Need help with Science Fair ideas for 2nd grader....

[sncbird]

Hi everyone,

Our school ( K-6th ) is having it's annual Science Fair. It's voluntary and my 2nd grade DD - 7 really wants to do it. I'm really proud of her since it's voluntary that she's showing a strong interest in doing it. The problem is the school doesn't give us any guidelines or suggestions on what she should be doing. She's our oldest so I'm a little clueless on what would be age appropiate project for her to do.

I would welcome any suggestions or if anyone knows if there any web-sites that could help us along.

Thanks so much
Christine

 

[Pin Wizard]

Try a search on "science fair projects." You'll get lots of stuff.

 

[DoeWDW]

My kids always did best with consumer testing type projects. DS tested various brands of alkaline batteries in identical flashlights to see which brand lasts the longest. This one was easy to set up but expensive in materials - 4 different flashlights and all those batteries.

DD tested laundry detergents (soaked white cotten cloths in chocolate syrup) to see which detergent got the stain out best. The hardest part was measuring the color changes - we had to come up with a scale of shades of brown to compare against.

Growing plants is always good if you have time. Plant seeds in different containers, and vary one thing, like the amount of light they get or the amount of water they get or the amount of fertilizer / plant food they get. In the end you can measure them to see which plant grew the most.

 

[mhopset]

I'm not good with science fair stuff, but if you pm MAMAJOAN her family has been doing science fair stuff for ages. I know she would be glad to help.

Nice to see you around Chris I sent you an e-mail.

T.

 

[SoonerKate]

I also did a lot of consumer testing type science fair projects in mid-elementary school. In second grade, I did a test to see which brand of microwave popcorn would be the best value. (I know I accounted for price, weight/size of overall package and individual packages and popped/unpopped kernels. I'm sure there was something else, as well.)

What is your daughter interested in? What are her hobbies? That might be a good place to start when you're coming up with topics.

 

[phamton]

Another thing to do with the popcorn idea is to take the same brand of microwave popcorn, put one package in the refrigerator overnight before popping and one at room temperature. See which pops better and leaves the least amount of unpopped kernels. (Just count the unpopped kernels.)

Make sure that after popping one package in the microwave that you let the microwave cool first to elliminate one viarable. This was a fun and easy science fair project and a 3rd grader in my class won the schoolwide science fair with this one.

Bev