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The kitchen is one of the most fun places to experiment and learn about science! Check out these SUPER cool kitchen science experiments and try a few with your kids. Some of these are edible and some just use regular kitchen items that you likely have on hand. Did you know I studied food science in school & then taught it for a few years? I love all kinds of food and kitchen science activities.
If you love Kitchen Science check out my STEAM Kids in the Kitchen book. It has 70+ projects and experiments that can be done in the kitchen or with food-related ingredients.
An awesome food science activity is making bread. I love to make homemade bread. I wanted my kids to understand how yeast works to make the bread rise, so we did a little experiment with it. You know the one with baking soda & vinegar that blows up a balloon, right? Well, this is like that, but you use yeast instead. It isn’t quite as exciting & dramatic because it blows the balloon up slowly as the yeast proofs, but it was a great visual for my kids to see how it works and why.
Do do this, just use a water bottle and put in warm water- about 1/2 c., 1 Tbsp of yeast, and 1 Tbsp of sugar. Shake it gently so it mixes together. Place a balloon over the top of the bottle and watch what happens!
Make some bread dough at the same time. Help your kids see how the the yeast works to make the bread dough rise. Plus, you get some delicious bread to eat at the end. Here is my family’s favorite bread recipe!
More COOL Kitchen Science Experiments:
Gelatin Fruit Enzyme Experiment– see which fruits prevent gelatin from setting up.
Try a food chemistry experiment: Learn how to see the DNA in an Onion!
Apple Browning Science Experiment– do you know why apples brown?
Rock Candy Geodes are a super cool food science activity- delicious, to eat, too!
Cross-Curricular Kitchen Lessons– how to learn all subjects through activities in the kitchen!
Cabbage Juice Science– test the pH of household items.
Does it Dissolve?– Try this experiment to see which things dissolve in water.
Cleaning Pennies- use items from your kitchen to see which one leans your pennies the best.
Making Juicy Noodles– you can eat these juice strings, too! What a fun experiment to try!
Cake Experiment– yummy and fascinating!
Solar Cooking– S’Mores- I LOVE the experiments that end in a delicious edible product.
Play Anatomy Lab– use gelatin and create an anatomy lab with gelatin molds!
Rubber Egg Experiment– make a squishy egg!
Rainbow Milk Experiment– this one is so fun to watch!!
Shrunken Head Apples– we did this at halloween time, but it is fun any time of the year!
More fun Kitchen Science Ideas From around the web. . .
Candy Experiments from Mamas Like Me
Gummy Bear Science from Teach Preschool
Edible Mars Rock from The Fairy and the Frog
Dissolving, Expanding & Bouncing Eggs from Blue Bear Wood
50 Kitchen Science Activities from Science Sparks
Candy Cane Science Experiment from Preschool Powol Packets
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katef says
August 12, 2013 at 2:20 amOoh I love the yeast experiment… must try that next time we make bread!
anthea barton says
August 14, 2013 at 9:32 pmLove all the experiments that you can do at home. So much fun. Thanks for including us xxx
Emma says
October 18, 2013 at 11:46 amThanks so much for including Science Sparks xx
Renee H says
February 9, 2014 at 4:50 amThank you for such wonderful ideas! Entelechy Education, LLC has just begun an EnteleTrons™ Explorers Club and we added your website to our Experiments section: http://www.entelechyed.com/enteleclub_experiments As you can see, it is a work in progress. Sign up for our mailing list to see what else we add!