Student engagement on the first day of school is more important than you think. Upper elementary and middle school students need to be hooked into loving being back to school to instill curiosity and an interest in science. Including hands-on activities does not have to be costly or time-consuming. Providing fun learning experiences is a great way to keep them motivated and learning, so try to incorporate these engaging activities as much as possible.

Easy and FREE Science Activities

I found this activity on Steve Spangler Science. He has a lot of great ideas. Use this activity as a way to highlight scientific thinking and analysis skills as well as to develop a strategy for scientific writing. It is super simple to set up and budget-friendly. Some of the items you may already have in your classroom.

Introducing the CER Method:

They develop a hypothesis to answer this question and explain their thinking.

Simple materials for this free science activity:

Materials include:

• Package of M&Ms
• Bowls
• Warm water

That’s it! Warm up some water for about 45 seconds.

Scientific observations: 

Allow groups of students to choose their M&M color. Students can choose any color except brown. Give each group three of the color. Place the M&Ms in the bowl of warm water with the “M” facing up. Allow a few minutes to pass. Students should be observing what is happening.

 

During this time, you can discuss what is happening to the candy shell of the M&M. Why and how is it dissolving?

 

Soon, the candy shell will completely disappear from the M&M, and on the top of the water, students will see the floating M. It is cool to see. This can lead to discussions of what the M is made of so that it doesn’t dissolve.

Connecting to Science:

Other great sites for FREE science content:

• Budget-friendly ways to incorporate hands-on science experiments in your classroom
• Lab Safety
• Metric Measurement