Can somebody help w/ science fair project?

[beautybelle]

My son has 2 weeks to come up with and put together a science fair project. He's in the 5th grade. I'd like for him to do something origional and different but for the life of me I cant come up with anything.
Can some of you moms who've been there and done that help me with some ideas, please?

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Have you asked your son what he is interested in? Kids can be incredibly creative, and I bet he could come up with a good project on his own (or with a little help from you.) Maybe you can start out with something he is interested in and get some books from the library or look online. It will be more meaningful to him if he is the one to come up with it.

And while it would be nice to do something original, there's nothing wrong with doing something more standard if that is what he wants to do. Is the teacher grading on originality? If not then I wouldn't worry about that part too much. Good luck.

 

[beautybelle]

Oh yes, he is very interested in environmental and earth sciences. Im the one who posted but he's been on here searching with me and we just cant come up with nothing we like really.
Thats when I turned to you all. I know you all can come up with some pretty good stuff.

 

[chager]

Nick did one if age age affects how a person sees optical illusions. He also did one on chemical cleaners vs natural cleaners. My nephew did one on the different types of coal I think it was. We bought different types and he tracked how well they would light, heat output, and burn time if I remember correctly. (I guess my biggest memory is he almost caught the wooden swingset on fire and left a big scorch mark in my backyard!! )

Good luck with your ideas! Nick did win a prize for his optical illusion project and the following year Jr won with the coal/wood pellet project.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Oh yes, he is very interested in environmental and earth sciences. Im the one who posted but he's been on here searching with me and we just cant come up with nothing we like really.
Thats when I turned to you all. I know you all can come up with some pretty good stuff.

Can you give us some more details? Environmental and earth sciences cover a lot. Is he a rock person? Like water (rivers, oceans, streams), volcanoes? It would help if you narrowed it down.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

With 2 weeks left to go, I recommend something easy.

Can I say, I hate science projects.

Let's see.....

Which batteries are best
Paper towel absorbtion/strongest
Popcorn, which bag pops the most

My dd did a made up a science project on her own in 5th grade...which music was suited better to studying.

Currently she is doing a thing with an egg in vinegar, for science class. That is pretty cool. It has been in the fridge for a few days submerged in vinegar and the shell is dissolved already.

Good Luck!!!! No envy here.

 

[lisadr]

My kid is an egghead in training(self training I might add) and we get great experiments from PBS Zoom, sciencemadesimple.com, and creativekidsathome.com.

Good luck!

 

[beautybelle]

Something preferably to do with soil, maybe. BUT we're open to any suggestions.
Im liking some of the ideas already. Especially the egg one (but thats me)

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Here is a list of search results for soil science experiments.

One thing you could do is plant seeds in various types of soil (be sure to use multiple pots of each type). Use the same plant and water it according ot he instructions, see which kind of soil it grows best in. Since he only has to weeks, you could get seedlings and repot them so he'll be sure to have something to observe.

You can create a mini river bed and do an experiment to see what factors affect erosion. You can focus on soil types, the effects of plants close the to the water, etc.

You could see what kind of soil holds water the best.

There is an experiment on the list of results that has kids determine how much air is in different types of soil.

 

[lisadr]

Something preferably to do with soil, maybe. BUT we're open to any suggestions.
Im liking some of the ideas already. Especially the egg one (but thats me)

What about permeability (how fast different types of soil allow water to run through them) or maybe what kind of soil is the best medium to grow bean sprouts.

For the first he could do dense soil, clay, sand, a mixed medium and then gauge the time it takes for the water to reach the bottom of a plastic cup.

For the soil test. Get different types of soil mixture and see which is the best medium to grow bean sprouts.

Remember it is more about following the scientific process then it being a complicated experiment. As long as his work is neat and organized and presented well. And as long as he gives his prediction, results, and hypothesis he will be fine.

 

[lisadr]

Here is a list of search results for soil science experiments.

One thing you could do is plant seeds in various types of soil (be sure to use multiple pots of each type). Use the same plant and water it according ot he instructions, see which kind of soil it grows best in. Since he only has to weeks, you could get seedlings and repot them so he'll be sure to have something to observe.

You can create a mini river bed and do an experiment to see what factors affect erosion. You can focus on soil types, the effects of plants close the to the water, etc.

You could see what kind of soil holds water the best.

There is an experiment on the list of results that has kids determine how much air is in different types of soil.

Great minds think alike-but some fingers type faster

 

[beautybelle]

Great, great, great. Love the erosion one for sure.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Great minds think alike-but some fingers type faster

That would make a good tag!

 

[Stacerita]

DD grew a bunch of potted flowers. Each one was "watered" with a different liquid. Milk, soda, water, soy and such. She documented and graphed her findings. She loved her project.

