It’s the start of a brand new year, with no mistakes in it (yet!)
It’s also the end of the first full year of Go Science Kids. Wowzers!
I thought it might be fun to look back and see which science projects from 2016 were the most popular.
Counting backwards from 10, the top science activities of 2016 were…
10. Homemade Violet Crumble {a delicious edible science project}. (Just quietly I’m ranking first on google search for violet crumble recipes – which is really random and kinda cool!)
9. 9 sea-life mistakes in Finding Dory that you might have missed. This one was super popular for months after the movie was released. If you can think of any I’ve missed, let me know and I’ll add them!
8. Coding for kids: introducing HTML to five year olds. This is a fun and unstructured way to explore HTML and creative writing at the same time. Once our Christmas tree comes down (hopefully tomorrow), we’re planning to set up a laptop in our loungeroom so the girls can play around with their coding and creative writing more often…
7. STEM challenge: can you build a 3D structure?. This one was fun. We need to do more STEM challenges like this!
6. How to make water beads glow! To be honest, I’m curious to see this one so high up on this list, as I hadn’t realised it was that popular? But I do love anything that glows. 🙂
5. Autumn STEAM: tracing the veins of a leaf. We loved playing and studying these awesome autumn leaves. This post really picked up again as the northern hemisphere was going into autumn and fall.
4. Easy upcycled catapult {STEM goes green}. I loved this activity. Upcycled materials + nature + physics = fun!
3. How to make an articulated hand {with cool, moveable fingers}. This one came about when my daughter severed the tendons in her little finger, and we made this model of a human hand to show her how her tendons work. Plus, she got to play with nail polish which is a rare treat in our house!
2. Glowing ice cubes | edible, sensory, science, play. I love how the photos turned out for this post! This is such a simple idea that is fun on so many levels – it’s bitter, it’s edible, it’s stackable, it’s cold, it’s slippery, and have I mentioned it glows?
and, drum roll….
1. Playing with refraction of light: a fun STEAM activity for kids. I love that this one topped the list! It’s such a fun and easy activity to do almost anywhere. We first tried this activity while we were on vacation in Port Douglas, and needed a boredom buster while we waited at the restaurant for our meals to arrive. Arrows are impressive, but it’s more fun to try out some of your own designs. Creative physics fun!
But wait, there’s more!
Whilst I was doing looking back through 2016’s stats, I noticed that many of my most popular posts were actually ones that were written in 2015, and so weren’t eligible for inclusion in the above list. (And as I didn’t write a top 10 list last year, I kinda feel like they’ve been left out.)
So I thought I would share the top 5 activities that would have made the above list, except that they were written in 2015….
Counting down the top 5 science activities of 2016 (from 2015)…
5. Delightfully fizzy sherbet. It’s a chemical reaction, right on your own tongue! My girls prefer to enjoys their sherbet sprinkled on slices of cut apple for some fruity fizz.
4. Science jokes for kids. Laughs and giggles! There’s quite a few teasers in this post, but you’ll have to subscribe to see the rest. 🙂
3. Colour changing flowers experiment. This is a great one for springtime (or anytime white flowers are plentiful). The results are so pretty!
2. The science behind edible glass. How to make transparent sugar glass, that really shatters! It’s a cool way to learn about how real glass is made. My kids thought this one was awesome.
1. Can you peel a raw egg? This activity actually came out as my number one activity overall, beating all the posts published in 2016! I’m so glad it’s popular because it’s such a fun and simple activity that anyone can try at home. My youngest daughter Bee loved doing this activity – she must have ‘undressed’ a dozen eggs, at least!
What’s in store for 2017?
And now it’s time to ask what you think!
Are your favourites in these lists? What would you like to see more in 2017? What would you like to see less? Any other comments or suggestions?
And thanks for joining us on our journey so far. We’re looking forward to trying, and bringing to you, more fun science activities again this year.
Go girls! Go science! Go STEM!