How to Pick the Best Science Fair Topic for Winning OR Taking it Easy

When he was in middle school, my husband went to the county level for his science fair project. I am sure it was not because he and his partner did a meticulous job on their research. It might have had something to do with their topic selection.

If you would like to win, or if you would just like your child to get their science fair project done the easiest possible way, you need to choose the right topic.  You could  start by searching on-line for a science fair topic. You'll find long lists of "winning science fair projects". Can I tell you a secret? You aren't very likely to win with those. Many of them involve obscure science.  Worse, they involve random items, and may not even work: not exactly easy. I have a better method for you.

How to Set Up a Pumpkin Engineering Task Your Second Graders Will Love

Kids in the Kitchen: Chicken 'n Science

Cooking is one of those hands-on activities that naturally employs all sorts of STEM  skills: science as you observe change, technology (especially if you are into gadgets like my husband!), engineering as you control change, and math as you measure and time.  Today, I am excited to join the Kids in the Kitchen Project hosted by Jennifer at Study at Home Mama.  I like to precook a whole chickens for future use, and my kids love helping me pick the meat. Here is how you can learn some great science while preparing your own chicken dinner!

Messy Fort: A Simple Strategy for Making Any Day Special

Building a fort is great engineering practice that helps kids learn physics and  develop their creativity. When I saw the Fort a Building Challenge from Building Blocks and Acorns I knew it was a project for us. However, it did not go as expected.  

After a fun day, that ended up having nothing to do with forts, some illness, and some general disruption of this mother's plans, I finally resorted to just making the fort myself on a random day. After all, setting the example is one of the most important aspects of involving kids in STEM, right?

Materials for this Messy Fort

Foam Mats

Tarp

Dining Room Chairs

Sheet

Twisty Ties

How to Set Up a Messy Fort

I chose this spot in our dining area, because I wanted natural light pouring into our fort so that it would be good for art.  We had already lined the windows with painters tape.

I put down the foam mats to protect the floor and make a comfortable place to sit .

The mats were covered with a tarp for added protection.  I wanted to be sure the kids really had the chance to get messy!

Next, I arranged four chairs on the edge of the tarp.

Finally, I topped it all with a bed sheet, and fastened the corners with twisty ties.

How We Enjoyed our Messy Fort

My preschooler was the first one to use the messy fort .  She loved being able to play with play dough on the ground.  I do not normally allow that.  She made some shape patterns and did an experiment by mixing two types of play dough.

Next, I set up a special sensory play for my toddler.  I mixed up some bubbles with the dish soap, and put them in a pot.

She enjoyed exploring and squishing the suds between her fingers. Sensory play is science for babies!

When my oldest got home from school, he was excited to get on on the action.  He ate his snack in the fort, then he used water colors to practice his spelling words and do some art.

Some times, rather than adding a new activity, we just need to liven up the ordinary tasks. My children loved that they had a special place to enjoy their normal activities.  We enjoyed our messy fort, and I am looking forward to many more forts to come.

How do you like to liven up ordinary days?

There have been some great forts done as part of this fort building challenge including, an ocean fort, an outdoor fort, and a space fort.  All great science themes!  It is not too late to get in on the fun.  Check out the Fort Building Challenge homepage, build your own fort, and even send in a picture.

You May Also Enjoy:

The Surprising Truth About Why Your Child Makes So Many Messes

I Spy: Rot! An Effortless Science Lesson

How to Use Paper Snow Flakes to Learn Math

Paper snow flakes are a classic project that kids love. They're also a great way to learn a little math.

On a bright January day, perfect to look at, but too cold to stay outside for long, I needed something to do with my bright energetic children.Paper snow flakes were one of my favorite crafts as a child, and I thought that just maybe they would enjoy making some as well.
To introduce this activity to my kids, I folded the paper in half just once and cut two shapes, I got two shapes.Then, I folded to the paper in half twice and two cut shapes.We found four when we unfolded the paper. I continued adding more and more folds, cutting two shapes each time, and they were excited to see that there were more and more shapes.

