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?
Download this Activity [PDF: 9.28MB] |
Upside-Down Food Science
How can astronauts swallow in zero gravity?
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.09MB] |
What Rot!
Can you find ways to keep fruits and vegetables fresh longer?
Download this Activity [PDF: 2.04MB] |
Play this fun online game!
Space Lunch! |
Animal Flip Book
What kinds of tools do animals use to solve problems?
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.27MB] |
Crow Creativity
Can you solve a problem as creatively as a crow?
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.38MB] |
Memory Challenge
Is your short-term memory as good as a chimp’s?
Download this Activity [PDF: 953KB] |
Pet Smart Toys
How can you challenge your pet so they’ll get to use their animal smarts?
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.48MB] |
Play this fun online game!
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?
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.72MB] |
Label It
What’s the best way to promote your product?
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.19MB] |
Protector of the Planet
Can you follow the three R’s and Reduce, Reuse and Recycle?
Download this Activity [PDF: 2.38MB] |
Play this fun online game!
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.
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!
View Sensational Sounds Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 754KB] |
Play this fun online game!
Junk Band Game! |
Oobleck
What’s both a liquid and a solid, very messy and fun to play with? It’s Oobleck!
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.10MB] |
It is Slime Time
Can you make the slimiest slime?
Download this Activity [PDF: 878KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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!
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.
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!
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.
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.90MB] |
Play this fun online game!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Download this Activity [PDF: 946KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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.
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.
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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
Download this Activity [1016KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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.
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!
Download this Activity [PDF: 1.24MB] |
It’s Slime Time!
Can you make the slimiest slime?
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.
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.
View Bio Inspired Videos [Video] Download this Activity [PDF: 752KB] |
Play this fun online game!
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]