Soap & Pepper Science Experiment Worksheet for Preschoolers

How to use this worksheet

Fill a transparent bowl with water and sprinkle pepper evenly across the surface, then ask your child to predict what might happen next. Have them dip a clean finger into the water first, without soap, and observe that the pepper stays mostly still. Next, dip a different finger in a small amount of soap, then touch it to the water's surface among the pepper. Watch together as the pepper suddenly scatters away from the soapy finger, and talk about what happened and why.

Materials needed

• Pepper
• Water
• Soap
• Transparent bowl
• Printed worksheet

Extension activities

• 1Repeat the experiment with a different amount of soap and see if the pepper scatters faster or slower.
• 2Try the same test using a different fine material, like cinnamon or glitter, to see if the reaction looks the same.
• 3Talk about why washing hands with soap helps remove germs, connecting it back to how soap 'pushes things away.'
• 4Draw a before-and-after picture of the pepper on the water, labeling each step of the experiment.