Solar energy for kids

Explore the power of the sun's heat by blowing up a balloon on a bottle! Kids paint one soda bottle white and the other black. Once dry, they attach a small balloon to the necks of their bottles. Then, they put the bottles out in the sun for a solar reaction! Kids see that the air in the black bottle will make the balloon expand! The white bottle doesn't heat up as fast. Check out the experiment here!

Kids can learn about solar energy with their very own solar-powered paper house. This fun STEM project comes with a helpful template, too.

I am the first to admit that I take certain modern conveniences for granted. For example, the ability to flip a switch to turn on the lights, power up my coffee brewer, or bring my computer

10 science activities for kids to learn about the SUN: sun light, including invisible light, solar energy, how it is related to earth, … so many interesting topics, and so many fun project ideas, for kids from preschool to kindergarten to school age.

Summer is a great time to marshal the power of the sun to your will. Check out all the great solar-powered crafts that you can do on the next sunny day!

While we were looking over the instructions for a solar water purifier on E is for Explore! I noticed they also had a suggestion for using solar energy to blow-up a balloon. All it called for was an empty 2 liter bottle, a small balloon, and a sunny day. We had sun, and an empty bottle (once we poured the rest of our tonic water into our "purifier"). We didn't have a small balloon, but we cut the neck off of a larger one, stretched it over the bottle, and called it good. It's a nice, simple…

Solar Science Experiments for Kids are a fun way to teach children about renewable energy sources. These experiments are geared for children ages 5-10.

What is solar energy? Discover how we use the power of the sun, and complete this worksheet about an important renewable energy source.

How Solar Cells Work Students will be able to: Describe energy as the ability to cause motion or create change. Describe how the parts of a photovoltaic cell work and how photovoltaic cells can convert the sun’s rays into electricity. Generate a graphic representation of a photovoltaic cell to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of its parts and processes. This is a Middle School, Science lesson to learn about energy's ability to cause motion..Green Education Foundation (GEF) is a…