Paper cup crafts and experiments
Cups stack, roll in a curve, carry sound along a string and catch the wind. These projects use paper and plastic cups for towers, telephones, wind spinners, poppers and more.
7 projects to try
Mummified Apple Experiment
Children test how the ancient Egyptians preserved mummies by burying apple slices in salt and bicarbonate of soda for a week. The salts draw water out of the apple, and without water the things that cause rot cannot grow. It is a real fair test with measuring and recording.
Layered Edible Worm Cup Parfait
Young children practice fine motor layering, counting, and simple culinary assembly skills.
Marker-Pen Tie-Dye Shirt
Watching marker ink spread through fabric with a splash of rubbing alcohol shows how liquids carry colour along fibres, making swirling firework patterns.
Water Pouring Station
Pouring water between cups and jugs builds coordination and steady hands, and it gives a first feel for ideas like full and empty, floating and sinking, and how water moves.
Tin-Can Telephone
Sound travels as vibrations along the tight string from one cup to the other.
🔒 PremiumUnder-the-Sea Jelly Aquarium
Making jelly shows how a warm liquid sets into a wobbly solid as it cools, and suspending fruit 'fish' introduces the idea of setting things in layers.
Cardboard Marble Run
Gravity, slopes and speed - steeper ramps make the marble go faster.