Science Themed Birthday Party Ideas

When my daughter was 4 ½ her greatly anticipated Christmas gift was a pair of plastic safety goggles and a Mind Blowing Science kit.  Fast-forward a year and a half and a few dozen Steve Spangler episodes on youtube and she’s pretty confident that any opportunity is a good one to test the laws of science.

Why limit yourself to a beaker and a test tube when you can use an empty bathtub at a friend’s house and a full bottle of shampoo?  All in the name of science!  So it was fitting that we celebrated her 6^th birthday with a day full of messes and opportunities to blow her mind.

The science experiments really took center stage at this party so I kept the decorations fairly simple with flowers in Erlenmeyer flasks,

a banner celebrating the element of Caroline,

and a few sweet treats to fit the theme.

The birthday cake held a surprise molecular core made of sixlets that spilled out as we cut the pieces and I used gumballs and straws to create the molecule cake toppers. Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out how to make this cake!

Conducting experiments with 12 kindergartners required some organization and willing grandparent volunteers.

We led 2 group experiments and then divided the kids into 3 science teams with 4 mini scientists per team.

Over the course of the party the science teams rotated through 8 stations where they were able to make swirling milk reactions and explore the color spectrum.

They grew jelly marbles, uncovering a hidden message through the mystery of light refraction.

And held dry ice bubbles in their hands!

They constructed gumdrop molecules, studied rocks and minerals, and played with the laws of magnetism.

The scientists came back together as a group to play with a little instant snow and to watch the mentos geyser grand finale.

We captured a video of the geyser on our phone and weeks later it still makes me smile to hear the delighted screams of the girls as the coke bottle erupted.

We truly had the sweetest group of little scientists who were full of interest and enthusiasm for each of the stations and witnessing their excitement throughout the afternoon made it one of the most satisfying parties to throw.  Each mini professor left with a t-shirt lab coat, safety glasses, a Science for Kids book, a petri dish containing a science experiment to-go, and a personalized field notes notebook as well as a few sweet treats.

My daughter is lucky to have a super cool scientist for an aunt who happens to be a bona-fide molecular biologist, proving in our family that in science, girls really do, do it better!

Thanks so much for joining me today At the Picket Fence and be sure to come back tomorrow to find out how to make the Surprise Molecular Cake!

Here are more of Julie’s amazing party contributions:
Paint Themed Party
Pioneer Party
Harvest Party