Turn the kitchen into a chemistry lab when you help your child create "naked eggs." The Exploratorium science museum says you can use eggs and white vinegar to demonstrate the effects of acetic acid on calcium carbonate. Soaking the eggs in vinegar slowly dissolves the eggshells as the acetic acid in the vinegar causes the calcium carbonate crystals of the eggshell to separate into free floating calcium ions and visible carbon dioxide bubbles.
Explore physics and the speed of light in the kitchen using a microwave, marshmallows, microwave safe casserole dish, and a ruler with a lesson provided by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Students measure the distance between the melting points of marshmallows after the confection has been heated in a microwave to determine the wavelength of the microwave and then multiply that number by the frequency of the microwave to find the speed of light.
Your home schooled student may just light up with excitement when you teach them how to make a battery with a pickle-powered kitchen science activity from Exploratorium. Your student will learn about the electric charge created between the ions in a pickle's salty brine when they are met with the graphite from a pencil and aluminum foil. The activity utilizes alligator-clip leads, a pocketknife and a 12-volt DC piezo buzzer as well, meaning adult assistance and supervision is necessary throughout the process.
Early elementary students can learn about the earthquakes in the kitchen using graham crackers with a science activity from MadSci Network. As graham crackers are moved broken apart, moved back together, and rubbed side to side, the forces that create earthquakes are demonstrated to the child as well as the how the movement causes tension that results in pieces of earth breaking away as debris. The activity is extended further by adding peanut butter to the edges of the graham cracker so that you can demonstrate the mid-ocean ridge formation.