The Easter holidays are a golden opportunity to turn the kitchen into a laboratory. All you need is a few eggs, ordinary ingredients, and curious children.
Experiment 1: The Floating Egg
You need: 2 tall glasses, 2 raw eggs, water, 5-6 tablespoons of salt, a spoon.
How to do it
Fill both glasses about three-quarters full with water
What happens? Density describes how much mass is packed into a given volume. The egg is denser than fresh water, so it sinks. Salt increases the water's density — once it's denser than the egg, buoyancy pushes it up.
Experiment 2: The Egg Drop Challenge
You need: Hard-boiled eggs, recycled materials (newspaper, cardboard, plastic bags, cotton wool, tape, straws), a place to drop from.
How to do it
Give each child one hard-boiled egg and a pile of materials
What happens? Soft materials act as shock absorbers — they slow the egg down gradually instead of suddenly. The longer the deceleration takes, the lower the peak force.
Experiment 3: Natural Egg Dyeing
You need: Hard-boiled eggs, red cabbage, yellow onion skins, turmeric, white vinegar, 3 pots of water, a strainer.
How to do it
Boil chopped red cabbage in water for 20-30 minutes — strain and place an egg in the blue liquid
What happens? Each plant contains different natural dyes: anthocyanins in red cabbage, flavonoids in onion skins, curcumin in turmeric. Vinegar makes the eggshell slightly porous so the colour penetrates better.
Make It a Habit
The most important skills children practise are asking questions, guessing, testing, and observing. That's the scientific method — right at the kitchen table.
These experiments are inspired by content from Good Atoms, a STEAM learning app for kids ages 4–16.