Easy Sunscreen Science Experiment Perfect for Preschoolers • Kids Activities Blog

Let’s use the Scientific Method to try a sunscreen science project with preschoolers! The magic of science, the sun and sunscreen all come together in this fun art project. Kids of all ages will love to explore how sunscreen works with a little sun art. Use this sunscreen science activity at home or in the classroom.

SunScreen Science Experiment for Kids

Let’s play with sunscreen and the scientific method today! The scientific method starts with a question and we did too:

Which type of sunscreen was more effective: rub-on or spray-on?

Using the Scientific Method with this Science Experiment

What is the Scientific Method? It is a way of finding a problem and searching for the solution, as provided by evidence. The Scientific Method requires four basic steps:

1. Ask a question
2. Make a hypothesis or a statement of truth
3. Test hypothesis with experiments.
4. Determine if your hypothesis was indeed true.

Our Sunscreen Question & Hypothesis

Question: Which sunscreen is more effective: Rub-on or Spray-on?

Hypothesis: Rub-on is more effective.

How do you test sunscreen on paper?

Supplies needed for Sunscreen Experiment

• Construction paper – any color except for white
• Sunscreen – spray and rub-on (the same brand and the same SPF)
• Paper plate
• Paintbrush (or you can use your fingers)

Note: We have done this experiment twice, with two different brands. You can see how each turned out below.

Directions for this preschool sunscreen experiment

Step 1

Using brightly colored (or dark) construction paper, fold each sheet in half. Open your paper back up.

Step 2

Squeeze some of your rub-on sunscreen onto a paper plate. Use your fingers or a paintbrush to paint a fun picture on one half of your construction paper.

Step 3

On the other half of your construction paper, spray your other sunscreen (making sure not to cover the entire paper). Put your pieces of paper outside in the sun for at least 3 hours and wait to see what happens.

Our finished sunscreen science project

Solution: As you can see, we had slightly mixed results.

With the image above, you can see that the rub-on sunscreen remained white, however you can see where the paper faded and the darker outline around the sunscreen. With the spray sunscreen it left a faded white mark on the paper, although the paper did fade too.

For the below image (a different brand sunscreen), the sunscreen completely disappeared leaving both the spray and rub-on marks standing out on the sun-bleached paper.

Our Experience with SunScreen Experiment

We have tried this sunscreen science project twice, with mixed results as you will see below. We used the same brand of sunscreen for both experiments and with the same SPF. As there were variations in shades between the various pages of construction paper, we folded each page in half. On one half the kid’s freestyle painted with sunscreen. On the other half of the paper, we sprayed sunscreen over the page. Then the papers were left out in the sun for a few hours.

The Inspiration Behind this Sunscreen Science Activity

This sunscreen science experiment was inspired by a comment Lady in a Small Town had left a comment on an earlier post, Sun-bleached Alphabet Puzzle. She had heard of an experiment where sunscreen is painted on paper and the sun bleached the paper except for the painted portions. It sounded like fun!

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Have you tried this sunscreen science experiment with kids? How did it turn out? What brand of sunscreen did you use?