Multiplying by 2, again and again.

 I asked my children they could find the pattern, and they said "no", but they were grabbing for the paper and the scissors to make their own!

They were grabbing for the paper and scissors

 How to make your basic paper snowflakes 

 If you would like to try this activity, you will just need a stack of tissue paper cut into squares and a pair of scissors.

All you need!

Fold the paper into triangles. You can fold as many times as you like as long as you keep the same center point.

Mark the center carefully

Cut patterns into the sides of the triangles, then unfold the tissue to see your finished product!

Opening the snowflake!

 How to demonstrate the math in snowflakes 

 Real snow flakes have six sides. To get this effect, fold the initial square in half to make a triangle,
then fold that triangle into thirds

Real snow flakes have six sides.

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You could say that this snowflake demonstrates f = (n/2)(xy) where n is the number of cut outs, and x and y represent the number of sections the paper was folded into.  x = 2 when it was folded in half.  y = 3 when it was folded in thirds.  The total number of shapes is f = (2/2) (2*3), which is 6.  

 Six shapes in the snowflake

This pattern corresponds to f= x^y where x is the number of shapes cut, and y is the number of folds.

For elementary students, I recommend that you do just what I did.Show them the pattern, encourage them to guess what it might be, then let them enjoy the project.If you are working with older students you might assign making snowflakes that follow a certain function, or you could let them make some snowflakes, and translate them into math.


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The wonderful thing is that they are automatically doing math to figure out how to get the designs they want.  Add in the added brain connections from doing hands on learning, and you have a great STEAM project that they'll be excited to share with their own kids one day.

Beaded snowflakes

More Math Crafts

Beaded Snowflake addition practice

Beautiful multiplication pine cone craft
Chaos theory for kids

Find out about seasonal projects each month! 

Each month I send an e-mail with seasonal projects like this one to my subscribers. Sign up now to receive next month's newsletter.

More Indoor Activities for Older Kids 

Today, I am excited to be joining a project hosted by Erica at What We Do All Day.  She is a true professional mom, and I love reading her blog to get ideas for my own kids.  Several fantastic blogs are joining in today to bring you indoor activities that you can do with your older kids.  If you are like us, and never know when you will be stuck indoors due to bad weather, you will want to be sure to pin these ideas for later!

Indoor Activities for Tweens come from What We Do All Day

Working With Yarn - 10 Ways to Create come from Betsy's Photography

  Wooden Bangles for Animal Lovers from Adventure in a Box

Inside Activities Promoting Growth Mindset from Planet Smarty Pants

Indoor Pom Pom Races from Lemon Lime Adventures 

Simple Duck Tape Bracelets from the Gingerbread House

The Classic Winter Time Experiment Every Kid Should Do (At Least Once!)

Winter time is a wonderful time of year to enjoy with children, especially preschoolers.  It can also be the time of year when parents could use a few extra activities in their repertoire! Today, I have a classic winter science experiment for you, one every kid should try at least once.  This experiment involves snow, and we are hoping to get some.  However, if snow is the rarity for you that it is for us, you can always substitute ice.

Let your preschooler get some snow

My kids are always eager to do this part. Again, if you do not expect to get snow, use ice.

Make a hypothesis about how snow melts

We actually did this experiment for the first time after my preschooler made a hypothesis about how snow melts.  "I think pouring water on snow will make it melt."  Now, before you judge, we live in the South where some adults believe this myth too. The results can be tragic for their windshields!

Set up your experiment

Set up one container of snow in the circumstance that your child believes will melt the snow, and one in the opposite circumstance.  You may also want to set up one trial of each type in the freezer, and one outside of the freezer. (Wink!)

Check out your results

Let your child check the results.  Talk about what you see. Use the terms "liquid snow" and "solid snow."  You might encourage them to draw a journal about their experiences.

