Summer is a brilliant time to explore science outdoors with children. You don’t have to set up fancy experiments, even just looking at properties of plants and leaves or testing to see if different items sink or float in a paddling pool is great simple science for little ones.

Older children will love building bottle rockets, setting up chain reactions and making square bubbles.

I’ve compiled a fun list of our favourite summer science ideas from Science Sparks and many other fantastic blogs to keep kids of all ages happy all summer.

My DIY science camp also has some great summer science ideas, so check those out, too!

Awesome summer science ideas for kids

Summer Science Experiments Using Water

Set up an Aliens LOVE Underpants washing line to investigate how different materials absorb different amounts of water.

There are lots of fun water science experiments to try including a neat magic trick keeping a paper towel dry in water from Creative connections for Kids.

Next time you get the paddling pool out, try one of my five paddling pool experiment ideas. These include sinking and floating, making boats and learning about density!

Weather Science Investigations

Make an easy barometer to learn about air pressure!

Build a homemade wind vane to learn about wind strength, or follow Red Ted Art’s easy instructions for making a DIY kite 

Make a super simple rain gauge from a plastic bottle to measure rainfall.

A pinecone weather station is ALWAYS fun and a great example of super simple, inexpensive science for kids.

Find out how to tell the time with a sundial. This is another brilliant low resource science activity.

Summer Bubble Science Experiments

Make rainbow bubbles. Bubbles are great fun for any time of year, but there’s not much better than chasing bubbles around a sunny garden.

Bubble Snakes are fantastic fun, too! As an extra challenge, children can experiment with different materials on the end of the bottle to find out which makes the best bubbles.

Did you know you can make a square bubble? All you need is a special frame!

Summer Science Experiments Using Sand

Last winter, we made an awesome snow volcano, but sand also works really well, and if you do it in a tray, it is a great low-prep volcano.

Learn about evaporation using sand and water on a sunny day. Another visual way to learn about evaporation is using coloured water and salt.

Investigate to find what you need to make the perfect sandcastle.

Set yourself up with a science lab in the garden and try a dissolving investigation.

Forces and Motion Experiments

How high can you get a bottle rocket to launch? Remember to stand back as these shoot up with a bang!

Make straw shooters with friends. We like to set up a competition to see whose mini rocket can travel the furthest.

Building a parachute for an egg is ALWAYS a fun activity. If you’re feeling brave, use an unboiled egg!

We once had a great summer creating chain reactions with lolly sticks. These take a bit of setting up, but are most definitely worth the effort.

Outdoor Kitchen Science for Summer

We can’t wait to try these goop and flower cupcakes from The Imagination Tree.

Make some ice cream soup with Rainy Day Mum to explore melting.

A solar oven is good for making s’mores, but you’ll need a hot, sunny day.

Learn, Play, Imagine has some great ideas for fun with balloons in the garden. I especially want to try the baking soda activity.

Test out filtering by cleaning up dirty water in the garden.

Summer Nature Science Experiments

Find out how tall a tree is. You might be surprised at how easy this is!

Try colouring carnations like Kitchen Counter Chronicles.

Make rose petal perfume and explore mixing and scents with The Imagination Tree.

Find out all about Earthworms and how useful they are with a wormery.

Watch butterflies grow with Red Ted Art. I also have a delicious edible butterfly life cycle activity.

Explore the lifecycle of a ladybird with a simple fingerprint activity from Reading Confetti.

Make lovely Chromatography butterflies with Buggy and Buddy

Dissect a flower to learn about the different parts. This is a very visual, hands-on way for children to learn about the structure of plants and flowers.

Build a den with sticks and leaves. Do some research first. The Wildlife Trust has some great den-building tips.

Ice Experiments for Kids

Try some colour mixing with ice made from fruit juice. You’ll have a delicious cold smoothie to drink at the end.

Make lovely, pretty summery ice with The Imagination Tree. We like to either speed up the melting of the ice with a bit of salt or warm water or leave cubes of ice in different places to find out where they melt the fastest.

Giant or even mini ice excavations are great for summer. We once created one so big it took ALL day to melt.

Summer Science Challenges

We’ve got enough easy summer science challenges to keep you busy ALL summer, too!

Phew, can you think of any more summer science ideas for us?

I also have a delicious round-up of 50 kitchen science experiments for a rainy day or if you need to escape the sun for a while.

Last Updated on May 13, 2024 by Emma Vanstone