Science Fair - Albuquerque, NM

C.,

I did summer school last year with my girls ages 9, 6 and 5. This was a website I found that was helpful.
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/
Some of the experiments were way to hard but others were a blast.

Hope this helps.
K.

My son did this one as a first grader:
"Water Filtration Methods"

We cut the bottoms off several soda bottles and inverted them into glass jars (like a funnel), put a paper towel in the neck and layered small rocks, large rocks and sand three different ways.

He then shook up a container of muddy water (making the muddy water was the best part according to him) and poured it into each bottle to filter down through it. We caught the filtered water in jars.

It was fun and easy for him to do and he got to see which combination of filtering particles worked best (sand as the last layer produced the clearest water for us).

He was able to understand and explain that the rocks and sand were "cleaning" the mud from the water.
He won a blue ribbon!

Check out this website for some ideas

http://www.easy-kids-science-experiments.com/kindergarten...

Unless your kindergardner understands the scientific method, a science experiment will be done by YOU! If they want to learn some basic science, and do some fun experiments, thats one thing, but to complete a science project, they must understand the steps of the scientific method, and be able to prepare a science board on their own.

So, my advice is, wait until they are in 4-5th grade, and then the experiment will truly be the child's, not yours. At that time, the internet has a great list of possible projects. In the meantime, have fun allowing your kinder to ask all sorts of questions about nature, how things work, etc. Teachers and parents tend to squelch kids' natural curiosity, which ends up squelching their ability to ask good questions, and therefore be good scientists. So, let your kids ask questions, ask meaningful questions back, so they can solve their own problems. THEN, you'll be broadening their mind and building a future scientist!!!

Dear C....One fun idea that got my daughter first place in Kindergarten at her science fair was determining how the types of shoes she wore affected her athletic ability. We used four different types of shoes, a pair Nike athletic tennis shoes, slippers, dress shoes, and flip flops. We photographed her jumping for heighth and distance and recorded our results, and then timed her in a 40 yd dash in each pair of shoes on the track. It was alot of fun and not a lot of stress. Good luck

How about which dish soap bubbles last the longest? Use that as the hypothesis. Go get various dish soaps, put them in different bowls and add water. Take pictures and have a timer handy so your child can record everything. Then wait and see which bubbles last the longest! It's east, cheap and fun for little kids to do, plus you can keep and use the left overs!

Capillary action in plants.... celery or carnations in colored water.....

Take a bottle and poke holes in it from the cap to the bottom. Plug the holes with your fingers and fill the bottle with water. Then remove your fingers and measure where the water from the holes hits.... demonstrates water pressure at different depths.

sink/float. Take objects of the same weight and have her predict which will sink/float. Test the objects and record both her predictions and results.

http://www.education.com/topic/great-science-fair-project...

lots of ideas... good luck

Have her grow something. Plant seeds and place the containers in different locales (shady, sunny, inside outside) etc. and chart their progress. Keep everthing else the same, size of pot, amount of water...

Hi C., when I taught science for 8 years, I worked with middle school kids, had kids who participated in science fairs, and I coordinated science fairs. I am thrilled your child has interest in science and that you are willing to encourage that. While a kindergartner is a little young to pull together a whole project (following all the steps of the scientific method and then creating a display and presentation) without the help of a parent, they definitely can do meaningful experiments.

Be careful of searching for "experiments" on the internet. Many of these project ideas are simply making observations or doing a demonstration and really do not "test" anything. In a good experiment you want to find out how one thing affects another (Example: how changing light conditions affects plant growth). This type of experiment allows for collecting two types of data (quantitative-#'s, and qualitative-observations). I practiced coming up with experiment ideas with my students all year long and they eventually see how easy it is to take virtually anything that surrounds you and turn it into a testable experiment using the format "how does ______ affect _____". Some ideas will be better than others because they allow for collecting better measurements and observations and do not allow too much room for error. To practice, I would have my kids take something like Music and come up with experiments. We had 50+ experiments written in the format of "how does _____ affect _____" but we would go through each one and determine whether it was testable, and anticipate what sources of error we might come across, and whether we could research the topic. We kept narrowing it down until we got what we thought was the best experiment. Obviously, this was geared toward older kids, but you can do this with your child on a much more basic level.

