To help your child connect with the concepts they're learning at school, it helps to do some hands-on science activities at home. Playing with everyday chemistry will help them understand their curriculum better and have more fun with it. Here are a few simple activities that use inexpensive household supplies to illustrate concepts.

How Can You Get Your Child Interested in Science?

1. Fizzy Fun

There are dozens of ways to show your child a chemical reaction in real time. Baking soda and vinegar volcanoes are a classic choice, but you can also use the same ingredients to power a homemade bottle rocket. Alternatively, mix baking soda with a little water, paint a layer of the mixture onto some paper, and let it dry, then create "paint" with vinegar and food coloring to make fizzy drawings your kids will love. For a different fizzy combination, combine powdered sugar, jello mix, and citric acid for baking to make tasty sherbet.

2. Oil & Water

These activities teach your kids about dissolving materials in water—and show them that not everything will mix. You can create a layered liquid jar with water, cooking oil, honey or corn syrup, rubbing alcohol, and dish soap. Make waterproof sand by spraying regular sand or craft sand with a fabric protector.

3. Rock Candy

When a material dissolves in water, it isn't gone. Show your child how sugar can crystallize back out of the water by making rock candy. You can explain the difference between dissolving something and creating a chemical reaction; when a material is dissolved, it's only mixed in with the water but it hasn't changed chemically, while a chemical reaction turns the materials into something new like a gas that creates bubbles.

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