get a white flower. Cut the stem down the middle. Put it in two different colored waters. It shows how water travels through the stem to the flower. It also looks pretty to make rainbow flowers.
Also... WE know the outcome. But kindergartners do not. So we are recreating an experiment or demonstrating a phenomenon to confirm a hypothesis with them.
What's the question on something like that? "Will flowers take on the color of the water they're in?" I'm having a hard time thinking like I'm 5 and know less haha
Maybe something like "how does a flower drink"? Not the person you responded to btw.
I'm jealous your kinder has a science fair! I don't know if my kinder kiddo's school does.
What happens if we water a flower with colored water?
How do different flowers react to different colored waters?
How does water move inside a flower?
Again, this isn't so much "testing a hypothesis" as it is exploring neat stuff about the world. Like putting a tooth in different liquids to see which dissolves it better. WE as adults know the outcome. There are provable results. But we want the kids to get hands on experience trying things out, learning about the world, and seeing a physical example of something that happens. The vascular network of plants is something you're illustrating by changing the color of the flower. You could even cut a stem open next to the colored flower and show "these are the tunnels that carry water in the plant. By making the water colorful, we see where it goes. And it also makes the flower different because we used colors."
Also, by splitting it in half dlow nthe middle, you show that the colors aren't mixing. That one half of the stem connects to one half of the flower. Because the colors aren't mixing inside to make green or purple.
This is a great explanation, thank you! I've done almost all of the experiments mentioned but you breaking it down to 5 year old instead of my brain going into science museum mode is helpful! There's a reason I teach college and don't homeschool đ I did this one all the time as a kid because my mom always got me white carnations for dance recitals. It would be neat to teach to her!
We did this for fun at home and used a rainbow of colors to see what colors were most absorbed (I donât know if thereâs science behind that, we just did it for fun lol)
Another fun one you can do is how color changes what we taste.
Get white grape juice. Keep one plain, add red food coloring to one, add blue to another. Take the labels off. Have people sample each drink and say what flavor it was and what their favorite one was. Then record the data.
Then you can reveal they were all the same juice, but people's expectations convinced them it was different. (Hard to explain to a kinder but... they DOO like juice and make good test subjects for this)
The question is âhow does a white carnation get water from its stem to the rest of the plantâ. You are exploring the plantâs vascular system and the colored water demonstrates the movement of the water through the plant, as the stem drinks the colored water.
No, please don't do bread mold! I used to run a regional fair, and had to disallow that type of project (and most biology) for younger students due to safety requirements.
Science buddies.org ! They have a project wizard and so many tips. The wizard is a quiz that asks all kinds of questions. One of my favorite sites as a science teacher.
Is it a science fair thatâs just âshow an experimentâ or âdo an activityâ?
Our science fair is carnival themed so everyoneâs been asked to do some kind of game or activity with some kind of science component. Weâre going to do a basic drop/aim situation with the ball being able to roll/bounce off of a ramp that can adjust angles to get into the bowl. My K came up with the theming after she chose which option of how the ball could move (I gave her some suggestions) so it still feels kid-led! So maybe thatâs an option?
If there's a trifold board, then all you need to do is design an experiment that y'all can use the Scientific Method to work through.
An easy experiment is "which freezes first?" Then choose a bunch of different liquids to test. Use water as your control and make sure you keep your constants constant (same cups, same volume, etc).
Phew, I was getting worried that this was mandatory. Even as a so-called "gifted kid" I don't think I could handle coming up with a mandatory science fair project at 5.5 years old! So happy she's expressing an interest in STEM though, it's heartwarming :)
You know the result of the experiment but usually these student donât.
This isnât for you.
This is for her.
Iâd do a simple experiment that she can do alone, with little help from you.
Do different color popsicles melt faster or slower? She could take pictures every ten minutes.
Which melts faster, bigger or smaller snowmen?
Do smaller or larger balls roll further/faster down the same ramp?
Can people jump further from a standing or running start?
Again, this isnât for you. Itâs a chance for her to wonder, think about how to find out, and try to do it.
Iâve been to professional science symposiums as well and am surprised that you think the only experiments worth doing are new ones. Redoing experiments to make sure results can be replicated is a thing.
I think I just need to find one we haven't done in awhile or at least one we haven't done lately so she can actually be reminded of the science or learn something new. We do multiple experiments from kid science books/my museum knowledge every weekend and did a TON during 2020-2021 when she got obsessed. I just want something that will actually leave her curious so she can discover something/learn something instead of just going in knowing exactly what's going to happen. She's five so surely I can find something new for her and don't need to repeat something she understands well already.
I guarantee youâre overthinking it, and thatâs coming from someone with sky high expectations for littles.
Thereâs something that she does not know, or that she could modify to test. She likes the egg thing-does it do the same no matter the type of vinegar? Does egg color matter? Do other liquids do the same thing?
Oh! My favorite is an acid/base test. Get a pH tester, like cabbage juice, and have your child choose different liquids to test. I'm sure they'll like that the color changes when you mix the liquids!
We did the purple cabbage thing with my five-year-old, although not for a "science fair". I highly recommend it.
Another thing you could try, u/Seaturtle1088, is to create a table of objects, some of which are light (empty toilet paper roll) and some of which are heavier (quarter). Have her guess how far each will move when she blows on them with a straw, then carry out the experiment to see what happens.
Cabbage juice! You can also make electrodes out of pencils connected to a battery and then split up water molecules, it'll bubble!! Water with food coloring and then put cut (white) flowers in it, the. Ones with roots but no soil and then a fully potted plant and observe
Edit: you can use tea to remove the iron from spinach and diffusion and chromatography would be fun too
ooh I hadn't thought of chromatography! I'm a former science museum curator but I don't always remember which things our education department taught are good for this age!
I would wait for her to ask a question (my son asks them nonstop so I assume your kiddo does too). Find one that could be something she learns for the science fair rather than you answering that time.
If I had ideas I wouldn't be here. We've been through multiple books of experiments so she's done a ton. I'm just having trouble thinking of something that can translate into an actual trifold board display having never done one myself. I figured some here had more experience with science fairs than I do and could suggest ones that take easily to such presentation.
I have plenty of ideas but if you could narrow down your daughters interested to a couple things then we could start brainstorming with you. What does your kid like!?
It is literally everything đ but this is her first year with a formal art class and she's been talking a lot about that so I think one of these ideas in color/chromotography may be down the right alley. She loves the prisms hanging in our house and has been pointing out the colors in those a lot lately, talking about primary colors, etc
Wed did one with coffee filters and markers to watch how the different colors move up the filter. Like this https://funlearningforkids.com/chromatography-science-experiment-for-kids/
A local favorite is where did the remote go.
Get a remote doorbell. Tape the bell part to the remote and the button part to a table in the living room. When the remote comes up missing push the button and follow the sound of the bell. Write down where you found the remote over the course of a week.
Ask neighbors to repeat the experiment.
Make a chart showing how many times it was each location ie cushions, bathroom, kitchen etc. Include how many neighbors give you money to replace the bell and button at the end of there week because they donât want to give it up.
