ACS Kids Zone

Past Events

ACS Presidential Outreach Event – Exploring Our World Through Chemistry - Celebrating 30 Years of National Chemistry Week

On Saturday, August 19, ACS celebrated 30 years of National Chemistry Week with science activities, food trucks, and community partners that included the Percy Julian Institute, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Museum of Natural History. At the end of the event, participants received a giveaway bag with a printed issue of Celebrating Chemistry, ACS’s biannual children’s publication with fun hands-on activities and articles, and other goodies. The highlight of the event was the arrival of ACS President Dr. Allison Campbell dressed as Meg A. Mole to meet and greet the children.

ACS Kids Zone at the March for Science

On Saturday, April 22, the ACS Office of Science Outreach joined the Earth Day Network and other organizations on the National Mall in Washington D.C. for global teach-ins and the March for Science.

During the event, more than 900 people visited the ACS Kids Zone. Children participated in hands-on activities geared towards the 2017 CCED theme, “Chemistry Helps Feed the World!” Activities included starch search, learning about Magic Nuudles, extracting iron from breakfast cereal, and finding out about UV beads and blockers.

To read more about the day's event and to see more photos, visit Chemical & Engineering News.

Download Some ACS Kids Zone Experiments

• Fizzy Fun!: There are a lot of ways to tell one mineral from another.What happens when you put acid on different minerals? What does the acid test tell you?
• Iron for Breakfast: Is your cereal magnetic? Let’s see! Using strong magnets, we will pull iron, an essential nutrient, from breakfast cereals. Kids and parents alike are amazed at the amounts of this element that can be found in delicious food!
• Lincoln Drops: Predict how many drops of water can be placed on the head of a penny before any of the water spills off.
• Magic Nuudles: Using biodegradable building blocks made from cornstarch, create fun shapes out of Magic Nuddles and learn about polymers.
• Magic Sand: When we play at the beach, we build sandcastles and make sculptures from sand. In this activity, children will observe how another type of sand behaves when mixed with water.
• Producing Oxygen Gas: In this chemistry activity, children can witness and feel a chemical reaction in their hands. It is the creation of oxygen gas from simple household materials.
• Starch Search: Discover which foods contain starch and which do not. We will test for the molecule in foods with the same detector pens used to distinguish counterfeit dollar bills, which contain starch, from real money.
• UV Detecting Beads and UV Blockers: Using UV detecting beads and UV blockers, come explore which products help protect our skin, eyes and medicine from being damaged by UV light.