One friend's son made a bunch of different type of stains on pillow cases and marked off grids. Ketchup, mustard, grass, blood, oil, etc. Then she had them each washed in a different detergent. They did a graph to show which detergent did the best over all, and which one was better for which stain. It was a cute project.

 

[Liann]

Which product or food is most biodegradable?
Choos one to compare against another of different brand or variety.

Toilet paper
paper towels
fruit
veggie
meat
etc
(my pick is TP dissolved in water since ya don't hafta smell em)

Who's mouth is cleaner?
Use animals and humans. Say like himself, a dog, a cat, and a gerbil.

This requires a microscope and some knowledge of bacteria/germ growth.

If you are in a snowy area, is snow colder on top or underneath where it meats the ground? If not in a snowy area is the surface of the ground warmer or cooler than 6" below?

Test the water found in our local areas to see if it has any threatening chemicals inside of it. Just buy a testing kit from epa.com/watersafe(Trust me it's cheap only $6), then gather up water from anywhere and test it with standard epa approved water. Trust it is a good project idea!

Is antibacterial soap actually more effective than plain soap?
This requires comparing hand washings with both soaps after handling the same things. (BTW) the secret is supposed to be with washing longer with the antibacterial soap.)

I just got these off the net. My son collected 25 bugs found near a small lake nearby, found all their scientific names, then showed what each one was there for. (sucking blood from water foul, eating other bugs, mating, etc)

Imagine how scary it was to catch a Brown Recluse under a log with a hyper 12 yr old Nephew! Okay s it's a spider and not a bug- whatever!

LUCK!

 

[lisadr]

That would make a good tag!

 

[IDoDis]

Are they allowed to do inventions or does it have to be an experiment? Last year my DS made a "camping fork." It had a light bulb attached that lit up when it was used so the camper could see the food.

One year my DD did a great experiment: Who's More Honest -- Boys or Girls? We got help from the school secretary on this. Each morning before school, DD was allowed in the building to put one dollar bill on the boys' bathroom floor, and one dollar bill on the girls' bathroom floor. She did this again (got excused from class) in the afternoon, using a different set of bathrooms. She did this for 5 days, so it cost $20 (some of which you'll get back). The honest kids turned their found money into the office where the secretary kept a tally of whether it was a boy or a girl. The end result was that the girls were more honest than the boys. We got back $12 of the $20 dollars.

Another year she did one called, "The Nose Knows." The question was whether or not moms could find the scent of their own child. I bought 10 plain white Hanes (in packages of 3) t-shirts at Wal-Mart. DD chose 5 girls and 5 boys to be the participants. We got permission from their parents. Each child was given a t-shirt in a zip-lock bag. They were to wear the t-shirt each night for 5 nights. They were not to wear any lotions or perfume. They could not wash the shirt or eat any food while wearing the shirt. Each morning, the shirt was to go back in the ziplock bag.

After the 5th day, the kids all brought the shirts (in the ziplocks) back to school. As they gave them to DD, she secretly marked each bag with a letter so we could keep track of which bag belonged to which kid. After school, the moms came and had to smell the shirts (moms of boys only smelled the boys shirts and moms of girls only smelled the girls shirts). I took pictures of this for DD's display board. The moms had to see if they could figure out which shirt belonged to their child based on the scent (pheromones).

The results indicated that mothers were able to pick out their own child's scent 60% of the time. She put one of those fake noses on her display board next to the title of her project. DD was in the 3rd grade, so the kids weren't "stinky" yet. Don't know if I'd do this with 5th graders due to body odors associated with puberty. The judges were very impressed with both projects for their originality. DH and I are both teachers (both at that same school at the time), so arranging everything was pretty easy.

 

[Liann]

OMG GREAT timing!!!!!! Boys stink till they are in 10th grade!! Thank goodness for Febreeze.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

What about permeability (how fast different types of soil allow water to run through them) or maybe what kind of soil is the best medium to grow bean sprouts.

For the first he could do dense soil, clay, sand, a mixed medium and then gauge the time it takes for the water to reach the bottom of a plastic cup.

Ah yes.

Have to measure water before and after and you can also do rock size. Which rocks have more percolation. I did that in a soils class in college.

 

[mamacatnv]

OMG GREAT timing!!!!!! Boys stink till they are in 10th grade!! Thank goodness for Febreeze.

Ummmm, having visited my DS's college dorm room recently, I can accurately say that they stink way past 10th grade!


Mystery Machine - I'm with you, I hate science fair projects.

This year is DD's first year of mandatory.

She will be working with water, coke and milk - wants to know which happens faster. Freezing or melting.