Science Buddies'
second grade science projects are the perfect way for
second grade students to have fun exploring science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Our
second grade projects are written and tested by scientists and are specifically created for use by students in the
second grade. Students can choose to follow the science experiment as written or put their own spin on the project.
For a personalized list of science projects,
second graders can use the Science Buddies Topic Selection Wizard.
The wizard asks students to respond to a series of simple statements and then uses their answers to recommend
age-appropriate projects that fit their interests.
Do you like drawing or painting? What if you could build a robot that creates its own art? In this project, you will create your own Art Bot, a robot with markers for "legs" that wobbles across a piece of paper, creating drawings as it moves. You can then customize your robot to change how it draws. This is a beginner-level project with no robotics experience necessary, so if you want to try building your own robot, this is a great place to start!
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Robotics_p014
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit is available for your convenience from our partner
.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervision is required when using a hobby knife.
Vibrobots are fun little robots built from common household supplies, that are powered by vibrating motors. In this engineering project, you will design and built your own vibrobot. Would you rather have a robot that skitters quickly across a table or one that spins wildly in circles? How about a sumo-wrestling bot that can push others out of its way? The choice is up to you!
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Robotics_p030
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit is available for your convenience from our partner
.
Have you tried our first electric play dough project,
and now you are looking for more to do? Do you want to learn more about circuits and add even more lights? Check out this project for part 2 of our play dough circuits series!
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Elec_p074
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
You should understand the Introduction material in
[# ProjectIdea Name="Elec_p073" Value="HtmlAnchor" HtmlText="Light Up Your Play Dough!" HtmlHash="background" #]—the
first project in this series—before doing this project.
Material Availability
Kit available for purchase from our partner
.
See Materials tab for details.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Never connect the battery pack's terminals directly to each other; this is called a short circuit and can make the batteries and wires get very hot. Do not connect the LEDs directly to the battery pack without using play dough; this will burn out the LEDs.
Have you ever noticed that most yogurt containers say they contain "live cultures"? What does that mean? The label is suggesting that the yogurt has living bacteria in it! While some types of bacteria can make you sick, some are actually important to keep you healthy. But individual bacteria are so tiny that you cannot see one with the naked eye, so how can you tell if bacteria are really living in your yogurt? In this science fair project, you will investigate whether yogurt actually…
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FoodSci_p072
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- Less Details
Time Required
Long (2-4 weeks)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner .
Cost
Average ($50 - $100)
Safety
The bacteria in the yogurt is not harmful; however, it is possible for other bacteria to grow on the agar plates. For that reason, make sure to follow all the safety guidelines in the Experimental Procedure. Be sure to dispose properly any plates with bacteria when the experiment is over. Adult help is required to light a candle.
What do you do with your old wooden pencils when they get too short to hold? Don't throw them away; you can use them to make circuits! This project will show you how to use pencils to make resistors, an important part of many electrical circuits, and test how they affect the brightness of a lightbulb in a simple circuit.
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Elec_p013
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
A kit for this project is available from our partner .
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Short circuits can get very hot and present a burn hazard. Never connect the positive and negative ends (red and black wires) of the battery pack directly to each other. Adult supervision is required for cutting the pencils.
Everyone loves the beautiful colors of fall, but where do they come from and how does the change in colors happen? In this project, you will uncover the hidden colors of fall by separating plant pigments with paper chromatography. What colors will you see?
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PlantBio_p032
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
For your convenience a kit is available from our partner
.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Adult supervisions is required while using the stove and hot water. Alcohol is flammable and toxic. Adult supervision is recommended while working with the isopropyl alcohol.
Did you know that your heart beats at different rates depending on what you're doing? The more physically active you are, the faster your heart beats. You can measure the rate your heart is beating by taking your pulse. This science fair project will show you how to take your pulse and help you investigate which daily activities get your heart beating the fastest.
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Have you ever mixed together salt and sand? It is fun to see how all of those tiny grains of salt and sand mix together! But what if you had to separate them out again? Do you have nightmares of tiny tweezers, a magnifying glass, and hours spent picking grains of salt and sand apart? Do not be afraid, there is another way! In this chemistry science project you will use the differences in solubility between salt and sand to find out the simple "solution" to this problem.
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Chem_p016
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
none
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Very Low (under $20)
Safety
This science project requires adult supervision. Be careful and have adult supervision when using the stove and oven, and handling the boiling water
Did you know that not all trains run on tracks? Some of the world's fastest trains are magnetic levitation trains (maglev). This means that the carriage of the train is suspended over the rails with no support, but only with magnetic fields! There is a physical explanation for magnetic levitation, and if you would like to learn more about magnetism and current, this is a science fair project that you must try!
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Smog days are often posted in your local newspaper. Check how many smog days your city has had in the last year. How does it compare to to other years? You can also take pictures of your city landscape on high and low smog days. How do the pictures compare? How does smog in the atmosphere affect visibility? What is smog made of? You can use tongue depressors smeared with Vaseline to check for smog particles in different areas; just stick in the ground and look at them a few days later. …
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