After a visit to the Florida Children’s Museum, you will hopefully notice your children experience an increased interest in STEM. If you are looking for new ways to entertain your kids this summer at home, DIY science experiments are a fun but educational way to continue the museum magic. You can enjoy endless hours of exploration at home with activities that will help your children remain curious even when they aren’t at school for the next few months. Let’s look at some of our favorite DIY science experiments inspired by museum exhibits that anyone can try at home with simple materials.
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Harrell Family Charities Front Yard: Fossil Fun
Exhibit Inspiration: This outdoor exhibit features a 100-foot climbable alligator named Blinky, a Mosaic Dig Pit, and fossil displays. It offers hands-on exploration for kids that emphasizes environmental science and cause-and-effect learning. During a day at the museum, it’s the perfect place to spend time when your children need to run outside and let off some steam.
At-Home Experiment: DIY Fossil Imprints
This simple DIY fossil experiment will create imprints and combine learning about history, science, and art in one fun activity.
Materials: Clay or playdough, small plastic animals, leaves, shells.
Instructions: Press objects into the clay to create imprints. You can use various items to recreate the idea of making fossils, but leaves, shells, and plastic animals are some of our favorites. Let them dry to simulate fossilization.
Learning Outcome: Children will grow to understand how fossils are formed and the importance of preserving natural history. Fossils are found around the world, tracing back thousands and millions of years of history, and so this activity works to get kids more interested in learning about the past.
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Watermelon Seeds: Sensory Exploration
Exhibit Inspiration: Designed for children up to the age of six, this gallery focuses on the lifecycle of a watermelon. Young children move through the lifecycle of a watermelon, with different activities to engage with as the sprout develops. It works to promote sensory motor intelligence and language development.
At-Home Experiment: Watermelon Seed Sensory Bag
Create a simplified version of the seed part of our exhibits, allowing children to explore and become curious about the lifecycle of the fruit they eat daily.
Materials: A resealable plastic bag, hair gel or aloe vera gel, watermelon seeds, and red and green food coloring.
Instructions: Mix the gel with the red and green food coloring in the bag before adding the seeds and sealing the bag. Children can then squish the bag and move the seeds around, enjoying a sensory experience and encouraging exploration.
Learning Outcome: This simplified version of our exhibit will enhance fine motor skills and sensory exploration, encouraging children to ask questions and experience new sensations.
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Design Park: Engineering Challenge
Exhibit Inspiration: Inspired by honeybees, this gallery encourages children to design and test their vehicles, fostering engineering skills and teamwork. This exhibit is great for slightly older children who can collaborate with other kids and want to experiment with new ideas. The exhibit has no actual start and end point, as solutions can constantly be reviewed and changed.
At-Home Experiment: Balloon-Powered Car
The fun at-home activity encourages children to explore engineering principles while racing one another to see who can design the most effective car.
Materials: Plastic bottle, straws, bottle caps, balloon, tape.
Instructions: Construct a simple car using the plastic bottle as the body, straws as axles, and bottle caps as wheels. After your design is complete, attach a balloon to the vehicle’s rear. Inflate the balloon and release it to propel the car.
Learning Outcome: Children can learn about propulsion and friction and explore basic engineering principles. This learning activity is excellent with multiple children, who can compete against each other to see who can build the most effective car and race them against one another once the vehicles are created.
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St. Christopher’s Project City Play: Community Roles
It’s never too early to start exploring a child’s interests in a career. St. Christopher’s Project Play City teaches children about community roles and their importance to everyday life.
Exhibit Inspiration: A child-sized city where kids can explore various careers, enhancing creativity and understanding of community roles. Kids can be firefighters one day and cashiers at the local store the next, helping them see the options offered to them in their local community and the necessity of these roles.
At-Home Experiment: Community Role Play Box
Bring the magic of Project City into your home by encouraging kids to explore and act out different jobs in their own imaginative way.
Materials: Cardboard boxes, markers, paper, scissors, tape, small props (e.g., play food, toy tools, play money, etc.)
Instructions: Help your child create mini “stations” or role play boxes to represent different community roles—like a grocery store, fire station, hospital, or post office. Use cardboard to build small counters or booths, decorate signs, and add props to match each job. Then take turns acting out each role, practicing how people in these jobs help others and solve problems in the community.
Learning Outcome: Children will gain a deeper appreciation of the many roles that keep a community running. Through pretend play, they’ll also build social-emotional skills like empathy, cooperation, and problem-solving.
There are many ways to extend your visit to the Florida Children’s Museum at home. This summer, why not try some fun experiments with your children and encourage them to stay curious and ask questions about the concepts they’ve explored at the museum? The Florida Children’s Museum is the ideal place to keep your kids entertained for a day this summer break, and we offer a range of activities and exhibitions to keep children engaged in their learning through fun, hands-on experiences. Are you looking for a day out for your whole family this summer? Come and visit us at the Florida Children’s Museum, or browse our website for more information about current exhibits and visiting the museum.