This week marks the beginning of summer holidays for Australian school kids so why not enjoy science time with your kids, cooking, making rockets, creating bubbles or building an automatic flying fishing machine?
To celebrate summer, we’ve hand-picked 20 hands-on STEM activities for kids from the Australian children’s science newsletter, Double Helix Extra (DHE).
DHE is a sister publication to Cosmos magazine and has been published by the CSIRO – Australia’s national science agency – for more than 12 years.
All the following activities go well with lots of sunshine and quality time with family and friends.
Cheery chemistry
Make egg-free meringues – ‘tis the season for pavlova… but would you make your pav with chickpeas?
Cook without heat – enjoy a cool dish from Latin America, thanks to the chemistry of citrus.
Homemade ice cream – don’t wait around for the ice cream truck, make it yourself!
Balmy biology
Colour changing flowers – give a colourful gift using flowers, food dye and some patience.
Eat glitter grape candy – how many of these sour “lollies” can you eat this summer?
Create a terrarium – capture a little bit of nature to enjoy indoors.
“Phestive” physics
How bright is the Sun? – The Sun seems awfully bright this time of year, so why not work out exactly how bright?
Make a solar system to scale – a perfect sunny summer day activity for the park.
Foam bubble blower – make thousands of bubbles that you can shape!
Merry maths
A Christmas packing puzzle – can you solve this 3D puzzle? (This is a great challenge for a lazy afternoon.)
Make a pie chart – put some holiday treats to use (and then eat them).
Swap the blocks – can you swap the red and green blocks?
Tropical tech & engineering
Build a solar oven – harness the summer sun to cook up a chocolate-y treat.
Launch a stomp rocket – invite your friends over and see how high your rockets can fly!
Heron’s fountain – while you can’t jump in this fountain, it works without any electricity!
Build an automatic fishing machine – discover an Indigenous fishing technique that can make fish fly!
Bonus activities: conscious conservation
Make beeswax food wraps – a customisable gift you can feel extra good about.
Composting – summer is a great time to start this sustainable habit.
Turn a t-shirt into a bag – here’s a crafty activity to carry all your presents.
Build a bee hotel – set your garden abuzz with beneficial native bees!
If you enjoyed these activities, we invite you to sign up for Double Helix Extra, a fortnightly newsletter delivering science activities, news, quizzes and more for kids and curious adults.
