Science makes everything more exciting, especially when kids learn through practical experience. This is because the process usually involves them having fun and being amazed by the projects’ results, which makes them curious to look for explanations that will help them understand how things work. It’s a powerful way of learning that both parents and teachers can take advantage of. And, to help you out, we’ve created the ultimate list of science projects for kids of all ages!
Whether you have an explorer at home that’s still too young for school, an unimpressed teenager, or anything in between, these cool science projects will grab their attention and foster positive attitudes toward science guaranteed!
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the science projects.
Science Projects for Preschoolers
We’ll start our list by focusing on the youngest learners. They’re the ones who are just figuring out how the world works, which is why some easy science projects are more than welcome. Kids will be amused and challenged, which is just what their minds need!
Unlike the other projects we’ll cover, the first 10 activities for preschoolers are incredibly easy, focus on very simple reactions, and don’t take much time to set up or complete.
Lemon Volcanoes
While still probably young to learn all about acids and bases, kids can develop a good idea of reactivity without having actual theoretical knowledge. Observations and manipulation will allow them to form patterns and connections in their mind, which will be the basis for learning chemistry later. This is why experiments such as the Lemon Volcanoes are so popular. Plus, they’re very easy to set and don’t require anything more than what you have in your kitchen – lemons, baking soda, food coloring (optional), and some dish soap (optional).
Check out this YouTube video, for the full tutorial.
Subscribe to KidsKonnect on YouTube →Butterfly Feeders
Did you know that butterflies are very sensitive to changes in their natural habitat? It is for this reason why many scientists use them as indicators for the monitoring of biodiversity. They’re incredibly valuable for our environment, which is why making a DIY butterfly feeder and observing butterfly species and behavior would be an amazing educational experience.
Watch the following video to see a step-by-step guide, showing you how to make the butterfly feeder.
Dancing Spaghetti
Just as the name suggests, dancing spaghetti is one of those experiments that absolutely amaze children and persuade them to love science – at least that’s the opinion of thousands of people who’ve done the experiment. The dancing spaghetti is a chemistry science project for kids that uses baking soda and vinegar, to make the spaghetti dance in liquid. But, Steve Spangler, a best-selling author and STEM educator can do a much better job at explaining this step-by-step! Watch his video to find out how to replicate this experiment at home or in the classroom.
Cleaning Pennies
The pennies we use on a daily basis are dirty and almost rusted. After all, it’s not a lie when health professionals warn us that money and our phone are the dirtiest items we come in contact with every day. However, it would be a great idea to demonstrate this to kids while teaching them about chemical reactions.
To do the experiment, you’ll need a couple of coins, two bowls (one with water and another one with vinegar + a tablespoon of salt), salsa, lemon juice, soap, mayo, and other household items. The idea is for the kids to submerge a penny in the water and another one in the bowl with vinegar and salt. They’ll see that within a minute, the penny submerged in vinegar will “shine” just like new, while the other won’t. Why is that? It’s clear that vinegar has a stronger effect on the penny than water. Explain this reaction, while trying other cleaning “agents” (lemon juice, salsa, mayo) to see how they’ll affect dirty pennies.
Growing Seeds
The cycle of life is an amazing process, not just for humans and animals, but for plants too. Plus, learning how things grow, under what circumstances, how fast, and what conditions are needed, is an important lesson for kids. A simple way to keep them entertained while teaching them about plant growth stages is by conducting an experiment with seeds! The experiment can be very simple (one type of seed) or elaborate (different types of seeds).
To conduct the experiment, you’ll need transparent zip lock bags, wet paper towels, and seeds. Place a couple of seeds on a wet paper towel and put them inside a ziplock bag (repeat the same procedure until you have three or four ziplock bags with seeds). Then, place the ziplock bags in different conditions – one in a sunny spot on the window or outside, the other in the fridge, while the third in a dark room. Within a few days, some of the seeds will start to germinate and show roots. Which ones will grow faster, which ones won’t? Why is there a difference?
