Teachers and Parents

Fun Activities for All Topics

Download these cool science project activities, with instructions you can follow at home or for your science fair project!

Meals on Mars Activities

Space Cafe
How would you create a system to hold together one complete meal in space?

Red Star Download this Activity [PDF: 9.28MB]

Upside-Down Food Science
How can astronauts swallow in zero gravity?

Red Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.09MB]

What Rot!
Can you find ways to keep fruits and vegetables fresh longer?

Red Star Download this Activity [PDF: 2.04MB]

Play this fun online game!

Red Star Space Lunch!

Animal Smarts Activities

Animal Flip Book
What kinds of tools do animals use to solve problems?

Blue Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.27MB]

Crow Creativity
Can you solve a problem as creatively as a crow?

Blue Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.38MB]

Memory Challenge
Is your short-term memory as good as a chimp’s?

Blue Star Download this Activity [PDF: 953KB]

Pet Smart Toys
How can you challenge your pet so they’ll get to use their animal smarts?

Blue Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.48MB]

Play this fun online game!

Blue Star Chimp Challenge!

Zero Waste Activities

Egg Drop Challenge
Can you design a package that keeps an egg from breaking when it is dropped from 10 feet in the air?

Green Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.72MB]

Label It
What’s the best way to promote your product?

Green Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.19MB]

Protector of the Planet
Can you follow the three R’s and Reduce, Reuse and Recycle?

Green Star Download this Activity [PDF: 2.38MB]

Play this fun online game!

Green Star The Zero Waste Game!

Sensational Sounds Activities

Sound Sandwich
What kind of musical instrument could you make with rubber bands, craft sticks, and drinking straws? Find out, and play a tune.

Red Star 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!

Red Star View Sensational Sounds Videos [Video]
Download this Activity [PDF: 754KB]

Play this fun online game!

Red Star Junk Band Game!

Super Stuff for Sports Activities

Oobleck
What’s both a liquid and a solid, very messy and fun to play with? It’s Oobleck!

Blue Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.10MB]

It is Slime Time
Can you make the slimiest slime?

Blue Star Download this Activity [PDF: 878KB]

Play this fun online game!

Blue Star Keep It Up!

Magical Microbes Activities

Mud Battery
Talk about an alternative energy source: Bacteria in mud can create an electrical charge! And you can make them do it!

Green Star 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.

Green Star 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!

Green Star 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.

Green Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.90MB]

Play this fun online game!

Green Star Chomp!

Sports on Mars Science Project

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.

Red Star 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.

Red Star 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.

Red Star 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.

Red Star Download this Activity [PDF: 946KB]

Play this fun online game!

Red Star Mars Ball!

Detective Science Project

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.

Blue Star 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.

Blue Star 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?

Blue Star 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.

Blue Star 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!

Blue Star 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.

Blue Star 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.

Blue Star Download this Activity [1016KB]

Play this fun online game!

Blue Star The Brownie Caper

Bio Inspired Science Project

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.

Green Star 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!

Green Star Download this Activity [PDF: 1.24MB]

It’s Slime Time!
Can you make the slimiest slime?

Green Star 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.

Green Star 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.

Green Star View Bio Inspired Videos [Video]
Download this Activity [PDF: 752KB]

Play this fun online game!

Green Star What in the World? Matching Game

Flavor Science Project

 

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]

Skateboard Science Project

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]

Water Science Project

You can do experiments with balance and speed and show how skateboards use physics. To get instructions just download the SKATEBOARD PROJECTS [PDF:195KB]

SETI Science Project

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]
 

Other Science Fair Resources from Kids' Science Challenge

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:

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: