Bill Nye isn't the only scientist kids will love: Mr. SOLO Cup just so happens to have a knack for science and a few experiments up his sleeve. Leave your students awed with these scientific investigations with a little help from Solo.

Solo Storms

This experiment is a way to represent clouds, storms, and rain in a way that is not only visually compelling, but really beautiful! All you need to get your lesson plan started is Solo® Clear 9 oz Plastic Cups, Solo® 18 oz Clear Eco-Forward® Cups, food coloring, shaving cream, and eye droppers. 

How to Create Solo Storms:

1. Fill 4 Solo® 9 oz cups with about 2 oz of water. Liberally add food coloring to each cup, so that each color has its own glass. Make the water concentrated!
2. Fill the Solo® 18 oz cup 2/3rds full with water. 
3. Add a generous heaping of shaving cream on top of the water.
4. Using your eyedropper, squirt the colored water on top of the shaving cream. The closer you drop the water to the edge, the closer it will "rain" down.
5. Watch as the colors come to life as rain! 

Walking Solo Rainbow

This experiment is perfect for teaching about primary colors and capillary action in plants to younger kids. It'll feel like magic right before their eyes! This experiment is especially simple: all you need to create this rainbow is 6 Solo® 18 oz Clear Eco-Forward® Cups, food coloring in red, yellow, and blue, and paper towels. 

How to Bring the Rainbow to Life:

1. Fill 3 Solo® cups with water. Fill one with red food coloring, one with blue, and one with yellow. Leave the other 3 cups empty.
2. In a circle, place all 6 cups in a circle so they alternate between the cups with water and the cups that are empty. The cups should be in the order: yellow, empty, blue, empty, red, empty.
3. Rip off 6 sheets of paper towel. Roll each into a tube. For each paper towel, place one end into a full cup and one into an empty cup. 
4. Though the paper towels will start absorbing water right away, it will take around 48 hours for the experiment to be completed. At the end of the experiment all 6 cups will be filled with water and there will be 6 distinct colors present instead of just 3!

  Solo Cup Word Work

One of the best ways to truly understand a concept is to work with it hands on. Sometimes, explaining something just isn't enough for a child to fully grasp the idea, but doing a tactile activity brings the concept to life. Reading may seem like a chore to some children: bring it to life with this word exercise!

Cut a small square from the rim of a Solo® cup. Turn the cup upside down, then beside the cut out, write out a 3-4 letter word excluding the first letter, such as "ill" for "hill" or "an" for "pan." On a cup of another color, turn the cup upside down and write the letters that would complete the word spaced out along the brim. For example, the letters "p," "t," and "m" would be written for the corresponding cup that says "an." That way, your students can twist the cup and "write" the words "pan," "tan," and "man." 

To add some accountability to this exercise, print this worksheet that blogger KTeacherTiff created for her students. The worksheet allows students to record and illustrate the words they created.

Get all the SOLO® products you need for these experiments & exercises at Walmart.