If you use different seeds, kids can also learn that some seeds prefer dark and cold conditions, while others only succeed in a sunny environment.
Chromatography Experiment – Separating Colors
Playing with colored pencils and markers is many kids’ favorite activity, and you can use that interest to show them something very cool that’s called chromatography. It’s a very fancy laboratory technique used for separating elements in a mixture, in our context colors! The colors of all markers are simply a mixture of some of the three primary colors – red, blue, and yellow. Fortunately, you can easily recreate this technique at home with nothing more than coffee filters, sticks, water, and markers, making your preschooler feel like a real scientist.
Check out the YouTube video to see a detailed guide on how to recreate this experiment for your child or students!
The Life Cycle of a Butterfly
This science project is a perfect continuation of the butterfly feeder activity. After kids have observed butterflies in nature, their variety, size, and other characteristics, it is time to teach them about insect life stages and their activity. But, there’s a twist! To make this learning experience fun, use different pasta types to represent the different stages of life in a butterfly. For example, Risoni or Fusilli for the larvae, Gnocchi or Conchiglie for the pupa, and Farfalle for the grown butterfly. Show kids a clip of a butterfly life cycle and then let them match those stages with the pasta they have in front of them. Using a white paper sheet, they can glue the pasta in the right order and write down all the characteristics of each life stage.
Freezing Timeline
Preschoolers are very curious, and sometimes they ask the most interesting questions. For instance, they might want to know what will happen if they put their milk in the freezer, instead of the fridge. And, just like that, you can turn their naive question into an easy science project! Of course, the milk would freeze, but how much time would it take, and do all liquids freeze at the same time? Take an ice-cube tray and fill each hole with different liquids (for example, water, milk, juice, salsa, syrup, soap, etc.). Alternatively, you can also use two or three trays with different sizes so you can show children how size affects freezing time. Finally, put the tray in the freezer and check it every half an hour (or hour) to write down the process.
Magnetic Magic
You know it’s a cool science project for preschoolers when it involves magnets! This experiment in particular, involves a magnetic wand, pipe cleaners, and a bowl. Kids can learn about magnetism while having fun watching the small pile cleaner’s pieces getting stuck to the magnetic wand. Check out the YouTube video for more details! The water is, however, optional, and you can use a closed plastic (transparent) box instead – kids will be moving the pipe cleaners through the box.
The Odd Balloons
Finally, our last science project for preschoolers involves three balloons and three types of matter – solid, liquid, and gas. Basically, with this awesome experiment, you’ll teach kids how different states of matter behave and act in various circumstances. Together, fill each of the balloons with air, water, and rice (or other solid items). Then, let kids play with the balloons by touching, squeezing, kicking, dropping, or anything else they can think of doing. If a balloon pops, replace it. The goal is for kids to develop a sense of how these different states of matter behave when interacting with them.
Science Projects for Elementary School (Kindergarten to Fifth Grade)
Science subjects are still too advanced for kids starting with elementary school, but that doesn’t mean they can’t learn about science in another way! Their developing mind is far more advanced than that of a preschooler, which is why we believe the following science projects will be just the right challenge for them.
Also, make sure to check out these inspiring science YouTube channels for elementary school students where you can find a lot more ideas.
The Lemon Battery
The classic experiment that we all know and love involves making a battery out of potatoes. That’s cool, but it’s way overused. Plus, it would be great for kids to see how other vegetables or fruits can power a battery. In this experiment, we’ll do that with lemons.
Here’s a YouTube video of Hank Green explaining the process in a very simple and interesting way.
Making a Naked Egg
Kids are familiar with eggs. They’ve been eating them for breakfast and lunch in many different ways (unless they eat vegan, of course), which always involves breaking the shell or peeling it off after boiling. But, if you ask kids or students “Can we remove the eggshell without breaking it?” they’ll most likely say it’s not possible. Well, with this experiment you can show them how science is better than magic because we’ve learned we can actually dissolve the eggshell and see the naked egg inside.
