32+ Fun Biology Activities for Kids That Are Amazing!

When you are a kid, you always wonder why you are being taught about pasteurization, vaccination, and diseases, but as an adult, especially with children 🧒, you start to value that education. 

The knowledge I acquired from all of the science projects and activities my dad used to make me do has come in handy as a parent. You can create a similar learning environment for your children with these simple activities. 

Interesting Biology Activities for Kids

I might not have excelled in science as a student, but as a parent, I have made it a goal to make my children 🧒 learn new concepts by having fun and being creative. 

These activities are aimed at kindergarteners and elementary school children and focus on teaching them about their body’s functions, along with how animals, insects 🐜, and plants live and breathe. 

Make a Candy DNA Model 

Did you know that all human beings share approximately 99% of DNA? DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule that carries our genetic information. DNA 🧬has a double helix shape that resembles a twisted ladder. 

To teach my son fun facts about DNA🧬, I helped him make a 3D model of DNA with candy. This helped me carry out a conversation about DNA’s functions and structure. 

What you need- 

Red vines or Twizzlers, mini multicolored marshmallows, and toothpicks or cocktail sticks. 

Steps- 

• Out of the pack of mini marshmallows, pick four colors- these will represent our nucleotides. 
• On ten toothpicks, stick two marshmallows on both ends. 
• Start securing these toothpicks to two red vines at equal distances. 
• Once you have secured the toothpicks, slightly twist the entire structure. Your DNA 🧬 model is completed. 

Make a Terrarium 

Terrariums are an excellent tool to teach kids about the ecosystem, water cycle, plants 🪴, and microorganisms. 

Terrariums are generally used as pet enclosures for reptilian and amphibian pets and can be used for scientific observation and plant propagation. Terrariums generally refer to a sealable glass enclosure used for raising plants and animals. 

What you need- 

Airtight glass jar with a lid, tiny pebbles, indoor container plants 🪴, shells, dry moss, water, and potting soil. 

Steps- 

• Line the bottom of the glass jar with the pebbles 🪨. 
• Add a thick layer of soil and sow the indoor plant in the soil. Add some water to make the soil damp. 
• Now decorate the terrarium with more pebbles 🪨, shells, and dry moss. 
• Close the lid on the jar and place the terrarium indoors on a shelf that receives plenty of indirect sunlight. 
• Open the lid once every week to let fresh air into the garden. 

Pro Tip- 

Your child can customize their terrarium with their favorite mini toys and stickers if they want. 

Gummy Bear Osmosis 

My kids love spending time in the pool and the bathtub, and lately, they have observed the pruning of their fingers and toes. So, I decided to teach them about osmosis with this simple activity. 

What you need- 

Gummy bears 🧸, ruler, salt, measuring cup, two shallow trays or bowls, and water. 

Steps- 

• Add half a cup of water to the two shallow trays and add a teaspoon of salt to one of the trays. Stir to dissolve the salt. 
• Place a gummy bear 🧸 in each shallow tray and leave overnight. 

Ask your child to observe the difference in the sizes of the gummy bears 🧸kept in salty water and plain water. 

Meanwhile, explain the process of osmosis to your child and give real-life examples of osmosis, such as kidney beans 🫘 expanding in size after being soaked in water or feeling thirsty after eating really salty foods. 

Animal Baby Matching Game 

This easy exercise is perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners. The game aims at teaching children 🧒 new words whilst simultaneously improving their animal recognition skills. 

What you need- 

Flashcards of animals 🫎 and their babies (with names). 

Shuffle the flashcards and ask your child to match the animals to their babies. 

Pro Tip- Make the flashcards using either photo editing software or by drawing the animals. 

Taste Test Without Smell 

Have you ever wondered why your favorite dishes taste bland when you are fighting a cold? Our ability to taste foods is affected significantly by our sense of smell. This experiment aims to prove the same to your child. 

What you need- 

A blindfold, nose clip for swimming, one peeled apple 🍎, and one peeled raw potato 🥔. 

Blindfold your child and give them a plate with a slice of apple and a slice of raw potato. Hold their nose with a nose clip used in swimming and ask them to take a bite of each slice. 

Ask your child if they can taste the difference between the potato and the apple 🍎. Use this as an opportunity to explain that our nose, 👃 and mouth are connected and that disrupting our ability to smell and even see can hamper our brains’ ability to taste foods properly. 

Make an Egg Carton Model of the Human Spine 

Making this egg 🥚 carton model of the human spine will invoke your child’s curiosity about the human body. 

What you need- 

An egg carton, construction paper, pipe cleaner, and scissors. 