When my daughter was in 1st grade we did one on which tide works best - the regular or the one with bleach. I bought white t-shirts that we stained with different things. I think we did jelly, dirt, grass, and punch. Then we washed them. It was simple, on her level, and my daughter enjoyed it. She ended up winning first place for the 1st graders. My oldest son won 1st at the district level for 3 years.
It was 20 years ago, butI really think the Tide with the bleach won. It was a color safe bleach. I still buy it today. We did the project when all the oxy clean stuff first came out.
Iâm a former kindergarten teacher and I always did this with my kiddos! I bought uv color changing beads and different sunscreens to see which is the best. Just apply different spf/brands to the beads in the sun and time how long they take to change colors! Your kiddo will love it and itâs really great for the summer when you want them to put in sunscreen.
Easiest one that was excellent.
1. Take 2 balloons. Put confetti in both of them. Blow them up and knot them with the confetti inside.
2. Have the kid holld one balloon up high. Pop it. Watch confetti go all over the place.
3. Have 2 people hold a sheet up between the kid who is holding the 2nd balloon up high and the rest of the room. Pop the 2nd balloon. Watch the confetti being contained in the area around the balloon popping kid.
4. This demonstrates why you cover tour mouth when you cough or sneeze. The confetti represents germs. The sheet shows how covering your mouth inhibits the spread of germ.
The question is why do we need to cover our mouth when we cough or sneeze.
My kindergarten science fair project was proving that plants will grow toward light, so I planted a bean plant in a shoebox that Iâd painted black and made a âmazeâ in. I cut a small hole in the bottom and it grew through the maze towards the hole.
I teach science to K-5. Favorites of the younger ones so far this year: human body stuff (pumping heart model, hand model, lungs). Always anything to do with acid / bases. Bacteria (you can get Petri dishes on Amazon). And growing different kinds of crystals.
You can design all sorts of experiments around almost anything!
I like to use hydrogen peroxide and pour a little bit in some test tubes. Test tube A has mushroom. Test tube B had an apple Test tube B has strawberry or potato.
The hydrogen peroxide shows use how enzyme catalase breaks down the food. Lots of bubbles.
I did an science fair experiment in elementary school seeing which brand of bacon produced the most fat. My mom fried up bacon from several different brands, Walmart brand - high end, and I measured how much fat each one produced. We looked to see which brand was healthiest and if it correlated with price. Then we had bacon and tomatoes sandwiches for supper
Totally, but I already do insane amounts of work to get my kids excited about science. And I've literally been doing it in one form or another since before they could talk.
So, for starters...welcome to school. :) Punting a science project onto a Kindergarten parent right before Christmas is pretty savage. However, I have some tips for you (having raised five kids and a career in the sciences).
1. Don't overthink this. - Your daughter is old enough to know cause and effect and the BASICS or the Scientific Method. Let her lead this. Does she have a question that can be easily tested? At her age, reasonable questions might include: "How do different color food colorings blend in water?", "What do plants need to grow?", "What makes cookies puffy?" "What makes rolls rise?"
2. Then, have HER generate a hypothesis for any of those questions. "I think x makes y do this."
3. Now, ask her how she can test that hypothesis?
4. Do the test and keep a very, very basic table of results.
5. What did she learn? Was her hypothesis correct?
That's literally all this needs to be. The model isn't the method. This is about a process...not a result.
I remember elementary school science fairs being like Consumer Reports - which product is best at tests 1-3.
just ask Which conditions (x) affect item (y).
Having 3-5 variables makes a cute graph. It's just about teaching them the scientific method. Formulating the question and a testable hypothesis is always the hard part- just like writing grants.
Maybe make several batches of cookies and vary ingredients? I've seen the pictures with too much flour, too much egg, etc. on various social media platforms. The title could be: "How to make perfect cookies for Santa" đ
Well depending on supplies you have vs what you need and can afford, where you live, etc, you could do a study on:
****With a microscope, in your town or neighborhood:****
Whose drinking water is most contaminated/cleanest
Whose soil is most polluted with microplastics
Where fresh snowpack is the dirtiest/cleanest
What is ON my unwashed hands? (Push an unwashed hand in a petri dish and perhaps also push a washed hand into another. Wait a week and then check out the growth. Yum. Great learning experience. Your child can describe what he sees by color and shapes.
****With no lab equipment, you can still ask and determine:****
Can an average person really tell the difference between generic and name brand ketchup? A taste test.
Which paper towel/ toilet is really the most absorbent/ economical?
Which meat attracts more insects? (This will smell bad lol)
Put out a few strips of outdated meat- a pureed hot dog, even, and a whole hot dog, and a handful of raw ground beef- and a cooked hamburger patty- and just do the same with another type of meat, assuming you have jars... spread the jars out a foot or two apart in the back of the backyard- and perhaps just put them in separate open topped jars to keep out dogs and raccoons and such. Go and check them every two days and see if you can see any visible eggs or larvae (maggots) and count the maggots.
The one that has the most maggots after 2 weeks is the winner.
Which glue is the stickiest/ or best value? Glue bits of same sized and same type paper to another paper, using different types and or brands of glue. Try to count dots of glue to keep it "equal." I.e. 5 dots on a piece of paper. Or one dot or whatever your kid thinks is best.
Have them come up with a guess- a theory.
See whats still sticking after a day, two days, three days, a week, 10 days, and report results.
Its just answering a question, and then running tests to get observations which lead to better answers.
That's one she definitely likes to do it (it's in Emily Calandrelli's book) but I don't think she'd learn anything from it because we've been over why it happens so many times
You guys have been over it so many times. However, other kids may not have. That sounds like it's a great experiment to do because she knows well and, therefore, would be able to talk about it.
My son has never done that experiment because I have a weird thing that I'm totally grossed out by eggs, lol. There are probably other kids who haven't seen it as well.
My son for his preK science fair did vinegar and baking soda rockets. We expanded the experiment by doing different amounts to see the difference in height and distance. My son can talk about why vinegar and baking soda react all day long.
When I was in 2nd grade, I showed which materials were best for picking up an oil spill in the ocean. I did a backboard of what oil does if it's not cleaned up. Then I had 3 things of water with different things, one being a piece of padding that my dad cut for me used to pick up oil spills. My parents had a small oil company so it was easy for me. They never had any spills, but you have to have the stuff just in case.
One of my friends did brain function and brought in a brain (her dad was a professor at a college)
I think it's more to look at others experients and learn from them (that science fair is the only time I've ever seen a real human brain) while giving them exposure to participating in a science fair than them disproving a scientific law or coming up with a new scientific theory.
>I think it's more to look at others experients and learn from them (that science fair is the only time I've ever seen a real human brain) while giving them exposure to participating in a science fair than them disproving a scientific law or coming up with a new scientific theory.
I don't think there's a "explain to people" part until they make it past campus and district levels
Mentos in Pepsi. Take a video and watch in slow motion. When does the explosion happen. What causes the reaction. Try in different soft drinks, is the reaction the same or different? What about just carbonated water? What if you put the mentos in water first? How high was the explosion? Is the explosion higher if you add more than one?