Exploring Germs in Food
As kids enroll in formal education, they’ll be faced with a storm of new bacteria, which is why personal hygiene is a top priority. Most schools have extensive hygiene and public health classes to highlight the importance of good personal hygiene habits. But maybe science can provide an even more powerful way of making kids compliant. Since germs are invisible to the naked eye, most kids (even adults) downplay their significance. Thanks to this experiment, you can actually show kids what germs look like and what happens when we’re not careful.
NASA Science Fair Projects
Okay, this one is not an actual science fair experiment for kids but a guide on how to do a science project on some of the topics related to NASA’s field of research. For example, they think a good scientific question to ask is “How do the phases of the Moon correspond to the changing tides?” Follow the link to find out how NASA guides young children to find the answers.
Blowing Big Bubbles
Blowing bubbles has always been a fun family activity that brings a lot of smiles on kids’ faces. Plus, we all know that the bigger the bubble is, the more fun it is! However, you should know that blowing bubbles is all about science! This phenomenon is possible because of the interaction between soap and water. In fact, when they blow a bubble a thin layer of water is being trapped between two layers of soap molecules, which form the surface. Explore this deeper as you make a home recipe for giant bubbles.
Make a Magic Leak-Proof Bag
We all know that if we poke a hole in a bag filled with water, it leaks. Well, this cool science project helps kids learn that we can break that rule if we know the physical properties of objects. For instance, a plastic ziplock bag won’t leak when we pierce it with a sharp pencil, but another bag will. Why is this? Learn more by watching the following YouTube clip.
Observing Water Cycle
Water and a ziploc bag can really go a long way when it comes to science projects for kids. Here’s another cool experiment where you only need a ziplock bag and water. Pour water in the ziplock bag, close it, and tape it on the window that gets a lot of sun throughout the day. Then simply observe. The kids will be able to observe the processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Talk about why that happens and what weather phenomena are equivalent in real life.
Make a Floating Ink Man
If you think your kids or students are hard to impress, trust us, this one will blow their minds. It’s so simple, yet so entertaining. The experiment brings kids’ drawings to life, or at least floating thanks to the special properties of dry erase markers. Watch the whole video of Steve Mould to see how to replicate this experiment at home or in the classroom.
Learning About Plant Transpiration
Plants are amazing organisms. They produce oxygen (which is the reason why we’re alive), clean the air, and give us tasty fruits and vegetables. Adding to their list of superpowers is an ability called transpiration. This is when leaves produce water. How does this happen? Why? Conduct the following science project and learn more!
Growing Crystal Snowflakes
Crystallization is a process in which the atoms of liquids or gasses undergo a physical transformation and arrange in a way that they form a crystal. We can all recognize crystals thanks to their beautiful appearance, but what are they really? And how can we use them to make big snowflakes? Find out in the following YouTube video. We promise, kids are going to love this science activity and they’ll learn so much!
Science Projects for Middle School (From Sixth to Eighth Grade)
Middle schoolers are children whose mind is not yet fully distracted by puberty, while their cognitive development is progressing at full force. Their problem-solving and thinking skills are a lot more advanced. Plus, their way of thinking is much more flexible, starting to understand abstract ideas and complex theories. For these reasons, the science projects for middle schoolers are a lot more serious and involve elaborate scientific concepts.
Extracting DNA From a Strawberry
In biology, children learn that all living organisms have a very unique structure inside their cells, called DNA. The DNA holds all the information that makes us who we are (physically). But, that is also true for animals and even plants. While the DNA of humans is an abstract and invisible concept that we can only observe through microscopic pictures, the DNA of strawberries can be easily extracted and observed with the naked eye. Give it a try!
DIY Film Projector With a Smartphone
This is an experiment for all kids who have an interest in STEM subjects and love finding ways to build stuff. With only a show box, their smartphone, and a magnifying glass, kids can build their own movie projector. Check out the video to see how it’s done and encourage your kid or students to try it, too.