Steps- 

• Cut the egg carton into individual egg cups. There should be at least 33 egg 🥚 cups because human beings have 33 vertebrae (bones that form the spinal column. 
• From the construction paper, make 33 rounded squares that resemble the bottom of the egg carton cups and cut them with scissors. 
• Poke a hole in the middle of each egg cup and construction paper. 
• Push the pipe cleaner through the egg 🥚 cup and the construction paper. Repeat the process. 
• Tie a knot at the end of the pipe cleaners to secure the construction paper and egg cup in place. Your spinal model is ready. 

Pro Tip- 

Using the model, explain the functions of the human spine and how it moves. 

Teach Your Kids About the Metamorphosis Process 

Metamorphosis is the changes in the form of an insect until it becomes a fully developed adult. 

There are four types of metamorphosis, and according to several publications, more than 80% of insect species, such as butterflies 🦋, bees, wasps, ants, and flies go through metamorphosis. 

Visual aids, such as videos and picture books, are the best ways to teach your child about the metamorphosis process. I recommend reading the following books- Caterpillar to Butterfly 🦋 by Frances Barry and Metamorphosis: Changing Bodies by Bobbie Kalman. 

Animal Word Scramble 

Improve your child’s spelling skills with an animal word scramble. On a sheet of paper, write 10 to 15 animal 🦁 names incorrectly and scramble. 

Hand your child the paper and ask them to unscramble it and write it next to the scrambled name. 

Build a Bug Hotel 

I have never been interested in bugs, but my daughter is fascinated by them, and rightfully so. Insects 🐜 are mesmerizing creatures, and many of them play an important role in the local flora and fauna. 

By helping your child build this bug hotel, you can teach them about different insects 🐜 and ways to identify them. 

What you need- 

Empty plastic bottles, rocks, old tights, leaves, sticky tape, scissors ✂️, grass, twigs, and glue. 

Steps- 

• After washing and drying the water bottles, cut a piece of rectangle from one side of the bottle with a box cutter or a pair of scissors ✂️. 
• Fill the bottle with the rocks, leaves, grass, and twigs. Cover the bottle with a piece of tights and tape. 
• Open the bottle cap and place the bottle in the garden. Check regularly for guests. 

Pro Tip- 

To make the insect nesting material, you can also use old newspaper shavings, dried flowers 💐, wool, hay, and yarn. 

Taste Test 

Human beings have somewhere between 2,000 and 10,000 taste buds on their tongue. Our tongue is also divided into five sections. 

For instance, the tip of our tongue detects salty food, the sides of our tongue detect sourness, the back of our tongue detects bitterness, and the middle of our tongue detects sweetness. 

What you need- 

Lemon, cocoa powder, salt, and sugar. 

Make your child taste each item one by one and ask them to observe the part of their tongue where the taste is the most intense. 

Pro tip- You can also perform this taste test with other foods like sauces, vinegar, and fruits. 

Animal Sorting Game 

In a shallow plastic container, dump a bag of animal toys that includes mammals, birds, reptilians, amphibians, fishes, and crustaceans. Mix the animals and sort them into different categories. 

For instance, sort the animals on the basis of where they live, whether on land, in water, or both, among many other categories. 

Flower Color Changing Experiment 

Transpiration refers to the process of water moving inside a plant 🪴 and its subsequent evaporation. This process is important because it facilitates the flow of water and minerals within the plant. This experiment allows us to observe the process of transpiration. 

What you need- 

White flowers 💐, food coloring, water, and plastic cups. 

Steps- 

• Fill two to three different plastic cups with water and add a few drops of different food colorings in each cup. 
• Trim the flowers and place them in the cups overnight. 
• After you take the flowers 💐 out, you’ll notice that the flowers have changed their color. 

Pro Tip- 

Explain the process of transpiration in plants 🪴 to your child, along with the factors affecting transpiration, such as light, temperature, and airflow. 

Watch Nature Documentaries 

There are so many wonderful nature documentaries out there that focus on different animal kingdoms, ecosystems, and biodiversities. 

Documentaries are a wonderful tool for visual learning and offer children 🧒 a chance to learn about the eating habits, survival skills, and social skills of different animals around the world. 

3D Ladybug Life Cycle Project 

Did you know that farmers and experienced gardeners absolutely love ladybugs because they reduce the population of pesticides like aphids and spider mites? 

Ladybugs are also the cutest insects 🐜 and are a popular fixture in children’s 🧒books. Teach your child about the ladybug’s life cycle with this project. 