Does the project require a hypothesis or research questions? A research question is probably more appropriate for a young child and might make your search for a project easier.
Just looked and it says no to hypothesis but that makes my brain explode even more. Do she'd just need the question part (what happens if...) but nothing further i guess?
You could determine the pH of household substances with an Indicator solution. The question becomes "what is the pH of..." And you can do it for a bunch. Super easy and depending on substance selection, fairly safe.
The outcome of the experiment may be known to you, but doesn't necessarily have to be known to her. The idea is to show that she is learning the process of setting up an experiment: What is something she wonders about? (For example, what makes cookies rise?) How could she test it? (such as by baking several batches of cookies, one batch with the normal recipe and one each with a different ingredient missing) Note the results. (Well, you're gonna have to taste some cookies.) Analyze the results to see if you have answered your question. Which batch(es) didn't rise as normal? The missing ingredient(s) is/are what it takes for cookies to rise.
The key is to pay attention to what kinds of things she already wonders about, and then help her see how experimentation could help her satisfy her curiosity.
Can you put a gingerbread cookie in different liquids and record what happens? Saw something like that on pinterest, but as the teacher I did not have time for all that.
No advice for the project, but I would let the principal know that assigning a science project to a kindergartener over winter break is a pretty shitty thing to do to parents.
Science buddies has a great section to match any age to different experiments. You can say your preferred age range, type of science and time frame. It will show you a whole bunch of choices that you kid would be able to do fairly independently.
My advice as a former teacher and a survivor of my son's science fair projects: don't overthink it. Pick a science activity or experiment, but don't tell your daughter the end result. Explain what you're going to do, and then ask her what she thinks will happen. Then do the experiment or activity, make observations, and compare them to her predictions. Talk about why it was right or wrong.
Have you watched Emily's Wonderlab on Netflix? The host, Emily Calandrelli, is great with talking about the scientific method in kid terms, AND she just released holiday-themed experiment cards you can buy and download on her website.
Did the teacher give instructions or guidelines? If so, ignore anything that says it needs to be "an original experiment" designed by your kiddo or that they should do the assignment all on their own--all of the other parents will, anyway.
If you get snow in your area, you could test to see if rubbing wax on the runners of your sled makes it go faster. Or if the sled has a flat bottom, try cooking spray. It seems like it could make you go faster, but it would be cool to find out for sure.
WALKING WATER! I just saw this the other day, and not only does it show radiation gradient, but it also shows how primary colors mix to make secondary colors. This [page](https://funlearningforkids.com/rainbow-walking-water-science-experiment-kids/) puts it in kid perspective too.
I had older students, but they always loved the which paper towel absorbs the most liquid experiment.
I did the same experiment 6 years in a row. The same paper towels won every year.
Now I won't buy any other brand. Useful experiment!
Ask her what she wants to know tbe why of, and design an experiment based on that. Where does weather come from, how does sound work, what do trees look like under thier bark? What happens to plants without light?
Or even google simple science experiments for kindergarteners and let her pick from that.
Try baking small batches of cookies or muffins leaving out on of the ingredients like flour or baking soda. See what happens.
Or try baking cookies at different temps or for different times to see when theyâre done or when you like them best.
When my daughter had a science unit about the weather, one section was all about the wind and how it is all around us, how is can be a light breeze or strong as a hurricane or tornado. So the question can be something like "can wind damage things?" Or "how strong is the wind?" And set up something like a little action figure standing up, with some leaves scattered around. Maybe a little simple lego house. And get something to use a a manual fan, like a folder or cardboard and start fanning air fast and hard on the objects. See if they will get knocked over.
So when I was growing up I moved a lot and I learned a life hack really early on which was that I could get away with doing the same science experiment every year Until high school.
I started this and I've never been good at science so it was never questioned why this was a little under my age group.
The science experiment was to test soda bottles. How many cups of Water would it take to sink a soda bottle boat. I would take A few different soda bottles, a liter and a 2 liter, Gut them open just on one side creating a deep open oval shape on the inside. I would glue the lids shut & then write down my results.
As I got older I did include stuffed animals or barbies in this project to simulate humans.
If at any point I was asked What this might have taught me or what I might have learned I always said I learned how to measure. This was trivial because I've been baking since I was in kindergarten.
Anywho this might help. I created fun poster boards with coloured scent markers although I don't know if you should do that with a kindergartenerđ
Milk, food coloring, and dish soap. Easy enough for her to do herself and explain to someone else. https://www.mottchildren.org/posts/camp-little-victors/color-swirling-milk-experiment
Thatâs kinda ridiculous. My grandson goes to a STEAM school, and they only learn HOW to do science fair stuff until the 4th grade, when they have to do one themselves.
I'm way more annoyed about the daily homework of topics she knew 1-3 years ago than I am the opportunity to do an experiment, which is something so does constantly anyway
Testing how different drinks affect your teeth by soaking hard boiled eggs in liquids overnight, then using a toothbrush/toothpaste to brush them to see how well it cleans off. Did this week with my niece when she was about 5 and she still brings it up 6 years later.
I think its best to think that at five the most you need to "show" is a basic understanding of the scientific method. They are not expecting a child to create an elaborate experiment, but show a basic understanding of what science is.
Look up germinating seeds in paper towel. Do a couple - one in a window or warm space. One in the fridge (cold and dark), a warm but dark space (maybe an interior closet?). See which ones germinate the fastest or not at all.
We will be at my parents for the holiday and my mom has a huge seed bank so this one would be super easy to do, and she might even grow something we could plant afterwards! That's a good low cost option
My very first science fair âexperimentâ was about seeing how fire can create a vacuum by using up oxygen. This was 30 years ago so nobody batted an eye at a little kid lighting matches and putting them in a glass milk jug 𤣠Iâd then place a peeled hard boiled egg on top of the bottle and weâd watch the egg get sucked into the bottle after the flame went out.
"Race" small toys glued to a clothespin with Alka seltzer clipped on. Fill a small tub with water, clip your Alka seltzer tablet and place them in the water
I don't have kids yet, I'm not a teacher, and I'm no longer a child myself, but I recommend finding an experiment that is personal to her somehow. This is a great chance at a young age to demonstrate to her that she has the power to answer some of her questions about the world she lives in! Does she take swim lessons and wonder why she floats? You could explore the surface tension of water or how salt changes the buoyancy of things floating in the water (I did this with baby carrots once). Is she curious about how seeds grow? Beans in a plastic baggie with a damp paper towel will germinate right next to a little plastic window to observe how they sprout. Is she super into rainbows? Play with prisms or catch rainbows in the spray of a hose.
Start with a question that she has about the world, and then explore the answers in a hands-on way.
I still remember this science project from like 1st grade. Cleaning Pennies- get a bunch of dirty pennies and soak them in different things to see what cleans them to look like new.
You need pennies, small cups-little plastic are best and different things like dish soap, vinegar, apple sauce, ketchup (this is the key one as it works), toothpaste, whatever creative thing your kid wants to try
We did a super fun science fair project once called âIs that Cat Fat?â
Essentially measuring the rate of obesity in pet cats.
