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.
Liver Stinks!
Liver Stinks!
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
none |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
Use caution when handling the sharp knife and the blender. An adult may need to assist with these steps. Also completely disinfect any surface that the raw liver touches. |
Sometimes science can be really messy or use pretty disgusting ingredients. That is what it takes to understand how the world works, even if the experiment isn't pretty. Do you like chemical reactions that stink and ooze foamy bubbles? Do you think it sounds fun to make a super gross liver smoothie? Then this is the experiment for you!
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M&M Geometry
M&M Geometry
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
Have your parents ever found you munching on candy and asked you, "How much candy did you eat?" Instead of saying, "I do not know?" and getting in trouble, maybe you would rather say, "I ate precisely 10.7 cubic milliliters of candy, Mom." Make your parents proud of their candy-eating genius child (you) with this simple science project.
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M&M Math
M&M Math
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
It has been said that, "Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you're going to get" (Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump, 1994). In this science project you can test the "Forrest Gump Chaos Theory" by using M&M's®, which are much cheaper than a box of chocolates. What if life is more like a bag of M&M's? Find out in this science project if some things in life are predictable by using the awesome power of statistics.
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Make Your Own Markers
Make Your Own Markers
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
none |
| Material Availability |
Filter paper can be purchased from the [# Link Name="PlantBio_p035.1" Value="HtmlAnchor" #]. |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
Requires adult supervision |
Do you ever wonder how markers are made? Where do all of those colors come from? Many of the colorful dyes we use come from plant pigments. Pigments are what make the world around us so colorful. How do chemists turn those natural plant pigments into art supplies? In this science project, become a chemist and make your own marker out of a drinking straw and homemade plant dye!
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Oil and Vinegar Do Mix…When You Have an Emulsifier *
Oil and Vinegar Do Mix…When You Have an Emulsifier
| Difficulty |
|
| Time Required |
Very Short (≤ 1 day) |
| Prerequisites |
None |
| Material Availability |
Readily available |
| Cost |
Very Low (under $20) |
| Safety |
No issues |
In this cooking and food science fair project, you will explore the role of proteins as emulsifying agents.
Emulsifying agents
are substances that are soluble in both fat and water and enable fat to be uniformly dispersed in water as an
emulsion.
Foods that consist of such emulsions include butter, margarine, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and ice cream. Emulsifying agents are also used in baking to aid the smooth incorporation of fat into the…
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