7th grade science project that won't bust a budget

[coastiewifern]

Slightly off topic but we are looking for a science fair project that won't cost a lot. Last year we ended up spending a lot of money on supplies for his project and are not in a position to repeat that this year. Any ideas for a solid project that doesn't have a lot of cost?

 

[JKMJ441724]

do you have any guidlines that must be followed? What instructions were given?

 

[coastiewifern]

do you have any guidlines that must be followed? What instructions were given?

He doesn't have the packet with him. I know we do a tri fold poster board. No live animals, must run the experiment 3 times.

 

[jms531]

Two that got me to states "back in the day" were fairly cheap. Comparing popcorns (which bagged popcorn gives you the most popped corn vs. kernels) and grease in fast food burgers (grabbed a plain dollar burger from 3 different fast food joints, microwave for set amount of time and measured grease that came off)

 

[lastminutemom]

You can actually have him google easy, inexpensive (or cheap) science projects and lots should be there.

Good luck!

 

[McKelly]

How about, "Why do we float better in salt water (ocean)?

 

[clm10308]

Check out sciencebuddies.org. There are lots of project idea and it searchable by age/grade level.

 

[plummer925]

When I was in junior high I won 1st place in my science fair for doing experiments with paper towels - comparing price, size, absorbency, and even making my own towels (this was many years ago, but at the time it turned out Brawny was the best bang for the buck!). Cost: Abt $10-15 - you would have to buy 4 or 5 different brands of towels. I used cardboard for my backdrop, but those tri-fold boards that you can get cheap are great too!

 

[Jenny-momof3]

For my DD's science project we tested carpet cleaners.

We got several carpet samples for free from a carpet store. I bought 3 different cleaners from the $ store, Odd Lots,etc. I already had 2 more cleaners at home. Then we tested 5 different stains....ketchup, red juice, grease, mud, soda.

The whole project including the tri board costs us $10 and she got an A+. And we discovered that the cheapy stuff from $ store worked the best!

 

[espana94]

DD did "The Chemistry of Bread" for her project in 8th grade. Her hypothesis was that baking is all about chemistry, the correct combination of ingredients creates an edible product, change the chemistry and the end product is changed.

For the project she baked 5 loaves of bread in the bread maker. She baked a control loaf following the recipe for exactly as written. For the other four loaves, she changed the chemistry, i.e., substituted something or added extra of an ingredient. In one loaf she added additional salt, in another she added 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, in another she added baking soda. The only thing ingredients she did not mess with were the flour and the yeast.

For her tri-fold board she took photos of all of the loaves of bread, including one of all five in size order. She also included information on the ingredients in her recipe and why they are essential to the "chemistry" of baking bread.

At the fair she had samples of all of her loaves for people to sample. She had the most students and parents grouped around her table all night. The kids had a great time tasting all of the "yucky" bread...The extra baking soda bread was the worst!

Total cost for the us for the project was $20. Her teacher loved the idea and the "science" behind it. She made it to the district science fair with this project

 

[shoney]

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/double-dip-chip-challenge


i found this online a few years ago when ds was in 5th grade.
We named it double dip: If you dare!
We used onion dip instead of ranch.

the last section of our projects has to contain information on how you could expand the experiment in the future. We put to use different types of dip:
onion vs. salsa and different "dip vehicles" such as chips vs. pretzels.

He did win a ribbon and got lots of "oohh gross" after his presentation...which for a boy, thrilled him!

 

[coastiewifern]

great ideas everyone, thanks

 

[jgreco]

We did one, "which works better store brand or homemade laundry detergent". It was good cause I had something to use afterwards.

 

[2TxAgs]

My daughter swabbed for germs/bacteria. 5 places - toilet handle, kitchen sink, door of fridge, telephone, keyboard. Takes a few days for the colonies to grow, but results were a surprise to everyone.

 

[jgreco]

That reminds me of another one we did. "Which is cleaner a dog or human mouth?"

 

[MISSYLEXI]

My DD did one with carnations and water with food coloring. The carnation will turn (ends usually) to the color that the water is. Can easily be done 3 times. Take pics and explain why and how it happens (easy research) and cheap too.

 

[coastiewifern]

Thanks everyone, he turned in a submission today. Hope someone else benefits from these great ideas as well

 

[MSSANDRA]

Great ideas and glad you found one that works. I remember when my older son was in elementary and middle school, there was a wide range of children with different economic backgrounds in the school. For many projects, including the science far, teachers would set a limit on how much they could spend. I am sure that some parents broke the rules but as a whole it put things on a more even playing field. Reality was, this school consistently had county and state winners so it really does not take a huge amount of money to have a great project!

 

[espana94]

Thanks everyone, he turned in a submission today. Hope someone else benefits from these great ideas as well

What did he decide to do for the project?