Life Hack = Science!

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Life “Hacks” are inventions and science in disguise!

I’m a huge life hack fan, but probably a bit overboard. I vacuum my house with a shop vac (the car attachment is great in the toaster, and you can get the floorboards, microwave, and windows in one go), and I dust with a leaf blower (not recommended for beginners).

I’ve also been known to use a bubble machine for kitchen counters and floors (great for entertaining kids and dogs so cleaning can actually happen) and leaving empty boxes in my driveway to squish with the Jeep instead of breaking them down by hand (no staples!)

While these aren’t exactly science-y, they do explain my fixation a bit, and I decided to start a running post to share 🙂

Here are a few of my favorite kid-friendly Life ~~Hack~~ Science reels:

Food

💡 Here are some chemical combinations to help with grilling, and did you know that having kids help with cooking is a great way to build math skills? It also strengthens improvisation, creativity, and focus.💡
🎥: @healthwithcory “🍔 July 4th BBQ Hacks “

Hot Car

Hot car? Try science! 👀 Thermal dynamics mini lesson about the fastest way for cooling down your car I summer!☀️
🎥: @fryrsquared “That age-old dilemma of choosing between having a non-sweltering car or baffling a passerby because you look like a fool who doesn’t know how to use a door”

Arts & Crafts

🎥: @creativebrainsgrowhere “🖌️❤️ Great rainy day idea! 💡Variations:
✨No shirt? Old pillowcases make fun flags or tapestries! ✨ No iron? Try heat setting in the dryer or leaving out in the hot full sun. ✨ Create one big community wall hanging for your classroom door decor or camp session. ✨ If a big blank area is too daunting, draw circles, thought bubbles, squares, and hearts. Once kiddos see something already on the canvas, they are more comfortable jumping in. ✨ Material: experiment with some material selections to be sure they won’t suck up all your sharpies too fast! Larger artworks will go through tons of sharpies if you don’t have the right surface! ✨ Back the fabric while they work with cardboard- you don’t want bleed through on your rug! ✨ Looking for a super fun permanent display- graffiti those old curtains! ✨
🫶
🎥: @illustrate_and_wear “More drawing and clothing tips we all needed to hear!”

Survival & Camping

Great STEM class project idea! 💡If you were a traveling culture and needed a way to keep your food safe from protected animals, what would you make? Needs to be easily recreated from materials you already have, quick to create (so food doesn’t go bad while building), can’t use electricity, and needs to be strong!
🎥: @dalli_mickey_mouse “In Mongolia, food left outside in winter is highly likely to be stolen by wild animals”

☀️ Pretty cool design! ☀️ Great challenge for students and campers! 💡: what would you use for materials? How big would it need to be to produce enough heat to cook food? How long would things take to bake? How would you prepare for bad weather? 💡
🎥: @chipularity “When sunlight becomes firepower 🔥☀️ No electricity. No gas. No firewood. Just pure sunlight — and smart design.
What you’re seeing here is a solar concentrator — a simple yet powerful engineering tool that uses mirrors or reflective surfaces to focus sunlight onto a small area, often reaching temperatures over 400°C (750°F)!
In this case, it’s being used to cook food — turning sunlight into heat energy right at the bottom of the pot. No pollution. No ongoing fuel cost. Just renewable energy in action.
This is not just a neat trick — it’s a glimpse of decentralized, low-cost technology that could empower off-grid communities, reduce deforestation, and cut global emissions.
But here’s the big question:
If we can cook with sunlight… what else are we underutilizing it for?”

👍Do you know how to escape getting stuck in wet sand or quicksand? This is pretty cool! Great example for explaining surface tension!👍
🎥:@explaining.everythingHow to escape quicksand

Please check out the original post author for more info and content- note- have not been reviewed for edu or kid-friendly content.

More coming soon!