School may be out, but homeschool goes on year round at our house. And science experiments are still fun all year round – especially when you can see the results right in your own kitchen. These experiments are fun enough for young children, and the scientific explanation of the results will fascinate the older kids as well.

Pop Rocks are fun to eat because they snap and pop and fizz in your mouth. But you may not know that they can inflate a balloon, too, by releasing carbon dioxide trapped in a bottle of soda.

You will need:

• 1 – 16 oz bottle of soda (any flavor will do)
• 1 pouch of Pop Rocks
• 1 balloon
• A funnel

How to make it work:

Use the funnel to pour the whole container of Pop Rocks into the balloon. Twist the end of the balloon just a little so you’re holding the Pop Rocks inside the balloon while you stretch the end of the balloon over the top of the soda bottle. You don’t want the Pop Rocks to drop into the bottle before you’re ready to start. Once the balloon is firmly in place on the bottle let it go. Watch the Pop Rocks work in the soda and the balloon start to inflate.

You can also make giant gummy worms with your kids. All you need for this little experiment is gummy candy (worms or bears will work fine), water and a container. Fill the container with about 2 inches of lukewarm water and drop your candy in. That’s it! Now you just have to wait 8-12 hours while your giant gummies grow. It’s much more dramatic if you do it overnight so your little ones have a great surprise to look forward to in the morning.

Your gummy candy will be much larger than the original but it will be very fragile so handle with care when taking it out of your container. Let the kids oooh and ahhh  over their creations before eating them.

A favorite Spring and Summer activity is to dye white flowers pretty colors. Making colored flowers is easy and fun. Just take several small jars or glasses and fill them about one-half full with water. Then drop in several drops of food coloring and add your white flowers. Carnations work nicely for this experiment.

Leave in the water overnight for a faint color change or several days for a more dramatic color. Your kids will love to see how the flowers change from day to day. Take pictures to chronicle your experiments and drop it in the scrapbook for fond memories when they’re older. For older kids, help them hypothesize about how the effect will change based on stem length, the amount of dye in the water, or the type of flower used.

If they kids like that you can take different herbal items and tea and teach them how to dye a white summer shirt, or do sun dyeing art projects. The list goes on and on.

Summertime science experiments are a great way to keep the kids learning and entertained throughout the summer months. I promise they will dive into these experiments on their own after a while, but of course mom and dad can help the younger children. With a little imagination, the kids can even come up with their own experiments. And the best part? Your kids won’t even know they’re learning stuff and will stay excited to move into the next phase come Fall.