Science
Exploratorium Science Snacks
Exploratorium Science Snacks are hands-on investigations of real phenomena using physical materials.
Featured projects include tracing outdoor shadows, looking at the tiny plant inside a seed, making bells and exploring colored shadows. Each pairs something to observe with an explanation of what is going on. Asking a child what they notice before reading the explanation, then repeating a step with one small change, fits the format.
- Ages
- Family investigations; choose grade band
- Works on
- Web browser
- Topics
- Science, Nature
- Languages
- English, Spanish collection
- Listed
- 2026-10-11
What kids do
- Trace changing shadows
- Look inside a seed
- Make a rainstick
- Explore colored shadows
Who it suits
Listed for family investigations. A grade-band filter narrows the range, since the collection wasn’t written only for young children.
Notes for parents
Search also filters by subject, and a separate Spanish Science Snacks collection exists. Some projects are a good deal more involved than others.
What you need
- Materials listed for each Snack
- Some adult preparation
Visit Exploratorium Science Snacks
In these guides
- Science experiments at home with everyday materials: Science activities for kids from museum and science-society sites: colors in milk, static electricity, a bean in a jar, shadows and sunshine.
More Science
- Solar Walk: Space Simulator 3D: A 3D model of the solar system to move around in, with scale comparisons and animations about Moon phases and tides.
- Science for Kids by Tappity: Interactive science videos, questions and a science journal, covering topics such as magnets and volcanoes.
- MarcoPolo Weather: Children adjust wind, temperature and precipitation and watch a landscape and its characters react.
- MarcoPolo Ocean: Reef building, a submersible to assemble and marine animals to find, with narration that introduces ocean words.
- Coral Reef by Tinybop: Children explore a reef food web, hide an octopus and follow food through a jellyfish to see how ocean life connects.
- Star Walk Kids: Astronomy Game: Cartoons, narrated facts and quick quizzes guide children around a moving solar system and a mobile observatory.
- The Earth by Tinybop: Volcanoes, earthquakes, fossils and shifting sediment, all on screen, showing how the Earth’s surface changes.
- Space by Tinybop: An interactive solar system model where children compare planets, tilt the Earth and follow the phases of the Moon.