What you need- 

Paper plates, cupcake liners, paint, paintbrush, glue, orange and black pipe cleaners, paper bowls, and a paintbrush. 

Steps- 

• Paint two green leaves on four paper plates. Let the paint dry. 
• On plate number 1, draw yellow specks on the leaves. The yellow specks represent the ladybug eggs 🥚. 
• Make a larva using the orange and black pipe cleaners and glue it on the second leaf. 
• To make the pupa, paint the back of a cupcake liner a light orange and draw some black specks on top of it. Paste the cupcake liner on the third leaf. You can use some foam to give the cupcake liner some support. 
• Finally, paint the exterior of a paper bowl completely red. Draw some black spots all over and use white paint to make features like eyes and nose. 
• Once the paint has dried, glue the paper bowl on top of the paper plate. The life cycle is complete. 

Design an Insect Word Search 

Improve your child’s spelling and recognition skills by designing an insect-inspired word search. To make a word search, write down the names of fifteen different insects 🐜. 

In a grid of 15 by 15, write these names horizontally, backward, vertically, and diagonally. Write down random letters around them, and your word search is complete. 

Capillary Action Science Experiment 

In plants, capillary action refers to the flow of liquid aided by intermolecular forces through narrow spaces. With this experiment, your child can observe this experiment easily. 

What you need- 

Seven transparent plastic cups, water, food coloring, and paper towels. 

Steps- 

• Place the plastic cups in a line and fill the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th cups three-quarters of the way full. Fill the remaining cups one-quarter of the way full. 
• Add a few drops of red, yellow, and blue food coloring to the 1st, 7th, 3rd, and 5th cup respectively. Mix the color. 
• Make five tubes with paper towels and bend them in half. Starting from the first cup, place one-half of the paper towel in one cup and the other half in the next cup. Repeat the process and see capillary movement in action. 

As the experiment progresses, your kids will observe the water placed in the 2nd, 4th, and sixth place change color along with paper towels. 

How much air is your lung holding? 

Recently, after an hour of roughhousing, my kids posed a question to me -How much air did their lungs hold? We tried to find the answer to this question with this experiment. 

What you need- 

A clear plastic tube, a water stopper, a kitchen sink, a clear plastic bottle, and water🌊. 

Steps- 

• Clog a kitchen sink using a sink water stopper and fill the sink with 10 cm of water. 
• Completely fill the plastic bottle. 
• Put your hand over the top of the bottle and turn the bottle upside down before placing it in the sink. 
• Now, carefully push one end of the plastic tube inside the bottle. 
• Ask your child to blow air through the other end of the plastic tube after taking a deep breath. 

As your child breathes through the tube, the air in his lungs will displace the water in the bottle. 

The volume of air inside your child’s leg is roughly the same amount as the water dispersed. Conduct this experiment 6 months later to see the change in the volume as your kid grows older. 

Animal Habitat Sorting Game 

Improve your toddler’s recognition and observational skills with this easy sorting game. 

To play this game, make flashcards of different animals 🦒 and separate flashcards of the habitat associated with these animals. Shuffle them up and ask your child to match the animals to their habitats. 

Teach Your Children About Different Microorganisms 

We are surrounded by microorganisms. From the helpful bacteria that live inside our gut to the wonderful microorganisms that act as decomposers in a compost pit, there is a wide range of microorganisms, and they are not all bad. 

Teach your children 🧒 about helpful and harmful microorganisms like the bacteria in yogurt or the salmonella present in uncooked chicken 🐔. 

How do leaves breathe? 

With this simple experiment, you can also teach your kids about how plants 🪴 breathe. 

What you need- 

Lukewarm water, a small rock, a glass bowl, and a green leaf. 

Steps- 

• Place a green leaf 🍀 in the glass bowl and put a rock on top of it. 
• Fill the glass bowl with water. 
• Wait for a few hours. 

After a few hours, you’ll start noticing a few bubbles on top of the leaf 🍀. Explain photosynthesis and respiration to your child. 

Effects of Temperature on Transpiration 

Did you know that temperature significantly affects the rate of transpiration in a plant 🪴? For instance, in extremely warm weather, the leaves will pull water from the roots at a faster rate than in mild temperatures.

You can help your child study the effects of temperature on transpiration with this simple experiment. 

What you need- 

Food coloring, water, a hairdryer, a ruler, and two celery stalks with leaves. 

Steps- 

• Fill a glass quarter of the way up with water and mix a few drops of food coloring. 
• Place the celery stalk in the water. 
• For an hour, every five minutes, blow the hairdryer at the stalk. 
• Remove the stalk from the water and, on a surface, slice the stalk vertically to see how far up the colored water has traveled. Repeat the same exercise without the hairdryer.  