Building Small Solar Ovens
Another science project in the engineering field, this time using a pizza box and aluminum foil, and transparent plastic wrap to create a mini oven. Kids can make their own s’mores and enjoy them as a reward for successfully finishing the science project. We absolutely love this experiment because it teaches kids valuable life skills, aside from being educational.
The only downside is that you need a strong sun for the experiment to work.
How Light Travels?
Eventually, kids will learn about the rectilinear propagation of light, which in simpler terms is the notion that light travels in a straight line. But, what exactly does that mean? Check out this cool physics experiment that you can turn into a science project for middle schoolers.
Controlling Soil Erosion
Another experiment from the Earth Sciences! This one is probably the most influential and persuasive project for making kids see the importance of vegetation above the soil. We’ve already mentioned that plants produce oxygen, but as you’ll learn through this science project, plants also protect the Earth from earthquakes and other devastating natural disasters by keeping the soil in place. For a tutorial and more information, follow this link to Life Is a Garden.
Making a Homemade Fly Trap
Insects are beneficial, but sometimes they transmit diseases and infect our food with nasty parasites. To prevent this, we need to find a way to protect our homes from insects, such as fruit flies. On the market, there are already powerful chemicals, which can be toxic. This begs the question: Can we make a homemade fly trap? Your child’s next science project can give us a definitive question. This video gives instructions on how to make various different fly traps and test which one is the best.
Witnessing the Greenhouse Effect
Global warming and climate change are two growing issues that our society must solve if we want to prevent natural disasters. For these reasons, a lot of efforts have been made to raise awareness among children who represent the voice of future generations. But, boring lectures are not the only way to make kids understand the greenhouse effect. Check out Lynda Williams’s clever experiment which you can turn into a cool science project for your middle schooler.
Sinking an Aluminum Boat
Younger children have probably already experimented with floating and sinking objects when they were younger. However, have they made the connection that if we change the properties of an object, that same object will behave differently – if they were floating they may sink, or otherwise? Making a boat from aluminum and changing its diameters is a great science experiment to observe at what point does the boat no longer float. Science Buddies have detailed instructions on how to conduct this experiment.
Finding Ways to Make Ice Melt Faster
A great experiment starts with a great question! And, when it comes to finding the right questions, kids are amazing at this job. For instance, the question “Can ice cubes melt faster?” is one question that a lot of kids have spontaneously asked. Well, fortunately, together with your child or students, you can design a nice experiment and turn it into an ambitious science project by documenting everything. Salt, sugar, and hot water are typically used in this experiment, but if your child has another idea, you can also try that.
Don’t forget to also measure the normal melting time of an ice cube on a room temperature as reference.
Making a Balloon-Powered Car
For all the children with engineering talent, this is a very simple experiment that might just inspire them to start building other things on their own. We love the balloon-powered car because it shows kids how simple things can be combined to produce fascinating results.
If you’re looking for even more ideas on science experiments for middle schools, check out our article on the most inspiring science projects for middle school students which includes 6 science worksheet bundles.
Science Projects for High School (From Ninth to Twelfth Grade)
For high schoolers, the bar is a lot higher when it comes to science fair projects or other scientific assignments. This is why we believe the following 10 projects will keep their interest on the task, while still preparing them for the upcoming assignments and college requirements.
Measure the Speed of Light
Although it might sound like something from a sci-fi movie, we can actually measure the speed of light very simply. All we need is a microwave and chocolate! However, even if it’s simple, when done correctly and with good documentation, this experiment is the perfect science project for high school students.
Recreating the Faraday’s Experiment
Faraday’s law of induction tells us how a magnetic field and an electric current interact, which results in an electromotive force (EMF). As part of the physics curriculum for high school students, electromagnetic fields and Faraday’s law are many students’ feared topics. However, thanks to this science project, they won’t be abstract and confusing anymore.
Studying People’s Hearing
In high school, the idea is for kids to develop a better understanding of the experimental method, which is the gold standard for any field in science. Therefore, an easy and intriguing question can be the perfect practice.
