With school out for Thanksgiving break this week, we had lots of time to enjoy some science explorations with our 8 Hanukkah Science Experiments and Exploration. All of these experiments have some connection to a Hanukkah symbol—think potatoes, oil and light. And they are all so simple and most are pretty quick. It made it really easy to do one or two throughout the day in between lots of reading, playing, and snuggling. They would be great to do one each night of Hanukkah if you want to add some science to your holiday!
Each experiment or exploration is outlined separately. Explore one, some or all!
What You’ll Need
- Hanukkah Science Experiment worksheet, free printable
- Light experiment: flashlight, mirror, opaque plate, glass
- Light and shadow play exploration: cardboard or old cereal box, scissors, flashlight
- Candle water experiment: bowl (same height as candle), water, hanukkiah candle, old playdough or modeling clay, matches
- Candle jar experiment: hanukkiah candle, playdough, bowl or dish with sides, water, blue food coloring, matches, glass jar big enough to fit over your candle and playdough
- Oil sensory jar: oil, water, food coloring, clear container
- Sink or Float Oil Experiment: three containers, three balloons, water, oil, dish soap, funnel
- Straw Through a Potato Experiment: straw, potato
- Potato Hydration Experiment: potato, knife, three containers, water, sugar, salt
Putting It Together
- Light experiment: Fill out a Hanukkah Science Experiment worksheet if desired. Shine the flashlight at the mirror, then plate, then glass.
- Light and shadow play exploration: Cut shapes from your cardboard or cereal box. We made a frying pan, latkes and sufganiyot. Turn off the lights and shine the flashlight on the wall to create your stage. Move your frying pan and your food so that their shadows are on the wall.
- Candle water experiment: Put some old playdough or modeling clay at the bottom of your bowl. Stick the candle in the playdough. Pour water so that it’s just about level with the brim of the bowl. Light the candle and see what happens when it burns down to the water surface.
- Candle jar experiment: Put a blob of playdough in the center of the bowl. Pour a little blue-dyed water into the dish. Stick the candle into the playdough. Light the candle. Put the jar over the candle.
- Oil sensory jar: Fill half the container with water. Add a few drops of food coloring. Mix them together. Add oil to the container. Close the lid and shake the container. Set the container on a table and observe.
- Sink or Float Oil Experiment: Add water to a balloon using the funnel and tie off. Repeat with the oil and dish soap so you have three balloons with three different contents. Don’t mix them up! Add water to the three labeled containers. Add one balloon to each container (make sure the contents corresponds to the label!). Observe which floats or sinks.
- Straw Through a Potato Experiment: Cut off the end of the straw if you have one that bends. Have your child try to stab the potato with the straw. Next, have them cover the opening of the straw with their thumb and try stabbing again.
- Potato Hydration Experiment: Cut your potato into three equal chunks (you don’t have to use the entire potato, we used about one third). Fill your three containers with water. Label them water, sugar, salt. Add sugar to the sugar one (we added 1/3 cup). Add salt to the salt one (again, we added 1/3 cup). Stir to combine. Add a potato chunk to each of the three containers. Observe what happens and what the potatoes look like. Come back in two hours and observe what they look like. Take the chunks out and see what they look like and how they feel.
Finished & Loving It!
I loved how all of these Hanukkah science experiments and exploration were so quick and easy. Since we get home from school around 3:30/3:45 and I start frying latkes around 4, I’ll need a fun and quick activity each day to connect with my kids before I am at the stove for the next two hours. These science experiments and exploration could totally be those activities if you will be in the same boat!
For most of the experiments, I printed out a Hanukkah Science Experiment worksheet so that the kids could outline their experiment, state their hypothesis, and then write down the result of the exploration. This supports the scientific process like they do in school and also helps organize the activity so they see the scientific roots. Because with all these activities, the kids had fun and it seemed like play. Which is not only great, it’s perfect! But it’s important for them to realize they are also being scientists as they have such a great time.
Light experiment
One of my favorite things about Hanukkah is of course experiencing the light it brings into our house, hearts and the world! So of course we had to explore some light experiments. This light experiment from Hands On As We Grow was so so simple but the kids were totally into it. I love that they made their predictions and were interested to see the outcomes, even those that did not match their hypotheses.
This experiment is great to talk about the things light can do–reflect, penetrate, or stop. And getting to use a flashlight is always a fun time.
This would be a great experiment to set up with your kids with the three suggested items, then let them continue exploring the house on their own. That would give you time to fry while they have fun shining their flashlight all over and seeing what reflects, stops or penetrates.
Light and Shadow Play
Last year we made the most amazing hanukkiah light box. Actually, that was all my husband and it was truly astounding! The kids had so much fun shining a light through and seeing the design on our wall and ceiling. We all loved it, but it was not a fast and easy set up. And that is what I was looking for this week. When I saw Cara_florance post a Halloween shadow play I realized I could put a Hanukkah twist on that activity and enjoy some light and shadow exploration with a super simple set up.
The kids loved taking turns shining the flashlight and making the shadows appear on the wall. It takes some practice to get the correct distance from the wall to get the shadows to show up correctly. They played at having the latkes bounce in the frying pan and the sufganiyot fry up. And of course they had to pretend to eat them too. Yum!
This is a really easy and fast set up (using recycled materials, yay) that you could prep and then pretty much leave for your kids to explore. Light and shadow is a total important Hanukkah theme and it’s so much fun to experience it this way!
