Bonfire Night activities for the classroom don’t only have to involve black paper and copious amounts of glitter. Cover key scientific concepts such as density, thrust, forces and gravity with these scientific ideas…
Learn about density by making fireworks in a jar
What happens when we mix fluids of different densities? Find out in this STEM activity taken from 15 Minute STEM by Emily Hunt.
In this experiment you add a layer of vegetable oil on top of warm water in a jar. You then place droplets of food colouring onto the oil layer. The food colouring droplets will sink into the water, creating what looks like fireworks.
Resources
- Clear jar
- Warm water
- Vegetable oil
- Food colouring
- Pipette (optional)
- Other liquids for comparison eg honey or milk (optional)
Learning objectives
- Learn that density is the mass of an object divided by its volume
- Know that some materials are very light for their size while others are very heavy
Learn about forces with fireworks
Get your LKS2 pupils all fired up and explore the educational advantages of fireworks with these Bonfire Night activities from Laura Cross…
Bonfire Night and the associated firework displays are always an enjoyable event come November 5th. But they also provide a great learning opportunity, and not just for history.
With these Bonfire Night activities children will do some fun fireworks-themed making, while also learning about several scientific concepts. This lesson is perfect for teaching forces – and incorporating D&T skills, too.
You won’t need many materials for this activity, and can use the printable resources and image provided in the download to make the activity even easier to set up. Fire away!
Bonfire Night activities learning objectives
- Learn how a firework works
- Learn how the force of thrust works
- Know that air resistance slows down the speed of flight
- Learn how gravity pulls things towards the ground
- Know that air can be used as propulsion or thrust
- Design and make fireworks following instructions
Laura Cross runs Inventors & Makers, bringing STEM to primary pupils via in-person or online workshops and after-school clubs you can set up in your own school.
