With sites rapidly moving to online learning as the COVID-19 outbreak impacts families & schools, one of the key needs for teaching science by distance is to have materials on hand for kids to use to make the science interactive & engaging. These items need to be cheap, simple, safe and available to all kids from the local supermarket. There are 150 free science experiments on this website designed for this exact purpose, however the myriad of options can make it confusing to sort out a simple shopping list of things that kids will need to have to cover the majority of them.

You may also need materials for when you arrange virtual excursions.

So with this in mind, the following shopping list covers the main ingredients and materials you’ll need to keep kids enthusiastic about learning about their world! We expect that parents will have many of these things listed already, however we have assumed that you’re starting from scratch so nothing is missed. Importantly, we’ve chosen products that are value for money, environmentally friendly, available online and able to used in multiple ways. Also, if you head to the store you’ll find more variety but considering social distancing is the new normal for a month (or more), you should limit your exposure to the public where possible.

We’ve noted prices as shown on Woolworths Online Shopping as at 16 March 2020 and likely there has been some small changes but we don’t expect too much variation;

• Balloons, $2.00
• Wooden kebab skewers, $2.10
• Paper Straws, $2.50
• Nylon string, $4.00
• Recycled A4 paper, $5.00
• Scissors, $2.00
• Matches, $2.15 (adults will use these!)
• Candles, $4.00 (adults will use these!)
• Water bombs, $3.00
• Bicarbonate soda, $1.75
• Bottle of vinegar, $1.20
• Salt, $0.90
• Funnel, $3.00
• Blue Tac, $3.50
• Paper towels, $1.70
• Rice, $1.40
• Shallow plates, $2.50
• Food colouring (multiple colours), $3.60
• 600mL plastic lemon soft drink bottle with lid, $3.00
• Plastic Resealable bags, $2.00
• Detergent, $3.50
• Plastic cups, $2.00
• Sticky tape, $2.00
• Skittles, $1.55
• Sugar, $1.00
• Full cream milk, $1.25
• Pencil, $2.50
• Vegetable oil, $2.25

Total cost $67.35 (but we also know much of this many people already have in their home)

Once families have these materials, you can use them to run the following science experiments listed below:

• Fill a balloon with carbon dioxide
• Make a milk rainbow
• Make a volcano
• Sticky static balloons
• Balloon survives the flame (with adult help)
• Air takes up space demonstration
• Upside-down water cup experiment
• Bernoulli balloon blow apart experiment
• Skewer a balloon
• Soap powered boat
• Make a lung model
• Make different coloured petals (you just need to collect some white flowers)
• Make a mobius strip
• Demonstrate friction using rice
• Skittle science!
• Investigate density
• Shaving cream rain clouds
• Rising water experiment
• Leakproof bag
• Walking water experiment

Find out more

Virtual Learning Opportunities for classes

Since 2010, we’ve run multi-award-winning virtual programs across Australia and beyond.
These virtual excursions are available to your school now, no matter your location.

• Highly interactive distance lessons by highly experienced distance educators
• Direct curriculum links
• Live classes; students can question & answer our educators and participate in experiments using household materials
• Pre, during and post virtual excursion lesson notes for both teachers and students.
• We send you a list of inexpensive materials that are students can have on-hand during the lesson.
• Option to use Flipgrid to help students discuss the content further
• Simple connection, one click and you’re in!
• All supported by over 150 FREE experiments, student podcasts and more

To keep up student enthusiasm & enrichment in these unprecedented times, these virtual classes are perfect for engaging students of all ages and are very easy to set up.

These will book out quickly.
Contact us to find out more about these can help in these unprecedented times.

Happy teaching,

Ben Newsome