First, save recycled materials. Yogurt cups can substitute for a plastic beaker. Styrofoam trays are fine for dissections. Soda cans and coffee cups become calorimeters (below). Raid your house; tea candles can be used to heat solutions. Use coffee stir sticks, toothpicks, q-tips, and craft sticks for labs. Cupcake liners replace weigh boats. Clothes pins can hold small test tubes. Now, let’s make homemade lab equipment!
Graduated Cylinder: Make your own graduated cylinder with a soda bottle. A1/2 teaspoon is 2.5 mL and one teaspoon is five mL. Below are instructions using a syringe.
DIY Balance Scale: Here are six homemade balance scales using hangers, rules, even an egg carton. This Homemade Scale is even simpler. Use coins as weights. For example a penny weighs 2.5 grams, a nickel, five grams. Kiddos must do a little math. A digital scale is fairly inexpensive. Compare the degree of accuracy.
CD Spectroscope: Make your own spectroscope or this more sophisticated version.
Soda Can Calorimeter and a Coffee Cup Calorimeter: These are the calorimeters I use. Really. Teens like to rig equipment; both produce good data.
Conductivity Meter: This version has more detail and uses pencils, which have graphite.
Cell Phone Microscope: The video show you how to make a microscope with a laser pointer and a cell phone. (Use an old cell phone.)
This microscope clips on to your cell phone. It’s pretty cheap; the better the cell phone’s camera, the better the resolution.
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