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.
Who Has the Biggest Genome?
Who Has the Biggest Genome?
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
Humans are complex creatures, but do we have the biggest genome? All living things, from humans to worms to bacteria have genomes. In this experiment you will compare the genome sizes of different organisms to find out who has the smallest and the largest genomes. Where will we fit in?
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A Matter of Time
A Matter of Time
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
None |
Do you wake up at the crack of dawn, or do you need an alarm clock to wake you up each morning? It may surprise you that the two are not always in synch. Nowdays, we use Standard Time to set our watches instead of Solar Time. Which method of timekeeping is the most accurate? Get ready to synchronize your watches!
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A Puzzling Parallax
A Puzzling Parallax
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No hazards |
Did you know that ancient astronomers could measure the distance to other stars? They could also distinguish between stars and planets. How could they do that without modern technology of telescopes? See if you can discover the link between distance and perspective used to measure stars.
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Balancing the Load: The See-Saw as a Simple Machine
Balancing the Load: The See-Saw as a Simple Machine
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
Playground with a see-saw |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
Be careful getting on and off the see-saw! |
Have you ever tried to pull out a nail out of wood with your bare hands? Or have you tried to shove a staple through a stack of papers without a stapler? A hammer's claw, a stapler, a pair of pliers and a shovel are each examples of everyday tools that use levers to make our work easier.
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Bouncy Polymer Chemistry
Bouncy Polymer Chemistry
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
Adult supervision required. Borax is harmful if swallowed. On rare occasion handling borax can result in
rashes. |
Have you ever wondered how fun toys like Silly Putty, Gak, and Slime are made? These products are so much fun because of the properties of polymers, which make them delightfully bouncy, stretchy, sticky, moldable, breakable, hard, soft, and just plain fun! In this experiment you can be the developer of your own putty product by changing the ratio of ingredients to change the physical properties of your putty polymer. By describing the physical…
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