• Chemistry projects can be fun and educational.Robert Houser/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  A small chemistry project is an educational way to keep your kids busy at home or to demonstrate scientific principles within the classroom. Many chemistry experiments can be accomplished with items you already have on hand such as cabbage, vinegar and baking soda, while some will require more extensive preparation and specific supplies. Watch the awe in students' eyes as they learn new scientific principles through hands-on projects.
  
  

Separating Mixtures

• For this project, put a spoon of iron powder and a spoon or sulfur powder on a piece of paper. Mix the powders together and try to identify each component by sight. Then put a magnet in the middle of the mixture and watch as it attracts bits of iron. Ask students to explain why this happens.
  
  

Testing pH

• Pour vinegar, ammonia and distilled water respectively into three small clean drinking glasses. Dip a strip of pH paper into each cup and record the color change of the strip. Have students determine if each liquid is an acid or a base. Discuss why the distilled water tests as an acid (because carbon dioxide from the air mixes with the water). The distilled water can be neutralized with 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda or a drop of ammonia. Repeat the test to see if the water tests closer to neutral.
  
  

Cabbage pH

• Puree a head of red cabbage with 1/2 cup water. Then add vinegar to a glass with a small amount of cabbage puree and see what happens to the color of the cabbage. In a separate glass, add ammonia to the red cabbage puree and observe the color change. Try the experiment a third time with baking soda. The acidic and basic properties of each substance will yield a different color result.
  
  

Jelly Science

• Mix 18 ml of fruit juice concentrate, 1/4 cup of water and 3 tsp. of Sure-Jell in a 600-ml beaker and heat it on a hot plate or Bunsen burner, stirring constantly until you see bubbles near the edge of the container. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. After 1 minute, remove the beaker from the heat using gloves and let the mixture cool. Remove the foam from the top of the container with a spoon. Record your observations about the consistency of the mixture. Try the experiment again with 1/8 cup of sugar and again with 1/2 cup of sugar. Talk about how the consistency of the mixture changes with different amounts of sugar and why. Changing the ratio of sugar to pectin affects the pectin's ability to form a polymer network and make a gel.