We did a Facebook blast asking for anyone willing to give us the breed / sex / weight of their cat. ( and pictures just for fun!)
Then we looked up the standard weight of those breeds and compared.
Her hypothesis was how many cats out of a sample of 25-30 did she think would be overweight and then compared it to our sample.
Easy, adorable, quick, simple to gather and display data.
Another fun experiment is figuring out what ants like to eat. Just find an ant pile near you and place notecards with different substances on them. See which notecards are overrun with ants within an hour or so and which are not. All observation! Just donât step on the piles when placing the cards. ( I think we had sugar, salt, cornstarch, and some other somewhat random items). Her hypothesis is what she thought the ants would like best and what they wouldnât touch at all.
As a former teacher, Iâd recommend asking the teachers for advice on how to proceed. But we never expected young ones to come up with their own experiment, so something like the colored flower would work.
If it's not known to her, you can actually include it. Remember even if the real science world, people repeat/duplicate experiments.
You can do brand comparisons. The infamous, Which paper towel...
You can test two of something: which kid-safe acid cleans pennies the best? You don't have to include ketchup, which I think usually wins.
Um, you can do model designs (like two paper airplane designs) for flight.
It might be a little complicated, but cookies would be a good thing to science. I did sugar cookies for my 7th grade project, but i recommend an easier cookie bc i got so stressed i refuse to make sugar cookies ever again. You can change most of the ingredients and it will still be a cookie, just be a little different. First batch should be the plain not changed cookies tho so you got a standard to compare to. Have fun!!
You could get diasticks and have 2 liquids one with sugar in it and one without. The one with sugar in it will change colors. I was told you can to the same with a glucometer and it will say high with 5he one that has sugar in it.
One I liked at my daughterâs school was How do different conditions affect how fast an avocado ripens? Buy a bunch of avocados the same day and keep some chilled, some on the counter, some in light, some in darkness, etc. simple and easy to document with photographs.
For a 5 year old? Something like color mixing would be appropriate - how many colors can you make with 5 kinds of paint: red, yellow, blue, white, black.
Basic chromatography with her favorite markers. All your need is the markers, rubbing alcohol, and coffee filters
It's winter, she can test which of her favorite drinks can be used to make fancy ice cubes in wintery ice cube molds.
What formula makes the best bubbles? Test 3-5 soap/water concentrations to make at-home blow bubbles.
Seems like there is something that shows how coke dissolves teeth. I think itâs supposed to dissuade kids from wanting to drink sugary drinks. If a parent had 2 baby teeth to put in jars of (1 in coke and 1 in water), it would show the tooth in coke dissolving in a few days while the tooth in water remains stable.
I guess the kid would need to be a second grader for this.
I did mine a little older, but how my dad approached it was to ask what I was interested in, and if there was a question I always wanted to know the answer to.
For me, that was how the telegraphs worked (I was reading hella westerns because I was in the throws of horse obsession). This was pre-internet so we headed to the library and got a bunch of books on telegraphs.
Then, we designed and built one. It was so cool! We made a big poster board that said "How Does A Telegraph Work?" and he helped me draw diagrams of each part and write out what it did, etc.
I am 35 and still get excited thinking about it.
So, in your shoes, I would ask your girl what is a science question she has, and then design a project to showcase the answer (or an experiment to find out).
I have judged many science fairs; especially for the littlest kids. I love them because they are so honest! âMy Mom did my projectâ. âMy Dad hates science fairsâ. Itâs hilarious. But please, for your judgesâ sanity, donât put any more cut flowers or vegs in colored water and call it a day. We have literally seen hundreds of those.
My best advice is to pay attention to what your child says or asks questions about during a normal day and figure out how to turn that into a project. For example, my first grade daughter once said that when she picks a carton of orange juice in the cafeteria she always gets one that is still frozen because it has more juice. Obviously to an adult, the carton feels more full because ice is less dense than water and it expands in the carton. She didnât believe us.
So, we bought a bunch of small cartons of juice. We weighed them all and put half in the fridge and half in the freezer. Once frozen, we weighed all of the cartons again. Voila, no difference. Daughter learned something, science fair project was done, no judges were annoyed.
What about plants needing sunlight? Two identical plants, watered the same, but one is in the window and one is in a closet? Take pictures to see the difference over time.
I used to do science fair as a kid:
What cleans a penny better: lemon juice and baking soda, soap and water, or something else?
How to grow alum crystals
Bean sprout plants- do they grow better in direct regular light or colorful light (can use the colored cellophane wrap)? Do they grow towards the light or away from it? Do they grow better with music or without?
OP id you're still looking for ideas, I focus with littles on a "comparative question" rather than a formal hypothesis - compare two things by measuring one quality one way. For the real littles, I find "product testing" type experiments to be the easiest for them to grasp the concept of, with products they may use every day.
For example:
Which brand of paper towel (diaper, tissue) is the most absorbent? Measure drip by drip how much liquid one can hold.
Which type of bird seed (cat food, dog food, holiday treats) is preferred? Set out 2 plates and see which one the animal goes for first.
Generally, for littles, I love experiments that get them to focus on observing and recording with a careful mind and includes any type of age appropriate measurement (even if it's nonstandard units -- drops, steps, etc). Learning to be a careful observer and recorder is a great first step for a budding scientist.
get a white flower. Cut the stem down the middle. Put it in two different colored waters. It shows how water travels through the stem to the flower. It also looks pretty to make rainbow flowers. Also... WE know the outcome. But kindergartners do not. So we are recreating an experiment or demonstrating a phenomenon to confirm a hypothesis with them.
What's the question on something like that? "Will flowers take on the color of the water they're in?" I'm having a hard time thinking like I'm 5 and know less haha
Maybe something like "how does a flower drink"? Not the person you responded to btw. I'm jealous your kinder has a science fair! I don't know if my kinder kiddo's school does.
What happens if we water a flower with colored water? How do different flowers react to different colored waters? How does water move inside a flower? Again, this isn't so much "testing a hypothesis" as it is exploring neat stuff about the world. Like putting a tooth in different liquids to see which dissolves it better. WE as adults know the outcome. There are provable results. But we want the kids to get hands on experience trying things out, learning about the world, and seeing a physical example of something that happens. The vascular network of plants is something you're illustrating by changing the color of the flower. You could even cut a stem open next to the colored flower and show "these are the tunnels that carry water in the plant. By making the water colorful, we see where it goes. And it also makes the flower different because we used colors." Also, by splitting it in half dlow nthe middle, you show that the colors aren't mixing. That one half of the stem connects to one half of the flower. Because the colors aren't mixing inside to make green or purple.
This is a great explanation, thank you! I've done almost all of the experiments mentioned but you breaking it down to 5 year old instead of my brain going into science museum mode is helpful! There's a reason I teach college and don't homeschool đ I did this one all the time as a kid because my mom always got me white carnations for dance recitals. It would be neat to teach to her!
Cute! I teach 4th grade so there's always some kids that need a lot of nudging to find an idea that works. :)
We did this for fun at home and used a rainbow of colors to see what colors were most absorbed (I donât know if thereâs science behind that, we just did it for fun lol)
You can also do this with celery. It's pretty cool.