For example, I was shopping with my daughter at Lakeshore Learning one day and saw these little trees that grow crystals by the check out counter. She was grabbing at them and kept saying, "what this mommy?" They were $0.99 so I picked up a few and put them in her Christmas stocking. She is only 2 years old and loved helping me pour the water in the tray and watching the crystals grow. The crystals grow in less than 2 hours- so she didn't lose interest. A simple toy like this could be turned into a bunch of experiments: Does the temperature of water affect how the crystals grow, does adding sugar affect the growth, Does location in the room affect growth etc... You have to encourage the child to find some way of collecting measurements (weighing the tree on a scale for example). Some ideas would be better than others because they can connect to real scientific research on crystal growth, but the bottom line is your child should do what interests them.

SO TO ACTUALLY ANSWER YOUR REQUEST FOR PROJECT IDEAS: Your goal should be to watch your child play with something one day and then hear him say, "this thing is cool...I wonder what would happen if I do _______ to it". My suggestion is rather than just doing an experiment that somebody gives you via this request, or you find on the internet, I would find something in or around your house that your child likes, uses often, or somewhere you go often, or a hobby that they have and use that as a spring board for coming up with the idea. Your child will remain focused on the project longer if it is something that is already a part of their life.

Good luck and have fun!

Hi C.! :-)

A (hilarious) science fair project that one of my children did was to see exactly how much water different size diapers can actually absorb. We bought small packages of diapers from the smallest to the largest (the extra ones we either used or gave away to friends who use those sizes)...We made up our charts, made our hypothesis, and then did the experiment: we slowly poured water into the diaper (about 1/4 cup at a time) to see how much it would absorb before it swelled and exploded with gel beads...It was a fun and funny experiment... I do not recall what the outcome was, but we definitely had a unique science fair project which the kids enjoyed doing...

Another project we did was to see what household items cleaned up dropped egg off the floor best and easiest...When you drop an egg on the floor, it's quite a goopy mess! Instead of grabbing the nearest towel or washcloth, use salt (or sugar--but salt is cheaper) and pour it on liberally. Then let it sit for about 15 minutes or longer...'til all the egg has been absorbed by the salt. Then sweep it up... Interesting idea! Fun household trick...My son did this experiment and took lots of pictures to help write his report. Then he demonstrated it in class. The teacher was impressed (because he did not know of this kitchen trick) and gave my son a high grade. :-)

Have fun! Good luck!! Remember--it is not a competition of who did the best project, but more a chance to learn something..

--L. W
A little bit about me: I am a STAHM mom with 5 children ranging from ages 12 down to 4 years old. The four older kids are in school. :-) I have learned many shortcuts through my experiences and am happy to share them with anybody who'll listen.

First, choose a topic that interests you. Find good kindergarten science fair project ideas that are interesting to you. It needs to be something exciting, something that you won't "hafta do" and something that will make you jump and shout when you win that blue ribbon!

Second, talk about the topic with someone. Ask lots of simple questions.

For example: From the fun boats kindergarten science fair project idea...

What types of boats are there?
Where are boats?
Why do you think they float?

These questions are just to get you started. They lead to the next step...

Third, develop an important question. This one is will be what your project is. This is your idea. A good science fair idea question can be tested. You should write down this question because you will use it later.

For example: From the fun boats kindergarten science fair project idea...

What shape boat floats best?

Fourth, guess the answer to the question. This is called the hypothesis. Don't let this word scare you. It's only what you guessed. You should write it down next to your important question. Don't change it! Even if during the experiment you think it's wrong, don't change it!

Fifth, list the things you need to test the question you have chosen. You will want to write this list. It serves two purposes—First, you will use it later when you make a display. Second, it helps make sure you don't forget something when you do the next steps.

For example: From the balloon science fair project idea...

1. Two or more balloons.
2. Paper and pencil.
3. Camera.
4. Colors.
5. Tape measure.

Sixth, gather the items on your list. If you think the project is too hard, this is where to stop and find another. Pretty much, you won't be able to look back from here.

Seventh, Carry out the test of the question. Do as much as safely possible having someone one older help with anything that may be dangerous. Take lots of photos. You guessed right, you'll use them later.

Eighth, write the results. You will use them later.

Ninth, write the report. Do this the way your school requires. Pay special attention to the science fair guidelines you received. If you were not given specific requirements, write or dictate 3 or 4 sentences. Or If you need help, use some of these sentence starters.

My science fair project is about__.

I wanted to find out __.

I guessed __.

I tested it by___.

My guess was___.

So I learned___.

Tenth, prepare the science fair project display. Now, gather everything you wrote down. Type or neatly copy the things you wrote down. You will want to buy or make a display board that fits the dimensions your school requires. Make labels with the words "question," "hypothesis," "supplies," "test," "results," and "report" on them.