We enhanced the experience by playing the Maccabeats in the background. “Latke Recipe” for this activity, of course! If you’re looking for a fun playlist that also teaches your kids about Hanukkah, check out the With Love, Ima Hanukkah Playlist on YouTube. I am such a fan of the Maccabeats. Not only is their music fun, but it is a storytelling experience the whole family will love.
Candle Water Experiment
Connected to Hanukkah light is of course candles! I was excited to find some simple and fun candle experiments. The candle water experiment by Playing With Rain was really neat. It was so simple to set up. We were able to use some of our Hanukkah playdough which made it connect even more to Hanukkah fun. And using a hanukkiah candle was of course the perfect Hanukkah twist!
The bowl I chose was actually a little smaller than the experiment stated, but that was totally fine. It just meant the kids had to be more patient to wait for the wick to burn down to the water. And they were so excited to see what was going to happen that they were actually super patient! And once the wick was below water level it was so cool to see it still burn!
I added a little skills practice by letting my kids pour the water into the bowl. I gave them a small pitcher of water so it was more manageable. Pouring water is actually a great practice and it’s so easy to incorporate in this experiment.
Playing With Rain explains the science behind this experiment: the water in the bowl has a high heat capacity. Water absorbs heat and energy so that the outside of the candle is cold enough to keep the wick burning.
Candle Jar Experiment
I saw this Candle Jar Experiment on Montessoriinspiredco and knew it would be perfect for our Hanukkah science explorations! The kids were fascinated watching the candle burn inside the jar. And then poof! out it went. It was a super simple activity to set up and let us easily talk about the need for oxygen for candles to burn.
An easy, if sappy, way of connecting it to Hanukkah is sharing that Hanukkah candles all need air to burn and spread their light. We can’t hide our Hanukkah candles in a jar, we need to spread the light, and the love, of Hanukkah and Judaism all over the world.
Oil Sensory Jar
Oil is of course another important Hanukkah symbol. After all, this holiday is also known as the Festival, or Miracle, of the Oil! This oil sensory jar experiment from Very Special Tales was super simple and the kids loved it. The finished container can also continue to be used as a sensory tool or a calm down jar. I think we might add ours to our Peace Table toolbox!
I used regular vegetable oil since we have so much for frying our latkes. I also wish I had remembered to try to dye the oil too. But no worries, the kids loved it as is. They shook those containers so hard and loved seeing the bubbles of oil all over. Then we set the containers down and observed the water settle to the bottom while the oil separated to the top.
This is an easy and fun exploration to see that oil and water don’t mix!
Sink or Float Oil Experiment
The Sink or Float Experiment from A Dab of Glue Will Do is another super easy experiment to do with oil. The kids love any chance to play with balloons and this was no different. They made predictions the oil balloon would float. It probably helped that we did the oil sensory jar experiment first so they saw how it separated to the top 😉 But they weren’t sure what would happen to the dish soap balloon so that was fun to watch and see.
This is a simple way to show and talk about the science of density.
Straw Through a Potato Experiment
We couldn’t have a Hanukkah Science Experiment without using potatoes! The kids loved this Straw Through a Potato Experiment from Cool Science Experiments Headquarters.
The best part of this experiment was definitely the stabbing. The kids loved trying to get the straws in. My oldest did pretty well when using his fist and as much force as he could manage. But they were surprised by the difference covering the opening with their thumbs made.
This experiment was also a fun and easy way to talk about compression and how trapping the air gave the straw a lot more force and strength.
And I know, I know, single use plastic straws are horrible! We were given these by a neighbor for craft purposes (the kids love straw weaving). We use reusable straws for our drinking purposes and once these single use ones are used up, we won’t buy more!
Potato Hydration Experiment
The kids thought the Potato Hydration Experiment by Cool Progeny was indeed cool. It’s another super simple one. We did this final experiment after stabbing the potatoes in the previous one so we wouldn’t waste them 😉 The scooping and pouring of the salt and sugar were already fun (simple pleasures for kids, right?) but my oldest loved plopping the potato pieces into the containers. And yes, we desperately need to clean off our kitchen island. Which will happen … sometime before we make Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, yikes!
This is a waiting experiment so while you need the total time to come back and check, the actual hands on time is super fast you could easily prep this experiment, have the kids observe what the potato chunks look like when they first go into the containers, fry up your latkes, then take a look at what happens over time. This could also be a really good use of any potato ends that you have after grating your potatoes.
I loved how interested the kids were in stabbing the potato chunks with a fork at the end to feel how hard or soft the different chunks were. Some of the kids were also interested in touching the different chunks, but my preschooler would have no part in that. It was really obvious how soft the chunk in plain water was compared to the other two. This was definitely a fun experiment to talk about hydration and the effects of sugar and salt on your body. Now salty potato latkes … well that’s a different story 😉
What do you think? Will you add some science to your Hanukkah experience this year with these 8 Hanukkah Science Experiments and Exploration? If you do, I’d love to hear how it goes!
Don’t forget to kick off your Hanukkah learning with our Hanukkah Montessori-Style 3 Part Cards!
And find many many fun activities on our Hanukkah Hub page!
Check out some of our favorite Hanukkah resources:
For some of our favorite Hanukkah books, take a look at our Bookshop.org With Love, Ima Storefront (each purchase supports local bookstores!).
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