Fun Science

Last Friday I did a super simple and fun science experiment with my class. It's super affordable, and many kids can repeat the experiment at home because of how common the ingredients are. We are in the middle of a matter unit.

We called it Gas In A Bag. (I think I first learned about this in this form from a Science in a Bag book by Scholastic.)
This is similar to a volcano, but not messy.

Items needed:
baking soda (about 1T per kid)
vinegar (about 1/4 c per kid)
small paper cups (1 per kid)
zipper sandwich bags (1 per kid)

Procedure:
1. Each student place baking soda in baggie
2. Teacher places vinegar into little cups, and students place cup upright in baggie and seal bag shut
3. On the teacher's signal, students tip cup inside bag
4. The liquid and solid combine to form a gas, and most of the bags pop open.
(This can also be a time to talk about acids and bases.)

After this students made a sequence chart of the procedure. These were a great way to assess understanding of what happened. We have also been working on sequencing in reading, so it was a good connection.

Any other ideas of fun easy experiments related to matter?