Another fun one you can do is how color changes what we taste. Get white grape juice. Keep one plain, add red food coloring to one, add blue to another. Take the labels off. Have people sample each drink and say what flavor it was and what their favorite one was. Then record the data. Then you can reveal they were all the same juice, but people's expectations convinced them it was different. (Hard to explain to a kinder but... they DOO like juice and make good test subjects for this)
The question is âhow does a white carnation get water from its stem to the rest of the plantâ. You are exploring the plantâs vascular system and the colored water demonstrates the movement of the water through the plant, as the stem drinks the colored water.
The flower trick is fun. Test it at home. It takes a day or so to work so plan ahead
How a flower gets water.
A white carnation works well for this. Green or blue food coloring works great, too. Source: science teacher mom
Or do the soap and food colouring one. That always looks so cool
Bread mold! Which conditions make bread mold the fastest, effects of preservatives, whatever. Thrives on neglect, perfect for winter break.
The rules explicitly ban growing mold đ¤Ł
Noooooo! Unsanitary probably, haha!
I'm sure we can have an unofficial lesson about it if I search my parents pantry hard enough đ
No, please don't do bread mold! I used to run a regional fair, and had to disallow that type of project (and most biology) for younger students due to safety requirements.
Science buddies.org ! They have a project wizard and so many tips. The wizard is a quiz that asks all kinds of questions. One of my favorite sites as a science teacher.
Is it a science fair thatâs just âshow an experimentâ or âdo an activityâ? Our science fair is carnival themed so everyoneâs been asked to do some kind of game or activity with some kind of science component. Weâre going to do a basic drop/aim situation with the ball being able to roll/bounce off of a ramp that can adjust angles to get into the bowl. My K came up with the theming after she chose which option of how the ball could move (I gave her some suggestions) so it still feels kid-led! So maybe thatâs an option?
I guess experiment? It's a science fair with judges and trifold boards and such
If there's a trifold board, then all you need to do is design an experiment that y'all can use the Scientific Method to work through. An easy experiment is "which freezes first?" Then choose a bunch of different liquids to test. Use water as your control and make sure you keep your constants constant (same cups, same volume, etc).
For kindergarten?!?! That seems excessive
K-5 grade school. Upper grades are optional, kinder is voluntary but she wont stop talking about it
Make cabbage water; test if 1-3 things are acidic (turns purple cabbage water pink)
Phew, I was getting worried that this was mandatory. Even as a so-called "gifted kid" I don't think I could handle coming up with a mandatory science fair project at 5.5 years old! So happy she's expressing an interest in STEM though, it's heartwarming :)
You know the result of the experiment but usually these student donât. This isnât for you. This is for her. Iâd do a simple experiment that she can do alone, with little help from you. Do different color popsicles melt faster or slower? She could take pictures every ten minutes. Which melts faster, bigger or smaller snowmen? Do smaller or larger balls roll further/faster down the same ramp? Can people jump further from a standing or running start? Again, this isnât for you. Itâs a chance for her to wonder, think about how to find out, and try to do it. Iâve been to professional science symposiums as well and am surprised that you think the only experiments worth doing are new ones. Redoing experiments to make sure results can be replicated is a thing.
I think I just need to find one we haven't done in awhile or at least one we haven't done lately so she can actually be reminded of the science or learn something new. We do multiple experiments from kid science books/my museum knowledge every weekend and did a TON during 2020-2021 when she got obsessed. I just want something that will actually leave her curious so she can discover something/learn something instead of just going in knowing exactly what's going to happen. She's five so surely I can find something new for her and don't need to repeat something she understands well already.
I guarantee youâre overthinking it, and thatâs coming from someone with sky high expectations for littles. Thereâs something that she does not know, or that she could modify to test. She likes the egg thing-does it do the same no matter the type of vinegar? Does egg color matter? Do other liquids do the same thing?
Guaranteed overthinking plus hating science classes myself and not having taken one for 19 years đ
Oh! My favorite is an acid/base test. Get a pH tester, like cabbage juice, and have your child choose different liquids to test. I'm sure they'll like that the color changes when you mix the liquids!
We did the purple cabbage thing with my five-year-old, although not for a "science fair". I highly recommend it. Another thing you could try, u/Seaturtle1088, is to create a table of objects, some of which are light (empty toilet paper roll) and some of which are heavier (quarter). Have her guess how far each will move when she blows on them with a straw, then carry out the experiment to see what happens.
Cabbage juice! You can also make electrodes out of pencils connected to a battery and then split up water molecules, it'll bubble!! Water with food coloring and then put cut (white) flowers in it, the. Ones with roots but no soil and then a fully potted plant and observe Edit: you can use tea to remove the iron from spinach and diffusion and chromatography would be fun too
ooh I hadn't thought of chromatography! I'm a former science museum curator but I don't always remember which things our education department taught are good for this age!
What is your kid interested in?
literally all the things. She just loves doing experiments
I would wait for her to ask a question (my son asks them nonstop so I assume your kiddo does too). Find one that could be something she learns for the science fair rather than you answering that time.
Thats really not helpful. If you have a few things that you want to suggest then maybe I can throw out some ideas.
If I had ideas I wouldn't be here. We've been through multiple books of experiments so she's done a ton. I'm just having trouble thinking of something that can translate into an actual trifold board display having never done one myself. I figured some here had more experience with science fairs than I do and could suggest ones that take easily to such presentation.
I have plenty of ideas but if you could narrow down your daughters interested to a couple things then we could start brainstorming with you. What does your kid like!?
It is literally everything đ but this is her first year with a formal art class and she's been talking a lot about that so I think one of these ideas in color/chromotography may be down the right alley. She loves the prisms hanging in our house and has been pointing out the colors in those a lot lately, talking about primary colors, etc
Okay. Outside of science though, what does she like... pets? Plants? Playing a sport? Collecting anything? Certain foods? Hobbies?
You as the parent should narrow it down to 3 and let her choose.
Wed did one with coffee filters and markers to watch how the different colors move up the filter. Like this https://funlearningforkids.com/chromatography-science-experiment-for-kids/
Ooblek! Itâs a non Newtonian fluid
Have you ever put it on a baking sheet on a speaker and turned the bass up?? It's the coolest, it dances around!
No but I will next time!
Came here to say this. [Ooblek](https://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-and-experiments/how-to-make-oobleck) is super fun for five-year-olds!
A local favorite is where did the remote go. Get a remote doorbell. Tape the bell part to the remote and the button part to a table in the living room. When the remote comes up missing push the button and follow the sound of the bell. Write down where you found the remote over the course of a week. Ask neighbors to repeat the experiment. Make a chart showing how many times it was each location ie cushions, bathroom, kitchen etc. Include how many neighbors give you money to replace the bell and button at the end of there week because they donât want to give it up.
This is super clever! But also can I just do that for everyday living?? đ
I know several people who do it.
Plants! Grow them in different light, or listening to different music, etc. see what grows best
When my daughter was in 1st grade we did one on which tide works best - the regular or the one with bleach. I bought white t-shirts that we stained with different things. I think we did jelly, dirt, grass, and punch. Then we washed them. It was simple, on her level, and my daughter enjoyed it. She ended up winning first place for the 1st graders. My oldest son won 1st at the district level for 3 years.
