22 Enchanting Harry Potter Science Experiments & STEM Activities

Nothing captivates like magic. While muggles, like us, may not be good at magic, we sure can entertain and enthrall our kids with magical Harry Potter science experiments!

These exciting Harry Potter STEM activities for kids will turn your students into science wizards and keep them engaged. These Harry Potter experiments do a great job of sneaking in cool science concepts, and they work like magic to get young Muggles interested in STEM fields.

Scientific activities of Harry Potter

Magic is real science and we are not kidding you! A lot of science and STEM learning is sneaked into these Harry Potter activities.

So gather your witches and wizards and dive into these magical Harry Potter science activities.

1. Bubbling Potion

Let’s start with your own potion class. This fun Harry Potter potion experiment will get your kids hooked on potions right away and have them brewing a boiling, misty potion in less than 5 minutes. It sounds like magic, doesn’t it?

• Dry ice
• Hot water
• Flask
• Tongs
• Safety glasses
• Gloves

Wear safety glasses and gloves. Add hot water to the flask and drop pieces of dry ice into the water using tongs. This will cause dry ice bubbles to form and an instant thick mist to flow out of the flask! We bet this quick and easy potion would put Harry Potter’s potions class to shame.

Really creepy!

Like: Combine these fun Harry Potter activities with Harry Potter questions.

2. Put on an invisibility cloak

All Harry Potter fans know how attractive stealth is! One of the three precious relics, it saved Harry from many worries.

While we’d all love to get Potter’s Invisibility Cloak, for now let’s just try to make one penny disappear!

All you need for this cool Harry Potter science experiment is a glass of water and a penny. Put the penny on the table and put a clear glass on it.

To make the penny disappear, just pour water into the glass. And as if by magic, the penny became invisible! Due to the refraction of light.

I wonder if Harry’s prized cloak worked in a similar way. What do you think?

Quick tip: Test your science geek with 251 fun science questions for kids.

3. Hearts from Mobius strips

Magically transform plain paper strips into interlocking hearts with this Mobius strip heart activity. We guarantee that this exercise will confuse your children and make them believe in magic.

Quick Tip: Get everyone thinking with these science riddles for kids!

4. Magician’s Color Changing Potion

This color changing potion is truly magical. Well, not really! There’s a clever chemical reaction going on here, but that doesn’t make it any less mysterious and fascinating.

Sure to impress Severus Snape in his own Potions lesson!

Quick tip: Also try your hand at baking soda and vinegar experiments for boiling fun!

5. Make Marauder’s Map’s Invisible Ink

Do you want to keep a magical diary that opens only to you? Or send secret messages with invisible ink.

Our invisible ink recipe is very easy to make. Simply mix a few drops of lemon juice with water to create invisible ink. Use a cotton swab or brush to write your message with this magical ink.

When the paper dries, your message disappears with it! To read your secret message, use the famous Revelio wizard, in this case a heat source (we’re ironing the paper) to reveal your message.

You can use any heat source, such as a candle or a hair iron, to make your message visible.

Quick Tip: Add humor to your magical research with Funny Science Jokes & Puns.

6. Enchant with milk

Challenge your little wizards for some serious Harry Potter chemistry fun! The magic milk experiment is reminiscent of the Harry Potter books and is an exciting science activity for children.

7. Try transfiguration

You don’t need magic wands to try transfiguration – the magic of transforming the shape or appearance of an object, animal or person. We solemnly swear that we are not deceiving you!

Simple science plays an important role in Harry Potter’s transfiguration. Try making your own slime or baking a cake to see how transfiguration works in real life.

8. Color-changing Oobleck

In the Transfiguration lesson, you can’t miss Oobleck! The craziest of them all, this fascinating concoction will stun all Harry Potter fans with its strange properties.

One moment it acts like a solid, and if you toss a coin, it can slip out of your hands like a liquid. And that’s not all, it also magically changes color!

Simply fascinating!

9. Jumping eggs

This classic egg in vinegar experiment is perhaps the best example of transformation.

It’s amazing how an egg ready to break turns into a jumping egg. Make it more fun by adding highlighter pigment to the vinegar and using a black light to see the glowing bouncy egg.

10. Ice cream in a bag

There’s nothing more fun than turning plain milk and sugar into a delicious frozen treat in 15 minutes! This fun experiment with turning ice cream into a bag is worth a try!

