Middle School Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 8)

Make Magnetic Slime

STEM Activity

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363 reviews

What happens when you add iron filings to regular slime? You get magnetic slime! Make your own magnetic blob that will swallow up a magnet in this fun experiment. Read more

Removing Microplastics from Water with Ferrofluids

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever walked next to your favorite ocean, lake, or creek and seen plastic waste everywhere? Have you ever thought about how much plastic breaks down into microplastics and pollutes waterways? Scientists are coming up with new ways to remove these microplastics from our waterways, and now you can test them out for yourself at home. Read more

Explore Glow-in-the-Dark Water!

STEM Activity

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201 reviews

Have you ever been fascinated by things that glow in the dark? It can be a lot of fun to play with bracelets, wands, and other toys that are glow-in-the-dark, like some stickers and creepy, crawly, plastic insects! Have you ever wanted to make something at home that glows? It turns out that it is not that hard to do — all you need is tonic water and a black light! Some common household chemicals can also affect this beverage's glow. In this science activity, you will make tonic water glow… Read more

Cold Pack Chemistry: Where Does the Heat Go?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Instant cold packs are popular with coaches and parents for treating minor bumps and bruises. The instant cold packs are not pre-cooled—you just squeeze the cold pack and its starts to get cold. So how does it work? In this chemistry science fair project, you will investigate the chemical reaction that occurs in instant cold packs. Read more

Make a Robot Hand Using Drinking Straws

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Imagine how cool it would be to build a robot hand that could grasp a ball or pick up a toy. In this robotics engineering project, you will learn how to use drinking straws, sewing thread, and a little glue to make a remarkably lifelike and useful robot hand. What will you design your robot hand to do? Pick up a can? Move around a ping pong ball? It is up to you! With these starting instructions, you can design any type of hand. You will simulate human finger anatomy as the basis for a… Read more

2022 Paper Ball Run Challenge

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

In this engineering challenge, you will build a ball run from paper and tape, but there's a twist! You want to make your ball run as slow as possible. How long can you make it take for the ball to get from the entrance to the exit? You can see how other students have tackled this and other annual Science Buddies Engineering Challenges. Read more

Build a Jumping Robot

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Can you build a robot that hops like a frog? In this engineering project, you will learn how to build a simple robot that uses the energy stored in a stretched rubber band to jump. You will use the engineering design process to try to make your robot jump higher and farther. How far can you make it jump? Read more

Genetically Modified Organisms: Create Glowing Bacteria!

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever heard or read about GMO? GMO stands for genetically modified organisms. Scientists can deliberately modify the DNA of organisms, such as bacteria or plants, to change their properties for a specific purpose. For example, crops can be modified to become more drought- or pest-resistant. Genetic engineering is a very powerful tool in biotechnology that has already found many different applications in agriculture, medicine, and industry. In this project, you will engineer a… Read more

Junkbots: Robots from Recycled Materials

STEM Activity

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290 reviews

Building "junkbots" is a fun activity where you can turn recycled materials—like plastic bottles and cardboard tubes—into robots! This is a great activity for a classroom or a group of friends, because you can race your robots against each other and even make them sumo wrestle. You do not need any previous experience with robotics to build junkbots. A Science Buddies kit is available with all the electronic parts you need, including motors, batteries, and clear instructions for how… Read more

Launching Homemade Baking Soda Rockets

STEM Activity

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Have you ever enjoyed watching something lift off into the air, like fireworks at a show or a spacecraft launching? It can be an amazing experience. It is thrilling to see something lift off against Earth's gravity. To launch a spacecraft, its rockets give it a strong push that is due to a chemical reaction. This means that every time you see a spacecraft launch, you are watching chemistry at work. In this activity you will get to blast an object into the air using two simple… Read more

Middle School Projects, Lessons, Activities (1,332 results)

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