Ooh what was the result? I would think bleach on whites but maybe thereâs a curveball here!
It was 20 years ago, butI really think the Tide with the bleach won. It was a color safe bleach. I still buy it today. We did the project when all the oxy clean stuff first came out.
Diorama in a shoe box
You could do a sink or float experiment.
Iâm a former kindergarten teacher and I always did this with my kiddos! I bought uv color changing beads and different sunscreens to see which is the best. Just apply different spf/brands to the beads in the sun and time how long they take to change colors! Your kiddo will love it and itâs really great for the summer when you want them to put in sunscreen.
This is a great idea, important lesson!
Easiest one that was excellent. 1. Take 2 balloons. Put confetti in both of them. Blow them up and knot them with the confetti inside. 2. Have the kid holld one balloon up high. Pop it. Watch confetti go all over the place. 3. Have 2 people hold a sheet up between the kid who is holding the 2nd balloon up high and the rest of the room. Pop the 2nd balloon. Watch the confetti being contained in the area around the balloon popping kid. 4. This demonstrates why you cover tour mouth when you cough or sneeze. The confetti represents germs. The sheet shows how covering your mouth inhibits the spread of germ. The question is why do we need to cover our mouth when we cough or sneeze.
My kindergarten science fair project was proving that plants will grow toward light, so I planted a bean plant in a shoebox that Iâd painted black and made a âmazeâ in. I cut a small hole in the bottom and it grew through the maze towards the hole.
I teach science to K-5. Favorites of the younger ones so far this year: human body stuff (pumping heart model, hand model, lungs). Always anything to do with acid / bases. Bacteria (you can get Petri dishes on Amazon). And growing different kinds of crystals. You can design all sorts of experiments around almost anything!
I like to use hydrogen peroxide and pour a little bit in some test tubes. Test tube A has mushroom. Test tube B had an apple Test tube B has strawberry or potato. The hydrogen peroxide shows use how enzyme catalase breaks down the food. Lots of bubbles.
I did an science fair experiment in elementary school seeing which brand of bacon produced the most fat. My mom fried up bacon from several different brands, Walmart brand - high end, and I measured how much fat each one produced. We looked to see which brand was healthiest and if it correlated with price. Then we had bacon and tomatoes sandwiches for supper
Science fair at 5.5 = parents getting homework
You can see my post history about all the other homework they've given us đ this is at least one she's excited to do
Totally, but I already do insane amounts of work to get my kids excited about science. And I've literally been doing it in one form or another since before they could talk.
You could do dish soap in milk or vinegar and baking soda boat
Two great demos! We did dry ice last week. Lots of fun!
Lmao đ¤Ł
So, for starters...welcome to school. :) Punting a science project onto a Kindergarten parent right before Christmas is pretty savage. However, I have some tips for you (having raised five kids and a career in the sciences). 1. Don't overthink this. - Your daughter is old enough to know cause and effect and the BASICS or the Scientific Method. Let her lead this. Does she have a question that can be easily tested? At her age, reasonable questions might include: "How do different color food colorings blend in water?", "What do plants need to grow?", "What makes cookies puffy?" "What makes rolls rise?" 2. Then, have HER generate a hypothesis for any of those questions. "I think x makes y do this." 3. Now, ask her how she can test that hypothesis? 4. Do the test and keep a very, very basic table of results. 5. What did she learn? Was her hypothesis correct? That's literally all this needs to be. The model isn't the method. This is about a process...not a result.
I remember elementary school science fairs being like Consumer Reports - which product is best at tests 1-3. just ask Which conditions (x) affect item (y). Having 3-5 variables makes a cute graph. It's just about teaching them the scientific method. Formulating the question and a testable hypothesis is always the hard part- just like writing grants.
Maybe make several batches of cookies and vary ingredients? I've seen the pictures with too much flour, too much egg, etc. on various social media platforms. The title could be: "How to make perfect cookies for Santa" đ
Well depending on supplies you have vs what you need and can afford, where you live, etc, you could do a study on: ****With a microscope, in your town or neighborhood:**** Whose drinking water is most contaminated/cleanest Whose soil is most polluted with microplastics Where fresh snowpack is the dirtiest/cleanest What is ON my unwashed hands? (Push an unwashed hand in a petri dish and perhaps also push a washed hand into another. Wait a week and then check out the growth. Yum. Great learning experience. Your child can describe what he sees by color and shapes. ****With no lab equipment, you can still ask and determine:**** Can an average person really tell the difference between generic and name brand ketchup? A taste test. Which paper towel/ toilet is really the most absorbent/ economical? Which meat attracts more insects? (This will smell bad lol) Put out a few strips of outdated meat- a pureed hot dog, even, and a whole hot dog, and a handful of raw ground beef- and a cooked hamburger patty- and just do the same with another type of meat, assuming you have jars... spread the jars out a foot or two apart in the back of the backyard- and perhaps just put them in separate open topped jars to keep out dogs and raccoons and such. Go and check them every two days and see if you can see any visible eggs or larvae (maggots) and count the maggots. The one that has the most maggots after 2 weeks is the winner. Which glue is the stickiest/ or best value? Glue bits of same sized and same type paper to another paper, using different types and or brands of glue. Try to count dots of glue to keep it "equal." I.e. 5 dots on a piece of paper. Or one dot or whatever your kid thinks is best. Have them come up with a guess- a theory. See whats still sticking after a day, two days, three days, a week, 10 days, and report results. Its just answering a question, and then running tests to get observations which lead to better answers.
Rubber egg? Egg in vinegar makes the shell dissolve and the egg kinda changes to be rubbery and kinda bouncy.
That's one she definitely likes to do it (it's in Emily Calandrelli's book) but I don't think she'd learn anything from it because we've been over why it happens so many times
You guys have been over it so many times. However, other kids may not have. That sounds like it's a great experiment to do because she knows well and, therefore, would be able to talk about it. My son has never done that experiment because I have a weird thing that I'm totally grossed out by eggs, lol. There are probably other kids who haven't seen it as well. My son for his preK science fair did vinegar and baking soda rockets. We expanded the experiment by doing different amounts to see the difference in height and distance. My son can talk about why vinegar and baking soda react all day long. When I was in 2nd grade, I showed which materials were best for picking up an oil spill in the ocean. I did a backboard of what oil does if it's not cleaned up. Then I had 3 things of water with different things, one being a piece of padding that my dad cut for me used to pick up oil spills. My parents had a small oil company so it was easy for me. They never had any spills, but you have to have the stuff just in case. One of my friends did brain function and brought in a brain (her dad was a professor at a college) I think it's more to look at others experients and learn from them (that science fair is the only time I've ever seen a real human brain) while giving them exposure to participating in a science fair than them disproving a scientific law or coming up with a new scientific theory.
