments that will help you get in the spirit and feel the love. Science experiments with kids should be all about investigating, making predictions, making observations, and asking questions. And when done right they can create quite a reaction with young children!
All of these Valentines themed experiments can be set up in less than 5 minutes and require only simple household ingredients. So if you’re interested in making colorful hearts or mixing up a bubbling love potion, you’re going to want to try some of these super sweet experiments below:
Sweet Hearts
Arrange Skittles onto a white plate in the shape of a heart. Slowly pour a thin layer of water onto the plate. You don’t need much, just enough to cover the bottom half of the skittles. Be careful not to shake the plate and watch as beautiful designs appear inside of the heart.
Magic Milk
Place a heart cookie cutter on a white plate. Pour milk inside the cookie cutter. Be sure to use regular milk for this! Other kinds will not produce the same reaction. Drop a few drops of food coloring in the milk. Dip a Q-tip in dish soap and put the Q-tip in the center of the food-colored drops. Watch as the colors rush away from the dish soap to create a fun marbled effect.
Love Potion
Fill a clear jar or cup half with vegetable oil and half with water. The oil will sit on top of the water creating two layers. Pour one drop of food coloring into the mixture and use a spoon to make sure it goes down into the bottom water layer. Sprinkle in some glitter. When you are ready, add half of an Alka-Seltzer tab into the jar, and watch as sparkly bubbles appear (similar to the look of a lava lamp!)
Love Boat
A valentine’s take on a classic science experiment. Fill a sink or bathtub with water. Use aluminum foil to build a boat structure. Try different designs to test them against each other. Once the boats have been created, place them in the water and which one can hold the most candy hearts before sinking.
Valentine’s Day Slime
This fluffy slime only requires 3 ingredients – a 16oz bottle of pink glitter glue, 1 ½ tablespoons of saline contact solution, and ½ tablespoon of baking soda. Stir the glue and baking soda until they are completely mixed together. Then stir in the contact solution and continue mixing until it is no longer sticky. Kneed the mixture for a few minutes until you have created perfect pink slime.
February is the perfect time to share love and kindness… and get messy while exploring science concepts! Whether you teach in the classroom or at home, there is an experiment here to captivate every learner. We hope you enjoy some messy Valentine’s Day fun together.