My daughter saw these pictures from last year as I was prepping this post.  She immediately asked, "If we could please do that experiment again?" It is always a treat to re-enjoy these simple activities with an excited preschooler!

Once your child gets bored repeating this activity,  challenge them to find new ways to melt the snow, or measure the volume and mass to see if they are the same very time.  Do you know exactly what temperature is the melting point for snow?

If you decide to try this experiment, I would love to hear what your preschooler decides to try!  Leave their ideas in the comments or on our facebook page.  Who knows, maybe you will discover a new way to melt snow!

This post is part of a blog hop hosted by  Preschool POWOL Packets. Each day a different blogger will share one fantastic winter time fun idea for preschoolers.  Be sure to check in for another great Preschool Winter Fun idea tomorrow!

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

I Spy: An Echo Chamber!

Ocean habitat lesson that your children will love

The other day the Pony Artist found a box of shells I had been saving.  She spent most of an hour just looking, then announced that she had thought of a great activity to share with you! The result was an amazing sensory play set. Here's how you can set up this lesson for your kids as well.

(This post does not include affiliate links as originally written, but I may add them in the future.)

Do It Yourselves Pretend Pony Barn

Each month we enjoy participating in the Recycle!Create! challenge.  I have found this project to be a perfect opportunity to encourage my children to build their engineering skills.

When I asked the Pony Artist what she wanted to make from food containers, her response was immediate:  "A barn for my ponies!"

First, she chose her materials from the recycling bin.

Next, she removed the top, and one end of each box.  Notice the scissor practice.

The Pony Artist says the barn looks better this way, and I would say removing the top makes play easier.  

I helped her paint.  She chose bright colors for the walls, dark back walls, and straw like floors.

A few days later, after the paint was dry, we added pine straw to make the ponies comfortable.  But, "Not too much, because it makes the baby uncomfortable."

It was a great chance to discuss what kind of environments are best for horses. Understanding the needs of living organisms is perfect preschool level habitat study.

Each pony has its own job in the pony family, and I was treated to a long short story.  The daddy fights for the whole family.  The big sister only fights for the baby.

Do you have an idea for using food containers to do a project with or for your children?Share in the comments, or link it up!

An InLinkz Link-up

Easy Windsock Project for Kids

Pony Artist loves the beautiful windsocks people put in their yards.  When I offered the chance for her to make her own she was extremely excited.

Materials:  Plastic shopping bag

                 Crayon

                 Rubber bands (from produce)

                 Large twisty tie. (also from produce)

                 Foam 

                 Hot glue gun

                 Heavy paper

First, she used the crayon to color the bag.  

Then she cut up some pink foam to use as a decoration.  Initially, she asked for paper.  It was a great opportunity to talk about what would happen to paper in the rain, and discuss what material best suited our project.

The Pony Artist showed me where she wanted the foam, and I used the hot glue gun to attach it.  We put the newspaper in the middle to keep the sides of the bag from sticking together.

On one side she chose a random design.

On the other side she decided to glue a piece of foam on each letter.   We talked about the sounds as we worked.

When we finished, she cut off the bottom of the bag.  I glued rubber bands on two edges.

Using the twisty tie we attached the bag to a bamboo pole in our garden.

Now, the Pony Artist enjoys going outside to check the wind speed.  This windsock picks up the slightest breeze, a rewarding result!

At our stage, this is a great weather study tool.  For older kids, calibrating the windsock to actual wind speeds would be a fun extension.

Each month we look forward to project Recycle!Create!  where we use a common material to do a project with or for our kids.  It is a great opportunity to build environmental awareness by slowing down to notice how useful the things we throw away can be.  It also can be a great way to talk about the composition(chemistry!) of different materials.

Learn more about Project Recycle !Create!.

Or link up your own shopping bag project.

An InLinkz Link-up