11. Golden snitch catapult

Ah, the thrill of Quidditch! While we may not be able to use a spell to make Potterhead on a flying broom chase after a golden snitch, we can definitely make a golden snitch fly with a little clever engineering and creativity!

All you need is a popsicle catapult and Ferrero Rocher chocolate. Glue yellow feathers to both sides of the chocolate to make a snitch. Make a popsicle stick catapult and your budding wizards will be ready to send their snitches flying!

Turn it into a Harry Potter party by pairing the kids up with one kid launching the snitch while the other catches it. The team that catches the most informers wins the game.

What could be more fun than that!

12. Enchanted straw

This is such a magical, fun experiment! One of the easiest Harry Potter experiments to do at home, it’s perfect for kids of all ages.

All you need is a plastic straw, a fluffy hand rag and a plastic water bottle. Give one end of the straw a good rub with a tissue and balance it on the bottle cap. Now bring your finger up to the end you rubbed and watch it magically move towards your hand!

Creepy? Or is static electricity playing its magic?

Related: Try making bridges with straws. This is fun STEM design for everyone.

13. Crystal ball for divination

While fortune-telling may not be enough for Harry (or Hermione!), we’re sure this Harry Potter fortune-telling experiment for the classroom (or at home!) will get everyone on their feet.

Again, a very simple science experiment – The Crystal Ball uses dry ice, hot water and soapy water to make a giant crystal ball.

14. Witch’s Brew

Potter might not love potions class, but our Harry Potter STEM activities for kindergarten will help your kids fall in love with potions.

This foamy, exploding potion is perfect for the classroom and at home – whether it’s Halloween or Harry Potter Day!

15. Watch the stars

You don’t have to climb the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts to discover the constellations that inspired the characters Sirius Black, Lupine and Malfoy. Ideal for children who love to explore space and are fascinated by its mysteries.

Quick Tip: Try our STEM Space e-zine, which demystifies space science for young children.

16. Make flowers that change color

Impress Pomona Sprout, Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts, with this easy Harry Potter science experiment for preschoolers.

17. DIY Lumos Wand

Nothing could be more hands-on than this Harry Potter science project for elementary students. This is a fairly simple and great way to introduce children to basic circuits.

Related: Got a little builder at home? Try these easy engineering challenges for kids!

18. Practice legilimency

Get hands-on with Legilimency spells and read your friend’s mind in minutes with this clever Harry Potter Arithmetic trick.

Here’s how to do it:

• Ask your friend to come up with any number, keeping it a secret.
• Ask him/her to multiply the number by 100.
• Subtract the initial number from the product.
• Finally, ask him/her to add the digits of the number they got in step 3.

Now ask your friend if the sum is 18. We’re sure your friend will be amazed! It’s like you read your friend’s mind to find out the answer.

Try it yourself!

Related: Love These Math Tricks? Try Math Card Games for Kids to make math practice fun!

19. Impress with the charm of Additamentum

Nothing beats this fun Harry Potter STEM math activity! Sure to impress everyone, especially your math teacher.

How Additamentum works: Just multiply the number in the center of the square by 9 and you’ll get the answer!

20. Mathematical magic of Harry Potter

Perform your magic around numbers with this cool trick. Simple math operations and you look like a magic pro.

How to do it:

• Ask a friend to choose any whole number between 1 and 10.
• Double the number.
• Add 4 to the product.
• Divide the product by 2
• Subtract the original number from the quotient.

Is the answer 2? It’s always… try a different number this time.

21. Magic cubes

This is a super fun math trick to play on Harry Potter Day when you dress up as a wizard or witch. Just tell your friends what you see through a regular 6-sided cube and tell them the number on the bottom face with a single glance.

We are not bluffing you! Try it yourself. Just roll the dice and subtract the number you get from 7 to find the number on the bottom face. Now roll the dice and see for yourself.

22. Get rid of gravity

Defy gravity and make water stick with this fun science activity for kids. We assure you that your kids will be amazed and entertained at the same time with this cool trick.

23. Wingardium Leviosa

This simple Harry Potter STEM activity teaches Potter fans the simplest magic spell, Wingardium Leviosa, to make objects levitate. This is the perfect activity for a Harry Potter science party!

24. Mugs that change color

These color-changing mugs are a hit with older kids. One of the best Harry Potter activities for middle school uses thermochromic paints to transform an ordinary mug into a magical wizarding mug.

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