Collection of geoscientific experiments for at home
Our small collection of experiments and games offers an overview of experiments and games for anyone interested in geosciences. Children and young people will find experiments here that they can carry out at home with everyday materials or a few additional purchases, and teachers will find materials that can be used in the classroom.
Since this is mostly dedicated to German school teaching, this collection is in German only.
![[Translate to English:] grown crystals](/fileadmin/_processed_/3/2/csm_AdobeStock_231230692_2f407b4ae9.webp)
Experiment instructions #9: Grow crystals with different salts (German)
With this experiment you can grow crystals from halite (table salt) and alum (potassium aluminum sulfate). Folding instructions for different crystal shapes are also included.
Suitable for children aged six and over.
Download: Experiment instructions with folding instructions for various crystal systems
![[Translate to English:] Ocean circulation](/fileadmin/gfz/medien_kommunikation/Schulen/Bilder/Zirkulation_klein.gif)
Experiment instructions #8: Ocean currents - The global transport system (German)
With this experiment you can investigate the influence of water temperature and salinity on ocean currents.
Suitable for young people aged 12 and over.
Download: Experiment instructions and two short videos about the experiment | Video 1 & Video 2
Experiment instructions #7: Foam tsunami (German)
With this experiment you can observe the effects of a tsunami wave on a flat and a steep coast in slow motion.
Suitable for children aged five and over.
Download: Experiment instructions and a short video about the experiment
Experiment intructions #6: Does the soil breathe? (German)
Have you ever wondered where the earthworms in the soil actually get their air to breathe? With this experiment you will learn that the soil contains air and how you can make it visible.
Suitable for children aged eight and over.
Download: Experiment instructions and a short video about the experiment
Experiment instructions #5: Build a compass yourself (German)
These instructions explain how you can build your own compass and how sailors used to navigate their ships.
Suitable for children aged 10 and over.
Download Experiment instructions and a short video about the experiment
Experiment intructions #4: Volcanism: How does a Caldera form?
You can find out how a collapse crater (also known as a caldera) is formed with this experiment.
Suitable for children aged five and over.
Download: Experiment instructions and a short video about the experiment
Experiment intructions #3: Is black really black? (German)
In this experiment, you can carry out a chromatography (Greek: "writing colors") yourself and find out which different colors your felt-tip pens are made up of.
Suitable for children aged five and over.
Download: Experiment instructions and a short video about the experiment
Experiment instructions #2: Plate tectonics in a sandbox (German)
These instructions describe how you can use the movement of a tectonic plate to create oceans and mountains on a small scale in a "sandbox". You will also learn about the three different types of plate boundaries.
Suitable for young people aged 12 and over.
Download: Experiment instructions, a short video about the experiment and an animation on the break-up of Pangaea
Experiment instructions #1: Eruption of a mini volcano (German)
These instructions describe how you can make a mini volcano erupt.
Suitable for children aged five and over.
Download: Experiment instructions and a short video about the experiment
Volcano memory
The memory contains 32 volcanoes and can be played as a pure picture memory.
Suitable for children aged five and over.
Download: Volcano memory
Soil animal identification table (German)
Many different soil animals live in the upper soil layers. These are sometimes so small that they can only be recognized with a magnifying glass. Important identification and distinguishing features are the body length and the number of legs. The identification table contains 21 animals and their distinguishing features (body length, number of legs). The respective documents should be printed in the original size (actual size in Adobe Acrobat) due to the scale.
Suitable for children aged five and over.
Download: Identification table A4 Download: Determination table A3
Soil animal memory:
The memory contains 21 animals and their distinguishing features (body length, number of legs). It can be played as a pure picture memory and as a picture-text memory.
Suitable for children aged five and over.
Download: Soil animal memory
Experiments for at home (German)
The three brochures "Experiments for at home" offer researchers of all ages many exciting and fascinating experiments to try out. The experiments described have been compiled by members of the Helmholtz Association's network of school laboratories.
Download: Issue 3 (2020) [PDF]
Download: Issue 2 (2018) [PDF]
Download: Issue 1 (2015) [PDF]