Remember those science experiments you had to do in school? Remember how we put it off until the night before it was due? Asking your parents for help at the last minute was hard. You may be asked to help your child out the next time they have to do a science experiment. Starting it can be tough so here are some ideas worth considering.
If you have trouble getting it started here are some ideas that may help. One of these ideas may be helpful if you need more of a display: Check out some seashells and see what animals live in them, you can either draw your information or if you have some, glue them to the board. If you have the Internet available to you try to get some pictures of different cloud types and describe them. For a different approach take some cotton and make your own clouds, make them like the different types of clouds and then label them. Food ripens at different stages you can show this on your project. In a warm area in your home take a banana, or other fruit leave it there, another one can be left out at normal temperature and another kept in a cooler environment. Have a notepad so that you can check them and write down your findings. Different ice shapes may melt at different times; see if there is a pattern. Pour equal amounts of water into the containers and then put them in the freezer. Take the containers out of the freezer, allow them to melt and record how long each one took to melt. Making a tornado is one idea for your science project. Fill a jar about ? way with water; Get some food coloring and around 1 teaspoon of dish detergent and put them in the jar. Once you have put the lid on the jar shake it really well. Watch how the liquid that is in the jar will form a vortex that acts just like a real tornado. Take some monopoly houses and put them in the jar before shaking it up for a little extra touch.
Here is one really great inexpensive project that did not turn out as expected, but still won 2nd place. The question was would plants grow better in plain water or sugar water. The child predicted the sugar water would make the plants grow better. Take sunflower seeds and plant several in two identical pots (can be cups or whatever else you may have), water one with plain tap water and the other with the sugar water. Take detailed notes on when, or if; they sprouted. If you can take pictures during the experiment that is great, but if not, just be as detailed as you can. On this particular project the plant with the sugar water did sprout, but it appeared to rot more each day while the other plant did very well. The child finished all the notes, etc. and the next evening during the science fair she had to explain to the judges that their hypothesis was incorrect and why. She used the example of how sugar and sweets can rot your teeth. Imagine her surprise at winning 2nd place on her failed experiment! The judges told her that is what science is all about, finding what works or doesn?t work. And, they said they were pretty impressed that the child had gone ahead and put on a great display, in spite of being worried about the experiment failing.
