Hi Mamafriends,
My son is looking for an idea for a science project. He has three ideas, so we do have a back-up plan but he's not quite totally sold on any of them. He doesn't want to do a volcano or electrical project, and he's not quite sold on watching food go moldy, either. so we've ruled those out. The project will take place over the course of a week. I'm wondering if any one has any ideas or have your children worked on any project that was really interesting and created any experiments that were fun to do. He has to come up with a hypothesis and work through the steps to prove or disprove it.
Thanks in advance. Any ideas on this subject are really appreciated.
I just want to thank everyone for your wonderful ideas. The "egg" and "tooth" ideas were right up my alley. The germ one was a great idea too. Loved that "Mad Scientist" website! Unfortunately, my son was sick at home, on Tuesday so, by Wednesday, he didn't get his first OR second choice! So... I'll keep YOU posted as to "what's the best stain fighter".... (uggggghhhhh... too much like doing laundry!)
My daughter saw these and NOW we have to, personally try all of them. We already have an egg in vinegar!
Thanks again for your help!
My kids and I dissolved the shell of an egg with vinegar this summer. It was very cool! This link has info and additional links at the bottom that could be used to expand the activity into science fair project material
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/eggs/activity-naked....
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/eggs/activity-nakede...
I have a few bookmarks:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/proje... (includes a project selection wizard! Great site)
http://www.sciencebob.com/sciencefair/index.php
http://www.spartechsoftware.com/reeko/default.htm
http://www.enotes.com/science-experiments-projects
My son does a project for our school's science/academic fair every year but he's not old enough to do it for grades/credit, and not as old as your son is, so his projects have probably been simpler. Good luck!
A couple of ideas from projects I worked on as a kid:
Get extracted teeth from a dentist and soak them in different forms of fluids to show the decay process. Interesting point, soda pop will completely disolve them away. Other things like juice will stain. He should take them out daily and brush them as to simulate a hygeine process. That's a pretty interesting one.
Something else that's made headlines in the last few years are a couple of different kids in cities who went around town and got sample of ice from public ice machines - McDonalds, the gas station, 711/convenience stores, an airplane if possible, etc. And sampled them under a microscope and identified forms of bacteria. Basically, the ice is infected with all kinds of terrible bacteria. Totally gross. So gross in fact that to this day I will not accept ice on an airplane. Maybe he can twist that by doing something similar by taking swab samples of public door handles or something else everyone touches or uses without thinking of its cleanliness.
We did a germ collecting project with cans of pop. The trick with germs is that you need to get petri dishes with lids. They don't need augar (jello stuff) You just swab the surface of your specimen and then zig zag it on the petri dish, cover it, put it upside down in a dark warm place (like under the kitchen cabinet) and wait a week or two. Furry, spotted germs!
If it were me, I would take my 40% off coupon for Michaels and get a packaged science kit. Grow crystals, build a rocket and launch it, make a model car and test it out. It is a better experience when the project actually works.
