Celebrate Roald Dahl Day On September 13th I put together a fun collection of The Science of Roald Dahl Experiments and activity ideas.
My 8 year old son is currently devouring Books by Roald Dahl, and I remember spending many happy hours reading them as a child, so it's been great fun putting together this collection and a real trip down memory lane.
I also have some easy ones Roald Dahl-themed fine motor control activity Ideas suitable for younger children.
If you like the idea of edible experiments For kids, they will love my new book. Science to snack on!
Roald Dahl's scientific experiments
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Activities
Chocolate covered strawberries and state changes
Learn about state changes by melting chocolate and then using it to coat strawberries.
Research Ideas
- Investigate whether chocolate hardens faster on a strawberry in the refrigerator or out in the open.
- Find out what happens if you freeze chocolate and strawberries.
- Experiment with white, dark, and milk chocolate to find out if one type of chocolate hardens faster than another.
Extension Ideas – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Science
Try adding a little golden syrup to chocolate. Does this affect the texture and taste?
Photo thanks to The crazy kitchen
Making giant sweets
Find out how to make gummy bears expand by soaking them in hot and cold water for a couple of hours. What happens? Our gummy bear doubled in size, but it didn't taste as good as it did when it was small.
Research Ideas
- Experiment with different types of candy. Try gummy candies, hard candies, and sugar-coated candies.
- Place some candy in warm water and some in cold water and time how long it takes for it to reach a certain size.
Experiment with Skittles
Place some colored candies in water and watch how The color dissolves in water..
Research Ideas
- Record how long it takes for the color to fill the plate using warm and cold water.
- Experiment with different types of candy.
More scientific ideas with Skittles
Keep an eye out for the sugar “S” floating in the water as it separates the candy.
Shrunken crisp packets!!!
Do you remember the part in the story where Mike TV shrinks? Why not try this funny story? shrink wrap crispy pack activity at The House of Fools, or dehydrating grapes to make raisins?
If you don't feel like shrinking the crisps packets, we have used Shrinkable art sheets I used to make keychains, which worked well.
Willy Wonka's Plasticine
I love, love, love this Play dough inspired by Willy Wonka From the tree of imagination.
Try smelling it, mixing the colors, or using force to squash, push, and throw it. A fun idea is to make a shape with as few movements as possible.
Build your own fantastic glass elevator
Design and build a pulley system to lift a homemade elevator.
Think carefully about what materials to use to make the elevator transparent. This is a great opportunity to learn about transparent and opaque materials.
Georges Medicine's Wonderful Experiments – Roald Dahl's Scientific Experiments
Potion making
Brew a delicious (or disgusting) smelling potion using herbs and flowers from your garden.
If you want to make it even more special, try adding baking soda and vinegar for a bubbly touch!
Scented jars
Add some scents to small jars and see if the kids can guess the smell. We used lemon juice, lime juice, vanilla essence, and peppermint essence.
The enormous activities of crocodiles
Camouflage activity
The giant crocodile camouflages himself throughout the story so that the children cannot see him. Can you experiment with camouflage? Try leaving different coloured threads of wool in the garden to find out which ones are the hardest to find.
Another idea is to camouflage an item so that it is difficult for a friend to find it.
The huge crocodile rocker
The giant crocodile plays at being a seesaw in one part of the story. A simple idea for this is to ask the children to design and build a seesaw out of recycled materials.
Danny the World Champion Activities
Ask the children to design a device to catch pheasants. They can think of ways to attract pheasants to a box, perhaps using a certain smell or food.
James and the Giant Peach Activities
Make a peach fly using helium-filled balloons, or design and test a parachute for a peach?
Make a worm farm
Learn about earthworms through making a worm farmWorm farms have separate layers of sand and soil, so you can see the worms mixing them as they move and eat the soil.
Twits' activities
Mr Twit has a dirty beard with food debris stuck to it. Find out what happens when food decomposes in this Research on the bad apple.
Making spaghetti with worms
Make worm spaghetti just like Mrs Twit made for Mr Twit. To make, simply cook the spaghetti in water and a little food colouring and add some fake worms and a little vegetable oil for a fun sensory activity.
How to make worms from juice
Teach Beside Me does some fantastic things juice worms!
Make glue and an upside-down house
The muggle Wump becomes The Tweets Upside-Down House with Hug-Tight Sticky Glue. Can you research which sticky substance is best for turning an upside-down dollhouse? We tried sticky putty, adhesive dots, and duct tape.
You also can make glue with milkTry to find out how long this will keep a doll's furniture upside down!
BFG's activities
Jars of dreams
The BFG blows dreams from bottles into children's rooms, I imagine these bottles are filled with a shiny, glittery potion, maybe a bit like this lava lamp? What do you think?
Another idea is to make a nightmare version using black or dark green food coloring.
How tall is the BFG?
Sophie fits inside the BFG's shirt pocket, if she is the size of an average 8 year old, how tall (approximately) do you think the BFG is?
Did you know that human arm spans are usually equal to their height? You can check this out with this simple activity about the ape index. Do you think the BFG would have a similar ape index to humans?
Matilda's Activities
Matilda reads a lot of books, but did you know that you can… Stacking books on eggshells without breaking?
Remember the part where Miss Trunchbull spins Amanda Thripp around by her pigtails? Try filling a bucket with water and spinning it in circles above your head without spilling any water.
The reason this works is centripetal force. If the speed of rotation is high enough so that the centripetal force is at least as great as gravity, the water will not spill out of the bucket.
More scientific activities by Roald Dahl
It's not actually a book I've read, but I noticed Rainy Day Mum has some lovely books. Inspired by Minpin activities on your site.
Anna at The Imagination Tree has a great post about her Willy Wonka inspired birthday party.
If you need a costume for World Book Day, how about this one? Fantastic Mr. Fox Red Ted Art Mask.
What is your favorite Roald Dahl's book?
You can think of something else Roald Dahl's scientific experiments for us?
Last updated on March 6, 2024 by Emma Vanstone
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