Parents play an important role in fostering enthusiasm for science in their children.
Doing science projects together at home can make a wonderful weekend or "day off"
activity. The following list of projects contains projects from our library of science
Project Ideas
that meet the following criteria:
- Use readily available materials.
- Can be completed in a few hours.
To find other projects you and your student would enjoy, browse the
complete library or use the
Topic Selection Wizard to see a list of recommendations that match up to your interests.
Polar Puzzle: Will Ice Melting at the North or South Poles Cause Sea Levels to Rise?
Polar Puzzle: Will Ice Melting at the North or South Poles Cause Sea Levels to Rise?
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
Adult supervision is required when making the homemade dough. |
If you leave an ice cube out on the kitchen counter and come back to check on it in awhile, what do you find? A puddle! The same thing happens to ice in nature—if the temperature gets warm enough, it melts. In this ocean science project, you will find out what happens to sea levels if the ice at the North Pole melts, or if the ice at the South Pole melts. It is an important question for the millions of people who enjoy living along the coasts of…
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Rubbing Up Against Static Electricity
Rubbing Up Against Static Electricity
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
A tried and true balloon activity is to rub a balloon on your head to make your hair stand up. How does the rubbing build up static electricity? Do this experiment to see if the number of rubs makes a difference.
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Shape Changing with the CyberSquad
Shape Changing with the CyberSquad
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
In this project, you will make 2-dimensional templates, called
nets,
that fold up into 3-dimensional (3-D) shapes. By making shapes of different sizes, you will be able to see how 3-D shapes change with size. Which property (or aspect) will change the most: the length of an edge, the surface area, or the volume?
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Soil Compaction
Soil Compaction
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
Have you ever had to dig a hole in really hard soil? It is a lot of work! In this science project you can make an instrument to test the soil and find out how compacted it is, before you dig!
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Squirmy Wormy: Which Soil Type Do Earthworms Like Best?
Squirmy Wormy: Which Soil Type Do Earthworms Like Best?
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
Do you think worms are gross? Or that they arere only good for birds or fish to eat? Well, in this zoology science project, you will find out that this lowly animal helps to put food on your table, too, by all the hard work that it does in the dirt. In this science project, you will discover in what kind of soil it likes to do its work. It is wiggly good fun!
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