Teachers and Parents
Download these cool science project activities, with instructions you can follow at home or for your science fair project!
Space Cafe
How would you create a system to hold together one complete meal in space?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 9.28MB] |
Upside-Down Food Science
How can astronauts swallow in zero gravity?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.09MB] |
What Rot!
Can you find ways to keep fruits and vegetables fresh longer?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 2.04MB] |
Play this fun online game!
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Space Lunch! |
Animal Flip Book
What kinds of tools do animals use to solve problems?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.27MB] |
Crow Creativity
Can you solve a problem as creatively as a crow?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.38MB] |
Memory Challenge
Is your short-term memory as good as a chimp’s?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 953KB] |
Pet Smart Toys
How can you challenge your pet so they’ll get to use their animal smarts?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.48MB] |
Play this fun online game!
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Chimp Challenge! |
Egg Drop Challenge
Can you design a package that keeps an egg from breaking when it is dropped from 10 feet in the air?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.72MB] |
Label It
What’s the best way to promote your product?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.19MB] |
Protector of the Planet
Can you follow the three R’s and Reduce, Reuse and Recycle?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 2.38MB] |
Play this fun online game!
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The Zero Waste Game! |
Sound Sandwich
What kind of musical instrument could you make with rubber bands, craft sticks, and drinking straws? Find out, and play a tune.
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.18MB] |
Tube Whacker
Banging things against the floor to make noise sounds like something that could get you into trouble. In this activity, banging things will sound like musical scales!
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View Sensational Sounds Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 754KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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Junk Band Game! |
Oobleck
What’s both a liquid and a solid, very messy and fun to play with? It’s Oobleck!
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.10MB] |
It is Slime Time
Can you make the slimiest slime?
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Download this Activity [PDF: 878KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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Keep It Up! |
Mud Battery
Talk about an alternative energy source: Bacteria in mud can create an electrical charge! And you can make them do it!
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View Magical Microbes Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 1.63MB] |
The Fungus Garden
Make some leftover food turn crazy colors, grow fuzz, and get really gross.
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.21MB] |
Yeast Balloons
How can you make a balloon inflate without blowing into them? Try Yeast Balloons and find out!
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View Magical Microbes Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 1.17MB] |
Make your own Yogurt
Find out how you can turn milk into yummy yogurt.
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.90MB] |
Play this fun online game!
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Chomp! |
Science Under Pressure
Your friends will be amazed as you ‘magically’ seal a plastic bag to a bowl using only the power of air pressure.
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Download this Activity [PDF: 463KB] |
Play Balloon Ball!
Would balloon baseball work better on Earth or Mars? Find out with our balloon toss activity, then design a Balloon Ball game for each planet.
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Visit Sports on Mars Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 719KB] |
Which One Is Home?
Would you recognize your home planet from high up in the sky? Find out as you compare satellite images of Earth and Mars.
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Download this Activity [PDF: 2.12MB] |
Build A Soda Straw Rocket
Make and test a mini-rocket, just like a NASA engineer, and improve it until it can fly high.
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Download this Activity [PDF: 946KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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Mars Ball! |
Send A Top Secret Message
Write a message, then use crayons to cover it up. Nobody can see it – until you give someone the simple tool needed to read your words.
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View Detective Science Videos [Video] Download this Activity [700KB] |
Make an Invisible Electrostatic Message
Use the power of charged particles to write an invisible message on a balloon. Then show a friend how to make the message visible.
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View Detective Science Videos [Video] Download this Activity [742KB] |
The Case of the Pushy Pencils
You’re a detective. Your suspect just wrote a message on a pad of paper, then tore off the top sheet and ran. You grabbed the pad – how can you find out what was written there?
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Download this Activity [776KB] |
Learn the Secrets of Fingerprints
Who drank your smoothie while your back was turned? “Lift” the fingerprints to find out – and discover how to match prints to a suspect.
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View Detective Science Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 1.10MB] |
Your Body Rules!
Can you tell how tall someone is by looking at the size of their foot? Check it out!
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View Detective Science Videos [Video] Download this Activity [1.08MB] |
That Sinking Feeling
How can you make water float? Put liquids into layers as you build a gradient tube. Then learn how scientists test for different materials by seeing whether they sink or float.
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View Detective Science Videos [Video] Download this Activity [1.27MB] |
Backyard Detective
Even a boring-looking stretch of your yard or park can be home to fascinating species – and to clues that they were there.
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Download this Activity [1016KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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The Brownie Caper |
Take the Blindfold Challenge
Tie a blindfold around your eyes, then make some amazing discoveries about natural objects. Use your senses to observe and figure out each object’s function.
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Download this Activity [PDF: 874KB] |
Meet At the Function Junction
What objects in nature can turn garbage into something useful, or stick like glue? Take the challenge and find out as you play!
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Download this Activity [PDF: 1.24MB] |
It’s Slime Time!
Can you make the slimiest slime?
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View Bio Inspired Videos [Video] Download this Activity [945KB] |
Jumping Roaches!
Feeling jumpy? Your challenge here is to make a model roach that really hops.
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View Bio Inspired Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF:1.20MB] |
Clean Teeth and Sticky Toes
Have you been brushing your teeth with gecko feet? Find out how your toothbrush is just like a certain lizard’s toes.
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View Bio Inspired Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 752KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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What in the World? Matching Game |
Make a Flavor Lab, Cola-flavored Frosting, Secret Soda, or other fun flavor experiments. To get instructions just download the FLAVOR SCIENCE PROJECTS [PDF:122KB]
You can show where water comes from with a "fingerprinting" experiment, demonstrate how to take the salt out of saltwater, or build your own water sampling kit. To get instructions just download the WATER PROJECTS [PDF:166KB]
You can do experiments with balance and speed and show how skateboards use physics. To get instructions just download the SKATEBOARD PROJECTS [PDF:195KB]
Build your own radio to show how astronomers at the SETI Institute listen
for signals from aliens, or make a message decoder to show how the SETI scientists
might make sense of alien signals. To get instructions just download the SETI PROJECTS [PDF:259KB]
To get a booklet with more experiments on the Year 2 topics (Sports on Mars, Detective Science, and Bio-Inspired Design), just download the KIDS' SCIENCE CHALLENGE ACTIVITY KIT [PDF: 2.31MB]. You'll need to buy some of the parts. After you've decided which experiment you want to do, here's where you can get the more hard-to-find supplies:
- Simulated Mars soil – orbitec.com
- Munsell color chart – munsellstore.com
- UV beads – stevespangerscience.com
- Fingerprint ink strip – fingerprintpads.com
- Plastic BBs (of varying weight) – sporting goods store
- Centrifuge tubes – testtubesonline.com
- Zoobs – infinitoy.com
- Nano-fabric – greenshieldfinish.com
To get a booklet with more experiments on the Year 1 topics (Flavor Science, Water Quality, Skateboard Engineering, and SETI), just download the PDF from the KIDS' SCIENCE CHALLENGE ACTIVITY KIT [PDF:1.3MB]. You'll need to buy some of the parts. After you've decided which experiment you want to do, here's where you can get the supplies:
- Flavor strips - available from Sargent-Welch
- Water test strips - available from Hach or Discover Testing
- Fingerboard skateboard - available from TechDeck or Oriental Trading.
- SETI audio - click here to download a FREE mp3 audio file [6.86MB]