For these science projects, let kids test the hypothesis of whether age impacts people’s hearing. To conduct the experiment, they’ll need headphones, an mp3 player, sound files (low frequency and high frequency or several sounds in increasing frequency), and volunteers (at least 20-30). Encourage them to follow the same procedure for every participant, and to transparently document the results so they can analyze them later (a simple graph will do the trick but more sophisticated methods can be used).
Recreating Mendel’s Pea Plant Experiment
An online laboratory gives very detailed instructions to the infamous Mendel’s pea experiment, through which we discovered the laws of heredity and genetics. If your teenager or student is interested in biology, especially genetics, let them explore the online laboratory and then try to recreate Mendel’s pea experiment at home by growing pea plants.
Testing the 5-Second Rule
We have no idea who invented the 5-second rule or where this notion originates from, but it’s still a very present sight in our society! If you don’t know what we’re talking about, the 5-second rule refers to the practice of eating food that has fallen on the floor if it’s picked up in less than 5 seconds. Do people really believe bacteria can’t get to the food in less than 5 seconds? More importantly, is there merit to this wide-spread belief? Let your teenage conduct this experiment as a science project so they see with their own eyes what happens to food when it falls on the floor (even for one second).
Completing a Field Survey
Another more serious attempt for high schoolers to get familiar with research methods and practices is to conduct a field survey in their local environment on any topics they want. For example, they might want to find out how often people go hiking and what are common obstacles. Another example is finding out what people ate for breakfast that day as a way of presenting your local community’s eating habits or health index. In fact, the possibilities are endless, and there always needs to be a goal. “Why do we need that information? What are we trying to answer?”
Finally, make sure the students actually analyze and present the data.
Looking for Mitosis in an Onion
People get taller with age, wounds heal, and plants grow all thanks to mitoses, the process where a single cell divides into two identical daughter cells. Kids have probably learned all about mitosis by high school, but have they actually seen mitoses on a real organism? Fortunately, with a microscope, they can easily conduct an experiment and stain cells during mitosis as their science fair project.
Dusting Fingerprints
We don’t need to give any reasons why this would be a good experiment for high schoolers as the mere thought of playing forensic detectives would be extremely appealing to them. What will they learn? Well, one way to make things even more interesting is for the child to ask their classmates to leave a fingerprint on a small white paper (each fingerprint on a separate paper). Do not label the paper and make sure to mix them. Then, lift the fingerprints through dusting and try to guess which fingerprint belongs to whom by matching two fingerprints (one already known).
Make a Lightbulb at Home
Today, we take electricity for granted as we have it in an unlimited capacity. However, not so long ago, there was no electricity and people lived very differently. What will happen if the power goes down? With the help of this YouTube video, teenagers can learn a new life skill, while learning more about physics. They could even get an A in science, if they use this example as their science fair project.
Exploring Enzyme Activity
Enzymes help start and speed up chemical reactions, but what does that mean in real life? What situations are good examples of enzyme activity? The following video gives an amazing tutorial on how to scientifically measure enzyme activity by simply crushing toothpicks with one hand.
Before You Go
Science is exciting and cool, as these amazing science projects for kids of all ages show! And, with a little effort, you can prove this to your kids, too. As many reviewers claim, nothing makes science more appealing than a fun experiment that blows kids’ minds.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering that we’re wired to be curious – an important aspect of human development that gives us the desire to acquire knowledge and skills. Curiosity is a special quality of humans, underlying inquisitive thinking – exploration, investigation, and learning.
If you now wonder what lessons can help kids develop inquisitive thinking, check out 4 of our favorite science lesson plans to inspire the inquisitive mind, and many other similar articles on our blog! In fact, if you simply subscribe to our newsletter, we’ll make sure you never miss new releases.
Finally, before we say goodbye, let us remind you again to visit our website and browse through our massive library of worksheet packs on many different subjects! We’re sure that as a teacher or a homeschooling parent, you’ll find them incredibly useful.
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