Family Science Night Activities
Imagine an evening brimming with discovery, excitement, and hands-on learning, where families come together to explore the fascinating world of science.
Welcome to Family Science Night—an enriching and educational gathering crafted to ignite the curiosity of both children and adults!
When planning a Family Science Night your activities should:
-be engaging and educational
-appeal to a wide audience of ages and interests
-be easy to explain
-be able to be completed in a short amount of time (5-10 minutes per station)
What is a Family Science Night?
A Family Science Night is a popular event typically hosted at schools or community centers, where students and their families gather to participate in activities focused specifically on science. This event is designed to encourage hands-on learning, teamwork, and the exploration of scientific concepts in an enjoyable and interactive environment, nurturing a passion and excitement for science among both children and adults.
Need some ideas for your Family Science Night?
Here is a list of station ideas that are sure to engage kids and adults without breaking the bank!
Family Science Night Activities
Create Your Scientist Name
Make Some Slime
Investigate Fingerprints
Build Atomic Models
Code Through the Solar System
Build a Secret Decoder
Create Chemical Reactions
Unleash Your Creativity with Creativity Challenges
Investigate Germs with Glow Germs
Explore Circuits
Look at Slides Under a Microscope
Strike a Pose in the Photo Booth
A great way to kick off your science night is to have families create their unique scientist name and identification badge. The process combines creativity with a personal touch as students and adults use the first initial of their name and the month they were born to generate a distinctive scientist name, following a guide provided at the station.
2. Slimy Solutions
The slimy solutions station allows participants to delve into chemistry by making their own slime, exploring the properties of different materials and their reactions. There are many different options for this station that students can explore including adding special paint to the slime to make it glow in the dark.
3. Fingerprint Forensics
At the Fingerprint Forensics Station students and families explore the unique characteristics of their fingerprints, introducing them to the basics of forensic science. Participants will use a stamp pad and investigation handout to make a copy of their fingerprints. Then, they will make observations about the patterns that they see.
4. Atomic Adventures
In this Family Science Night activity, parents and students are challenged to work together using pom poms, pipe cleaners, and pony beads to construct their own atom models, providing a hands-on understanding of atomic structures.
5. Universal Domination
Embark on a cosmic coding adventure at Family Science Night with an exciting coding activity! For this activity families will be challenged to program the robot to get to Pluto. The activity can be modified to work with whatever programmable robots you have on hand including Dash robots, Bee-Bots, Sphero Indi, and Code and Go Mice.
6. Crack the Code
Get ready to add some problem solving to your Family Science Night activities by challenging Students and Families to Crack the Code. By using secret decoder wheels, participants engage in cryptography, solving codes and creating their own, which promotes logical thinking and problem-solving skills.
7. Bubbling Toxic Tonic
For this scientific investigation, families will make predictions and observe reactions between household substances and baking soda, learning about chemical reactions in a fun and interactive way.
8. Creativity Challenges
Encourage families to unleash their imagination and artistic flair at Family Science Night by challenging them with some Creativity Challenges! In order to successfully complete the task families will need to complete the picture by turning it into something entirely different than its original design.
9. Glow Germ Infestation
The Glow Germ Investigation highlights the importance of hygiene. This station uses UV light to reveal 'germs' on hands, teaching participants about germ spread and the effectiveness of hand washing.
10. High Voltage Circuit Laboratory
Invite families to participate in a hands-on circuit exploration at Family Science Night with Energy Sticks! During the activity families will test various items, such as water, alumimum foil, paper, and straws, to discover which items are conductive. Before diving in, families will make predictions about which items they think are conductive and which items they think are non-conductive.
11. Microbial Gazing Experiment
Engage families in exploring the wonders of the microscopic world at Science Night.
Participants will use microscopes to explore the microscopic world, fostering an interest in biology and the unseen world around us.
12. Science Night Photo Booth
Adding a photo booth to your Family Science Night can be a fantastic way to capture the excitement and memories of the event. To set up a science-themed photo booth, first, choose a space with good lighting. Hang a backdrop that resonates with the science theme (We got ours from Amazon). Provide props like oversized glasses, lab coats, beakers, magnifying glasses, or funny signs with science puns to encourage playful photos.
Ready to Plan your Family Science Night?!
We hope these station ideas helped get you started with planning your event. Looking for more support with planning your Family Science Night? Grab our Science Night Planning Resource! This resource includes all of the centers mentioned in this post as well as a planning guide and some editable Canva templates to help you create a flyer for the event and some informational parent handouts!
Have more questions or need additional resources?
You can get all 500+ STEM Challenges by Carly and Adam as part of the STEM Teachers Club Membership. Save $5 on your first month using coupon Code: CarlyAndAdamBlog.
We hope you have found this blog post helpful. To stay connected with Carly and Adam's teaching tips and classroom freebies be sure to follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, and subscribe to our blog!