Grade Level
6-12
minutes
15 min - 1 hr
Activity Type:
In celebration of World Science Day, we’ve pulled together a collection of experiments developed by some amazing organizations, museums, and centers that are dedicated to making hands-on science available to everyone.
These projects are fun, based on real work that scientists do everyday—and most importantly, anyone can do them.
So dive in, make a home for microbes, visualize convections on the surface of the sun, build a glacier, or make a pinhole camera. Whatever you choose, we hope you have a great time and share the experience with someone else!
Make a Home for Microbes
In this activity from the American Museum of Natural History, you’ll create an entire ecosystem for bacteria called a Winogradsky column using just a pop bottle, dirt, and water.
Click here to build a Winogradsky column
Visualize Solar Convection
Use hot and cold water to see how fluids at different temperatures move around in convection currents in this DIY Sun Science Activity from the Lawrence Hall of Science.
Click here to try this experiment
Build a Glacier
Use a flubber model to analyze glacial ice flow before and after the collapse of an ice shelf in this resource from the University of Maine Climate Change Institute, UMaine Cooperative Extension, and 4H.
Click here to learn how to make a glacier model
Make a Pinhole Camera
In this activity from New York Hall of Science, students will build their own pinhole viewer, and learn how cameras, telescopes, and their own eyes use light in similar ways.
Click here for instructions
For more information about UNESCO World Science Day, click here.