Science Fair Project Ideas

Jennie, I teach third grade too and my school just had their science fair last week, so I truly know how you feel. But heres a list of science project titles I think could really help you.
1. Which exercise raises heartbeat most?
2. Does color affect mood?
3. Does sugar change your mood?
4. What type of soda makes you burp most?
5. Do taller people take longer steps?
6. Can you taste the difference between sugar and Equal?
7. Which melts slowest-ice cream or frozen yogurt?
8. Which bubble gum brand blows the biggest bubbles?
9. Which can support more weight, plastic or paper grocery bags?
10. Which popcorn brand gives the most popped kernels?
I hope these titles provide some help for you. Bye.

Jamie,
What age group? Does your science fair have specific rules to follow concerning what exhibits may and may not include. Some won't let you have food or animal products, for example. It would be easier to give you some ideas if we knew a little bit more about your situation. One quick idea that could work is to show how acids and bases turn litmus paper or an indicator liquid (you can make one) different colors. It makes a nice display that can be done ahead, but still is flashy to demonstrate to students.

Does your science fair have specific rules? Some require an inquiry based project that uses the scientific method. I would consider that type of fair inappropriate for first graders working independently. If you have more leeway, you can help them creatively display their knowledge of a particular topic in science. If you can do that, here are a few ideas that might work for first grade students:

1. Discuss simple machines with your students and challenge them to find these machines in the everyday objects they have at home and school. Display their choices along with their description of what the machine is and what it does. (Pencil sharpener - it has a wedge that shaves the wood off my pencil, etc.)

2. Look at different types of crystals. Challenge students to use ordinary materials to create a crystal display for the science fair. Give parents some help by giving them a list of materials that will make crystals when mixed with water - salt, sugar, epsom salt, alum, washing soda. Have each studnt display their crystal creation and tell how they made it and what shape the crystals took.

3. Create with your class a form for predicting the weather. It should have a column for their predicition, the actual weather and their comments. For the next two weeks have students predict the next day's weather, then check for the actual conditions. Their comments should say how close they came. At the end of the two weeks help them analyze their data. How close did they come? Did they get better as time went by? What did they learn. You can make a group display of these last questions, then include everyone's chart.

Hope this helps. If you need something different, e-mail me.

I also teach 2nd grade and have found that anything hands-on will be greatly enjoyed. You could have the children measure the length of their own shoe and the length of their parent's shoe. They can then find the difference. With rice or beans, they could measure how many quarter, half or full cups it takes to fill premarked container. Use scales to have them weigh items. Find out which weighs more, a bag of cotton balls or a bag of rocks. Good luck and have fun.

Well, there's that old science fair standard... growing plants in the dark vs. in the light. I did this one with my dad when I was four (the scientist in him was always trying to bring the scientist out in me from the earliest age!) You plant a fast growing bean of some sort in three little pots. One, you put in the window where it's getting direct light (or outside, depending on where you live and how warm it is). The second, you put somewhere in indirect light, and the third, you put somewhere where it's always dark, like the top shelf of the closet. Take pictures, measure results, see which one grows better, and find out why.

You could also do a similar type of experiment by growing plants in pots in a window and testing different kinds of fertilizers (or different kinds of potting soils) to see which one works the best. With this one, you'll need to have a control plant that isn't getting any fertilizer.

Or, you might try typing in "Science Fair" in a search engine and seeing what you come up with. You'd be amazed at what's out there!

Good luck!

Criteria for science fairs varies, but usually you'll be looking primarily for evidence that the student used the scientific method of inquiry to create their project. In other words, just making a solar car from a science kit or reporting on volcanoes isn't a science fair project (or shouldn't be). So, be sure to look for:

- An identified theory or hypothesis that the student will test.
- An experiment that is designed to test the hypothesis.
- An expected outcome. What does the student THINK will happen based on his/her prior research and information?
- A list of variables and how the student compensated for them. (Example: A student studying the effects of light on plant growth would have to ensure that all his plants received the same amount of water.)
- Results from the experiment shown in some usable fashion such as a graph or chart.
- Evidence of the experiment being repeated or of results being kept OVER TIME.
- A conclusion based on the evidence from the experiment. (The conclusion does not have to match the expected outcome in order for the experiment to be successful.)

Hope this helps and that it's in time for you.

Magnets make a great project. See what they will and won't pick up. How they behave around other magnets.