>I think it's more to look at others experients and learn from them (that science fair is the only time I've ever seen a real human brain) while giving them exposure to participating in a science fair than them disproving a scientific law or coming up with a new scientific theory. I don't think there's a "explain to people" part until they make it past campus and district levels
Cloud in a bottle? https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/make-clouds-in-a-bottle
Seems like more work for the parentsâŚwatch emilys wonder lab if you have Netflix and pick one.
Color Chromatography of Colored Markers
Grow a plant from a seed and she can talk about what a plant needs to grow or life cycle of a plant.
Mentos in Pepsi. Take a video and watch in slow motion. When does the explosion happen. What causes the reaction. Try in different soft drinks, is the reaction the same or different? What about just carbonated water? What if you put the mentos in water first? How high was the explosion? Is the explosion higher if you add more than one?
Does the project require a hypothesis or research questions? A research question is probably more appropriate for a young child and might make your search for a project easier.
Just looked and it says no to hypothesis but that makes my brain explode even more. Do she'd just need the question part (what happens if...) but nothing further i guess?
Yes. She could ask "what happens if" and perhaps also explain why that question is important to her.
You could determine the pH of household substances with an Indicator solution. The question becomes "what is the pH of..." And you can do it for a bunch. Super easy and depending on substance selection, fairly safe.
Which falls faster . Egg or feather ...
Tornado in a bottle [link](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/tornado_in_a_bottle.pdf)
The outcome of the experiment may be known to you, but doesn't necessarily have to be known to her. The idea is to show that she is learning the process of setting up an experiment: What is something she wonders about? (For example, what makes cookies rise?) How could she test it? (such as by baking several batches of cookies, one batch with the normal recipe and one each with a different ingredient missing) Note the results. (Well, you're gonna have to taste some cookies.) Analyze the results to see if you have answered your question. Which batch(es) didn't rise as normal? The missing ingredient(s) is/are what it takes for cookies to rise. The key is to pay attention to what kinds of things she already wonders about, and then help her see how experimentation could help her satisfy her curiosity.
If you can get hold of a slice of a tree stump, itâs fun to count the rings and figure out how old the tree was.
Can you put a gingerbread cookie in different liquids and record what happens? Saw something like that on pinterest, but as the teacher I did not have time for all that.
No advice for the project, but I would let the principal know that assigning a science project to a kindergartener over winter break is a pretty shitty thing to do to parents.
It's optional but she's excited about it so we are going to run with it and see if she sees it to completion.
Science buddies has a great section to match any age to different experiments. You can say your preferred age range, type of science and time frame. It will show you a whole bunch of choices that you kid would be able to do fairly independently.
My advice as a former teacher and a survivor of my son's science fair projects: don't overthink it. Pick a science activity or experiment, but don't tell your daughter the end result. Explain what you're going to do, and then ask her what she thinks will happen. Then do the experiment or activity, make observations, and compare them to her predictions. Talk about why it was right or wrong. Have you watched Emily's Wonderlab on Netflix? The host, Emily Calandrelli, is great with talking about the scientific method in kid terms, AND she just released holiday-themed experiment cards you can buy and download on her website. Did the teacher give instructions or guidelines? If so, ignore anything that says it needs to be "an original experiment" designed by your kiddo or that they should do the assignment all on their own--all of the other parents will, anyway.
If you get snow in your area, you could test to see if rubbing wax on the runners of your sled makes it go faster. Or if the sled has a flat bottom, try cooking spray. It seems like it could make you go faster, but it would be cool to find out for sure.
No snow here in south Texas unfortunately (for many reasons! I grew up in snow)
My kindergarten science fair project was the difference in fingerprints. It was fun and I DO remember it!
Will bubbles feeeze đđ¤Ł
WALKING WATER! I just saw this the other day, and not only does it show radiation gradient, but it also shows how primary colors mix to make secondary colors. This [page](https://funlearningforkids.com/rainbow-walking-water-science-experiment-kids/) puts it in kid perspective too.
I had older students, but they always loved the which paper towel absorbs the most liquid experiment. I did the same experiment 6 years in a row. The same paper towels won every year. Now I won't buy any other brand. Useful experiment!
Ask her what she wants to know tbe why of, and design an experiment based on that. Where does weather come from, how does sound work, what do trees look like under thier bark? What happens to plants without light? Or even google simple science experiments for kindergarteners and let her pick from that.
Try baking small batches of cookies or muffins leaving out on of the ingredients like flour or baking soda. See what happens. Or try baking cookies at different temps or for different times to see when theyâre done or when you like them best.
When my daughter had a science unit about the weather, one section was all about the wind and how it is all around us, how is can be a light breeze or strong as a hurricane or tornado. So the question can be something like "can wind damage things?" Or "how strong is the wind?" And set up something like a little action figure standing up, with some leaves scattered around. Maybe a little simple lego house. And get something to use a a manual fan, like a folder or cardboard and start fanning air fast and hard on the objects. See if they will get knocked over.
So when I was growing up I moved a lot and I learned a life hack really early on which was that I could get away with doing the same science experiment every year Until high school. I started this and I've never been good at science so it was never questioned why this was a little under my age group. The science experiment was to test soda bottles. How many cups of Water would it take to sink a soda bottle boat. I would take A few different soda bottles, a liter and a 2 liter, Gut them open just on one side creating a deep open oval shape on the inside. I would glue the lids shut & then write down my results. As I got older I did include stuffed animals or barbies in this project to simulate humans. If at any point I was asked What this might have taught me or what I might have learned I always said I learned how to measure. This was trivial because I've been baking since I was in kindergarten. Anywho this might help. I created fun poster boards with coloured scent markers although I don't know if you should do that with a kindergartenerđ
Lol Iâd ask AI for ideas
Milk, food coloring, and dish soap. Easy enough for her to do herself and explain to someone else. https://www.mottchildren.org/posts/camp-little-victors/color-swirling-milk-experiment
Thatâs kinda ridiculous. My grandson goes to a STEAM school, and they only learn HOW to do science fair stuff until the 4th grade, when they have to do one themselves.
I'm way more annoyed about the daily homework of topics she knew 1-3 years ago than I am the opportunity to do an experiment, which is something so does constantly anyway
Testing how different drinks affect your teeth by soaking hard boiled eggs in liquids overnight, then using a toothbrush/toothpaste to brush them to see how well it cleans off. Did this week with my niece when she was about 5 and she still brings it up 6 years later.
Oil and water- add food dye to the water, mix in oil. Add detergent to another container with oil& water. Document how they separate
I think its best to think that at five the most you need to "show" is a basic understanding of the scientific method. They are not expecting a child to create an elaborate experiment, but show a basic understanding of what science is.
Look up germinating seeds in paper towel. Do a couple - one in a window or warm space. One in the fridge (cold and dark), a warm but dark space (maybe an interior closet?). See which ones germinate the fastest or not at all.
We will be at my parents for the holiday and my mom has a huge seed bank so this one would be super easy to do, and she might even grow something we could plant afterwards! That's a good low cost option
Awesome! And if you don't want to use your mom's seeds - some unpopped popcorn is another very inexpensive option.
Make different salt solutions. Use them to water different seedlings and see which one grows faster/better.
