Looking for inexpensive demonstrations to incorporate into your classroom or home? We recognize not everyone has all the materials or funds to repeat all our demonstrations.
In order to make this easier for you, here are 25 demonstrations you can recreate for under $25 each. From learning how to skewer a balloon without popping it to learning about blood types, your students will learn about a variety of STEM areas in hands-on demonstrations using supplies that are likely already in your cabinet!
Read our demonstrations individually below, or watch our full playlist on YouTube. Be careful, though—try these at your own risk.
Featured Demonstrations
Surface Tension Trap
Demo: 1 minute
Why do pool toys never stay in the pool's center? Hint: it has to do with surface
tension!
Oobleck
Demo: 5 minutes
Play with a creation that has solid matter properties, but is always a liquid!
Fireproof Balloon
Demo: 1-3 minutes
Is it possible to save a balloon from popping when fire is touching it?
Floating and Sinking Eggs
Demo: 1-2 minutes
Use the properties of density to both float and sink an egg!
Skewer through a Balloon
Demo: 2-5 minutes
Stick a skewer through a balloon without popping it!
Glove Filled with CO2
Demo: 3-5 minutes
Blow up a balloon or glove using a chemical reaction that creates CO2!
Additional Demonstrations
More demonstrations to try at home or in the classroom!
Anti-Gravity Bottle
Demo: 30 seconds
Use a ping pong ball to trap water in a bottle, even when it is turned upside down!
Buoyancy Bottle
Demo: 3-5 minutes
What sinks, and what floats? Figure out how the amount of sugar affects buoyancy!
Kruskal's Card Game
Demo: 3-5 minutes
Can you find you way to the end of the path? Play to find out while studying probability!
Nail Puzzle
Demo: 3-10 minutes
How many nails can you balance on a single nail head?
Let's Communicate
Demo: 5 minutes
Think like an engineer and work on giving clear directions on how to build your creation!
Boxing Beans
Demo: 3 minutes
Can different shaped and sized containers hold the same amount of material?
Bernoulli Balloons
Use air pressure changes to move balloons and predict how they will move!
Milk Trick
Get your groove on with this science demo creating a constantly changing kaleidoscope of colors!
Burning Money
"Burn" a dollar bill without charring any of the dollar bill itself!
Baking Soda Bubbles
Explore the meaning behind density with bubbles!
Flinker
What happens when an object doesn't float or sink? It flinks! Construct a device that uses neutral buoyancy.
Boats Afloat
Use your engineering skills to create a boat to hold the most weight!
Marker Chromatography
See what colors make up other colors while creating pieces of art!
Giant Bubbles
Mind Trekkers' own recipe for the perfect giant bubble. This solution, plus a small pool, hula-hoop, and a landscaper's brick can put you inside a giant bubble!
Cloud in a Bottle
Why are there clouds in the sky? Learn how pressure affects how clear the skies are!
Invisible Fire Extinguisher
Learn to put out a flame with the tip of a cup!
Are You My Type?
Have you ever wondered what blood is made of? Learn what types of blood can be donated!
Color Subtraction Challenge
Try picking colored poof balls once every color, except red, is removed!