Acid Rain Science Experiment 

Teach your kids about the effects of acid rain on plants and the ecosystem with this simple science experiment. 

What you need- 

Flowers 💐, marbles, elastic rubber band, small shot glasses, two large jars, vinegar, and water. 

Steps- 

• Place a shot glass in the jar. 
• Put the flower in the shot glass and fill it with water. The flower 💐 should not reach the top of the jar. Repeat the process with the second jar. 
• Pour half a cup of water into the bottom of one jar and cover the jar with plastic wrap. 
• Secure the plastic wrap with an elastic rubber band and place a few marbles on top. 
• In the other jar, pour vinegar instead of water and cover it similarly. 
• Place the jars next to a windowsill that receives direct sunlight.

Ask your child to note the differences. Help them understand why the vinegar wilted the flower while the flower 💐 kept in water remained fresh. 

Teach your children about how germs are spread 

If you want to instill the habit of handwashing in your children 🧒, then this is the best way to teach them. 

What you need- 

Child-safe glitter, soap, water, and a child. 

Steps-

• Ask your child to hold their hand on top of a bathroom sink and then sprinkle some glitter on their hand. 
• In this scenario, the glitter represents the germs, and just like glitter, germs stick on all of the surfaces we touch and then spread from one person to another. 
• In order to avoid this situation, ask them to wash their hands 🖐️ with soap. Unlike glitter, most modern-day handwashes will remove all the germs from our hands. 

Blood Model in a Jar 

 Blood 🩸 is made up of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. 

Teach your child what blood looks like on a microscopic scale with this project.

What you need- 

A plastic bottle, corn syrup, red cinnamon candles, white sprinkles, and small marshmallows. 

Steps- 

• Fill a plastic bottle with corn syrup, which will represent plasma. 
• Add the red cinnamon candies, which represent red blood cells. 
• Add a few small marshmallows to the corn syrup. The marshmallows will represent white blood 🩸 cells. 
• Finally, add the white sprinkles, which represent the platelets. 

Pro Tip- 

If you can’t find the white sprinkles, then you can use white rice instead. 

Host a Quiz about Animals 

Quiz your child’s knowledge about animals with a quiz. I asked my children 🧒 the following questions- Are bats mammals? What do Giant Pandas 🐼 eat? What is a group of lions called? 

What are female elephants called? Are dogs carnivores or omnivores? An adult female horse is called what?

Human Body Crosswords 

Make a crossword for your kids based on facts about the human body. The crossword I made for my children 🧒 had some of these prompts- ‘How many teeth do adults have?’ ‘

Name the largest external organ.’ ‘Name the largest internal organ.’ and ‘How much saliva does our mouth produce in a day?’ 

Make a Model of a Lung 

Help your child make a working model of a lung 🫁. This model aims to explain the ventilation and gas exchange process, along with the many parts of the lungs. 

What you need- 

Play dough, scissors ✂️, a box cutter, a metal straw, two balloons, a plastic bottle, and an elastic rubber band. 

Steps- 

• Cut the plastic bottle in half using a box cutter. 
• Tie the knot of one balloon and cut half of its body. 
• Stretch this balloon over the bottle and secure it with an elastic rubber band. 
• Place a straw inside the other balloon and secure it by tying an elastic rubber band. 
• Put the straw through the neck of the bottle and secure it with playdough. 

Ask your child to blow air through the straw, with some air still inside the balloon; ask your child to pull the balloon at the bottom and see the balloon inside the bottle deflate. 

In the case of this experiment, the straw is the windpipe, the balloon attached to the straw is the lungs 🫁, and the balloon attached to the bottom of the bottle is the diaphragm. Explain to your child why the balloon inside the bottle deflated. 

Eat a hard-boiled Egg 

Teach your children 🧒 about the different aspects of eggs 🥚 by cutting into a hard-boiled egg. 

Dinosaur Sensory Bin 

My children, especially my toddler, love dinosaurs 🦕. They love learning about new dinosaurs, what they ate, and where they lived. By now, they have collected so many dinosaur 🦕 toys that I decided to help them make a sensory bin to play in. 

To make the sensory bin, ask your child to assemble easy-to-find items, like grass, dried leaves, rocks, and toys, in a shallow plastic container. Let them create the habitat as they like.  

Learn about trees with tree rings 

Did you know that by studying the tree rings of an old tree, scientists can ascertain the climate of that region over the decades?