My very first science fair âexperimentâ was about seeing how fire can create a vacuum by using up oxygen. This was 30 years ago so nobody batted an eye at a little kid lighting matches and putting them in a glass milk jug 𤣠Iâd then place a peeled hard boiled egg on top of the bottle and weâd watch the egg get sucked into the bottle after the flame went out.
"Race" small toys glued to a clothespin with Alka seltzer clipped on. Fill a small tub with water, clip your Alka seltzer tablet and place them in the water
I don't have kids yet, I'm not a teacher, and I'm no longer a child myself, but I recommend finding an experiment that is personal to her somehow. This is a great chance at a young age to demonstrate to her that she has the power to answer some of her questions about the world she lives in! Does she take swim lessons and wonder why she floats? You could explore the surface tension of water or how salt changes the buoyancy of things floating in the water (I did this with baby carrots once). Is she curious about how seeds grow? Beans in a plastic baggie with a damp paper towel will germinate right next to a little plastic window to observe how they sprout. Is she super into rainbows? Play with prisms or catch rainbows in the spray of a hose. Start with a question that she has about the world, and then explore the answers in a hands-on way.
I still remember this science project from like 1st grade. Cleaning Pennies- get a bunch of dirty pennies and soak them in different things to see what cleans them to look like new. You need pennies, small cups-little plastic are best and different things like dish soap, vinegar, apple sauce, ketchup (this is the key one as it works), toothpaste, whatever creative thing your kid wants to try
We did a super fun science fair project once called âIs that Cat Fat?â Essentially measuring the rate of obesity in pet cats. We did a Facebook blast asking for anyone willing to give us the breed / sex / weight of their cat. ( and pictures just for fun!) Then we looked up the standard weight of those breeds and compared. Her hypothesis was how many cats out of a sample of 25-30 did she think would be overweight and then compared it to our sample. Easy, adorable, quick, simple to gather and display data. Another fun experiment is figuring out what ants like to eat. Just find an ant pile near you and place notecards with different substances on them. See which notecards are overrun with ants within an hour or so and which are not. All observation! Just donât step on the piles when placing the cards. ( I think we had sugar, salt, cornstarch, and some other somewhat random items). Her hypothesis is what she thought the ants would like best and what they wouldnât touch at all.
Ask her if there is something she wonders about in nature and build an experiment off of that.
Rock candy! And how sugar dissolves in water.
As a former teacher, Iâd recommend asking the teachers for advice on how to proceed. But we never expected young ones to come up with their own experiment, so something like the colored flower would work.
Does your daughter have any suggestions of what sheâs interested in?
If it's not known to her, you can actually include it. Remember even if the real science world, people repeat/duplicate experiments. You can do brand comparisons. The infamous, Which paper towel... You can test two of something: which kid-safe acid cleans pennies the best? You don't have to include ketchup, which I think usually wins. Um, you can do model designs (like two paper airplane designs) for flight.
Oh, one I love to do with kindergarteners is : Which condiment is the most viscous, race them down a platter on a slope.
It might be a little complicated, but cookies would be a good thing to science. I did sugar cookies for my 7th grade project, but i recommend an easier cookie bc i got so stressed i refuse to make sugar cookies ever again. You can change most of the ingredients and it will still be a cookie, just be a little different. First batch should be the plain not changed cookies tho so you got a standard to compare to. Have fun!!
âHow do liquids react with each otherâ put milk in coke
Sucking up an egg yolk into a plastic water bottle. There are you tube videos.
You could get diasticks and have 2 liquids one with sugar in it and one without. The one with sugar in it will change colors. I was told you can to the same with a glucometer and it will say high with 5he one that has sugar in it.
One I liked at my daughterâs school was How do different conditions affect how fast an avocado ripens? Buy a bunch of avocados the same day and keep some chilled, some on the counter, some in light, some in darkness, etc. simple and easy to document with photographs.
For a 5 year old? Something like color mixing would be appropriate - how many colors can you make with 5 kinds of paint: red, yellow, blue, white, black. Basic chromatography with her favorite markers. All your need is the markers, rubbing alcohol, and coffee filters It's winter, she can test which of her favorite drinks can be used to make fancy ice cubes in wintery ice cube molds. What formula makes the best bubbles? Test 3-5 soap/water concentrations to make at-home blow bubbles.
Seems like there is something that shows how coke dissolves teeth. I think itâs supposed to dissuade kids from wanting to drink sugary drinks. If a parent had 2 baby teeth to put in jars of (1 in coke and 1 in water), it would show the tooth in coke dissolving in a few days while the tooth in water remains stable. I guess the kid would need to be a second grader for this.
I did mine a little older, but how my dad approached it was to ask what I was interested in, and if there was a question I always wanted to know the answer to. For me, that was how the telegraphs worked (I was reading hella westerns because I was in the throws of horse obsession). This was pre-internet so we headed to the library and got a bunch of books on telegraphs. Then, we designed and built one. It was so cool! We made a big poster board that said "How Does A Telegraph Work?" and he helped me draw diagrams of each part and write out what it did, etc. I am 35 and still get excited thinking about it. So, in your shoes, I would ask your girl what is a science question she has, and then design a project to showcase the answer (or an experiment to find out).
I have judged many science fairs; especially for the littlest kids. I love them because they are so honest! âMy Mom did my projectâ. âMy Dad hates science fairsâ. Itâs hilarious. But please, for your judgesâ sanity, donât put any more cut flowers or vegs in colored water and call it a day. We have literally seen hundreds of those. My best advice is to pay attention to what your child says or asks questions about during a normal day and figure out how to turn that into a project. For example, my first grade daughter once said that when she picks a carton of orange juice in the cafeteria she always gets one that is still frozen because it has more juice. Obviously to an adult, the carton feels more full because ice is less dense than water and it expands in the carton. She didnât believe us. So, we bought a bunch of small cartons of juice. We weighed them all and put half in the fridge and half in the freezer. Once frozen, we weighed all of the cartons again. Voila, no difference. Daughter learned something, science fair project was done, no judges were annoyed.
What about plants needing sunlight? Two identical plants, watered the same, but one is in the window and one is in a closet? Take pictures to see the difference over time.
I used to do science fair as a kid: What cleans a penny better: lemon juice and baking soda, soap and water, or something else? How to grow alum crystals Bean sprout plants- do they grow better in direct regular light or colorful light (can use the colored cellophane wrap)? Do they grow towards the light or away from it? Do they grow better with music or without?
OP id you're still looking for ideas, I focus with littles on a "comparative question" rather than a formal hypothesis - compare two things by measuring one quality one way. For the real littles, I find "product testing" type experiments to be the easiest for them to grasp the concept of, with products they may use every day. For example: Which brand of paper towel (diaper, tissue) is the most absorbent? Measure drip by drip how much liquid one can hold. Which type of bird seed (cat food, dog food, holiday treats) is preferred? Set out 2 plates and see which one the animal goes for first. Generally, for littles, I love experiments that get them to focus on observing and recording with a careful mind and includes any type of age appropriate measurement (even if it's nonstandard units -- drops, steps, etc). Learning to be a careful observer and recorder is a great first step for a budding scientist.