Plants need sunlight. Place plants in light and dark -- see what happens.

Plants need water -- same idea as above, but don't water one plant, give other plants varying amounts of water. Take pics and see what happens.

Sprout seeds.

Taste buds. where on the tongue do you taste sweet, salty, bitter, etc.

Importance of brushing teeth. Get cleaned chicken leg bones and place in vinegar over several days. Place another in distilled water, The one in vinegar gets so soft it will actually bend. Same thing happens to your teeth with the acids made by bacteria in the mouth.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'll check some of my notes at school tomorrow.

Lori

My class did one that was very successful. We sprouted Lima beans in different materials and different light. We used sand, small rock like for aquariums, plain dirt from outside, potting soil, gel, rocky sand, sawdust, wet paper towels, wet cotton balls, big pebbles.
We wanted to see what materials how much light were the best for sprouting seeds. You can use pumpkin, sunflower, or another kind of bean for sprouting.
Each material was done by two children. One child place his where the bean received light and the other child placed his at the back of the room where it received less light. Each set of partners kept a day by day journal of growth and changes in their bean. I also took digital pictures of the beans as they progressed in their sprouting. The students remained interested and kept their journal entries current. We had a very nice display for our Science Fair.

I teach 1st grade and we did, Will the amount of butter flavor effect how many kernels of popcorn are popped? So we bought natural, light and buttered microwave popcorn. Then we popped it. Counted how many kernels popped.
It was not that hard and our class won 2nd place.
If you need more info just e-mail me at mmomenee@msn.com

I also have a whole page on other ideas for 1st and 2nd. Michelle

Which brand of bubble gum has the longest lasting flavor? This one is funnt to me because my friend won the 8th grade science fair with this. He did it the night before!

Which plant grows best? One watered and in light, or one watered one in a dark closet.

One watered with water, milk, or soda?

Which battery brand lasts the longest?

Grow mold on bread in a baggie, in the open, in the refrigerator. Which one grew mold first?

Does your dog/cat eat out of a red or blue food bowl better? Does the color matter?

Grow 3 types of seeds...which does best?

These are just off the top of my head...I don't have a website idea.

I'm not a Kindergarten teacher but our k teacher usually does a class project. Here are a few ideas.

*Where will a piece of bread get moldy?
*What types of objects sink?
*What color candy is most common in a bag of Skittles?
*Are all of our desks (tables) the same length? (you could measure with unifix cubes)

Just a couple ideas. I'll try to think of some more and let you know

Jen

An easy project that I did with a third grade class follows:
Hypothesis: Bigger Ears allow you to hear better.
First pose the question to your class- if they think they'll hear better with bigger ears.

Procedure: Have students listen to 3 or more sounds with "big ears" and regular ears. TO make big ears, have the students cup their hands (a big c shape) behind their ears. Have then listen to a sound- then have them take their hands of and listen to the same sound again with regular ears. Repeat with different sounds
Collect Data:
Make a little chart for each child to record which they hear better with- big ears or regular (or no difference)
Tally the class data and graph on a chart.

This is pretty simple w/o getting too technical
Good luck
We won a first place ribbon for this one!

We are having our science fair next week. Our first grade teacher did an easy experiment on bubbles. She had each student make their home made "wands" from pipe cleaners. Then she made 3 different solutions to test. 1. dish soap and water, 2. glycerine, dish soap, and water 3.glycerine and water. She labeled each of the "variables" a b c. Students tested each by dipping and blowing each variable 3 times and "measured" each bubble with a point system.
1pt- bubble pops immediately
2pt-it begins to float
3pt-it floats away

They record (parent help needed) on a simple log.
Total up the scores for each and come up with a conclusion.

example Variable A -Scores 1,1,2=4pt
Variable B -Scores 2,1,3=6pt
Variable C -Scores 3,3,1=7pt

Be sure to have the students guess first which one they think will work. Do the experiment, then record the findings. They love it

My daughter went to the district science fair this year :D and I saw many easy projects that may work for you. One was testing how long bandaids stick in water. The student used eggs and chose 4 different kinds of bandaid brands. They were stuck on the eggs and placed in water and observed to see how long they stayed on.
Another tested how animal coloring portects them in the wild by using M&Ms.
One more studied the strength of human hair.
How about testing how well materials insulate?
Hope these may help or inspire you. :)
Michele