Tree 🌳 rings store decades of information about weather patterns, what time of year the tree grows, and when the tree experiences stressful weather conditions. 

This Christmas, examine the number of tree rings in your Christmas tree 🌳 to ascertain how old your tree was. 

How does Exercise Affect Our Heart Rate? 

As kids grow older, their self-awareness increases, and they start to notice the changes happening in their bodies.

Recently, after running for 10 minutes around the block, my son noticed that he was breathing rapidly and that his heart was beating fast. 

To help him understand the effect of exercise on his heart 🫀 rate, we performed the following exercise. 

What you need- 

A stethoscope. 

Help your child calculate their resting heart rate using a stethoscope. Then, ask them to do jumping jacks for five minutes and once again record their heart rate. After five minutes of rest, ask them to record their heart 🫀 rate once again.

Now, explain to your child that when we exercise, we increase our intake of oxygen, and this makes our heart 🫀 beat faster. 

Act Out the Digestive Process

My kids had a lot of fun acting out the digestive process, although it did get a little messy. 

What you need- 

A fork, a bowl, a funnel, a piece of bread, one biscuit, yogurt, water, a leg from a pair of tights, scissors ✂️, a zip lock bag, orange juice, and food coloring. 

Steps-

• In a bowl, crush a piece of bread and one biscuit with a fork. This action represents us chewing the food in our mouths. 
• Pour the food into the ziplock bag, and this represents the food passing through the esophagus and into the stomach. 
• Add some water (saliva) and orange 🍊juice (hydrochloric acid) into the bag and seal it without any air. 
• Ask your child to squeeze the bag and mix the ingredients. 
• Now, add the ingredients into the leg from a pair of tights, along with red and green food coloring. 
• Squeeze the liquid out of the tight. The liquid is the nutrients that the body absorbs, while the remnants represent waste products. 
• To remove the waste products, cut a hole in the bottom of the tights. This will represent pooping. 

Health Fact Trivia Nights 

Quiz your child’s knowledge about exercise, diseases, allergies, medicine, cancer, obesity, viral infections, and nutrition by organizing a health fact trivia night. The kids can play by themselves or in groups of two, with the winner getting candy, chocolates🍫, or a toy prize. 

I asked my kids some of these questions- ‘Name some foods rich in iron,’ ‘How long does it take to digest food?’ ‘What is the most common food poisoning?’ and ‘Obesity can increase the chances of developing which two diseases?’ 

Edible Mouth Snack 

When my son started losing his baby teeth, we made this fun snack to teach him about teeth. 

What you need- 

Mini marshmallows, jam, digestive biscuits. 

Steps- 

• Spread jam on two digestive biscuits. 
• Ask your child to fit 16 mini marshmallows in a row on each biscuit and then put them over one another. Your teeth model is ready. 

I used this exercise as an opportunity to teach my son about the five types of teeth👄 that human beings have, the importance of brushing and cleaning our teeth every night, and the role they play in the digestive system.  

Pasteurisation Lesson For Kids

Talk to your children 🧒 about Louis Pasteur, ‘The Father of Microbiology,’ and how his work has helped prevent the spread of diseases around the world.

I talked to my children about Pasteur discovering the method of ‘Pasteurization’ to reduce the number of microorganisms present in milk and food. 

We also touched upon his study of the immune system and his vaccine contributions. I also showed my kids how to pasteurize milk 🥛. 

Grow a Plant 

Show your kids how to plant seeds in a pot and nurture them into a plant 🪴. 

What you need- 

Seeds, soil, rocks, strips of old paper, water, and a pot. 

Steps- 

• Place a layer of rocks at the bottom of the pot. 
• Follow the rocks with a layer of old paper strips. 
• Add soil next. 
• In the middle of the soil, dig a small hole and empty a packet of locally sourced plant seeds. 
• Fill the hole with soil and generously water the plant 🪴 until it is damp but not soggy. 
• Place the pot indoors in a place that receives a mixture of direct and indirect sunlight ☀️. 
• Add water and fertilizer regularly. 
• Develop a watering schedule and ask your child to adhere to it. Once the seeds start to sprout into a sapling, you can transplant the plant into a larger pot indoors or outdoors. 

Conclusion 

I was terrible at science when I was in school. I believed it was because I was unable to grasp this complex information, but it was actually because I wasn’t taught in the way that excited my brain. 

So, as a parent, I try to make learning as fun and engaging for my children 🧒 as possible by giving them real-life tangible examples that they can explore in a safe way. 

Hopefully, you are able to do the same with your child. Let us know in the comments down below what your child’s favorite activities were.