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Posts Tagged ‘Kids’

Doing science fair projects should be fun for the kids. Here is one of our easy science fair projects kids can do that is fun. It needs very little supplies, it also needs very little work, but it will need a little time. It is very easy though and if you have the time the kids will get a trill out of it.

In this experiment kids are going to look at how organic matter decomposes. Your kid will see that soil teems with life such as worms, slugs, millipedes and beetles that feed on the decaying matter. The decomposers are microscopic bacteria, fungi, woodlice, mites and small insects. This decomposing is the process where all organic material is turned into rich fertilizer for the growing plants in the soil.

This project actually consists of two easy science fair projects for the kids to do. The first your kid is going to look at the conditions needed for the decomposing process and in the second your kid is going to look at the decomposers.

Remember to make meticulous notes from your hypothesis to your conclusion and for your display purposes it is a good idea to take photos of each step as you go.

Having a look at the optimal conditions for the decomposing process:

What you need:

* A trowel
* Good soil
* Dead leaves
* Water and a watering can
* Two clean plastic containers, one with a tight lid
* Tags
* Pen
* Note book
* Camera
* Plastic gloves

This is what you have to do:

Wear your gloves for both of these experiments

1. Remember your notes and photos
2. Using your trowel fill the two plastic containers three quarters full with dry soil
3. Place a layer of dead leaves on top of the soil in both containers
4. Mark the container with the lid “A” and the other “B”
5. Now you water the soil and the leaves in your container marked “A” thoroughly and press the lid on
6. Keep the soil and leaves in the container marked “B” dry, do not add any water to it
7. Place both containers in a dry place and wait a few weeks
8. Have a look at both and you will notice that the leaves in the wet soil will have begun to rot while the leaves in the dry soil has dried and shriveled.

In the next experiment that is the second of our easy science fair projects for kids to do we are going to look at the decomposers.

What you will need:

* Once again your plastic gloves
* A plastic funnel
* A large clear jar with a neck into which the funnel will fit
* Some rotting leaves from a compost heap
* Black paper
* Sticky tape
* A desk lamp
* A magnifying glass
* A field guide
* A notebook
* A pen
* A camera

This is what you have to do:

1. The plan is to see the insects on the rotting leaves
2. You are going to separate them by using a lamp, a funnel and a large jar
3. Place the funnel in the jar
4. Wearing your gloves loosely fill the funnel with your rotting leaves
5. To keep out the light, you have to tape the black paper around the sides of the jar so it is dark inside the jar
6. Now you place the lamp in such a position that it shines onto the leaves in the funnel
7. What you want to happen is for the insects on the leaves to move away from the heat and light from the lamp
8. While doing so they will fall down the funnel and into the jar.
9. After an hour, take a way the lamp and remove the black paper from the jar
10. There will be several insects in the jar
11. Identify them by looking at them with the magnifying glass and the field guide
12. When you are finished, return them to where you found them and be careful not to kill them. These creatures are very important in the eco system of the earth!

Science is a fun and interesting subject for kids because it is all around us. Some people do not realize that science is involved when in almost everything you do such as cooking, cleaning, and playing. When these people think of science they probably remember the classroom and the teachers boring lectures, but the good news is that method is becoming a thing of the past. Science is being brought onto television with police dramas such as CSI.

Most children at an elementary school age want to grow up and be a policeman because policeman help people and they always catch the bad guy. To kids this is the best thing in the world, and for us as parents we can not think of a better role model for our children than a police officer. CSI shows kids how science is used to solve crimes and catch the bad guys. While kids might not understand the exact techniques involved with DNA and others, every kid knows about fingerprints. Teachers can set up a mock crime scene and let children lift fingerprints and other crime lab techniques. At the end the children can solve the crime and write a report on who they think did it, how they figured out who did it, etc. This is a fun exercise for children to do and it is all hands on.

Another reason why kids love science is because what other subject do you get to learn about outer space. Children of all ages are fascinated with the idea about outer space and aliens. Outer space is also interesting because it involves flying in rockets and going places that nobody has gone before. The whole idea about what if lets children use their imagination and learn at the same time.

Science is also fun because you can mix stuff together and make new things. Children from a young age learn that if you take dirt and mix water to it you get mud. And the learning does not stop there, as they get older the learn more about combining ingredients to make new things. Science allows children to make play dough, cookies, slime and all sorts of other gross and fun things. Besides the fact kids can just experiment on their own to see what they can come up with.

Another part of science is animals. Almost all kids love to learn about animals. Basic science about animals involves ant farms, which kids can build themselves with a jar, some dirt and ants. The best part about ant farms is digging in the dirt and trying to find the ants. But as kids get older they can take this type of science to another level, which can include biology and anatomy.

For kids science is fun because what other subject do you get to have all of your questions answered and use your imagination to create things. Science is also filled with wonders about other worlds, such as dinosaurs and why they became extinct, outer space and walking on the moon, and solving crimes. Science involves experimenting and most kids love to try things to see if they work. For example physical science can involve dropping an egg from a roof top to see if it will break, or what will drop faster a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks. By getting hands-on kids can figure out these answers and numerous other answers, the hands-on experiments make science even more fun and exciting.

Have you ever wondered why students and parents alike dislike 4th grade science projects so strongly? Once again, we look forward to the mandatory and yearly stunning displays of the 4th grade science project. Why are these assigned, are they actually a requirement, and what is the point in doing an 4th grade science project? These questions and many more are often the fuel used to light fires by parents all over, because they seem to lack an understanding of the need for an 4th grade science project.

If you stop for a moment and take a look at what the main excuse is for not having a 4th grade science project turned in on time, you may be surprised to find that most parents are in fact guilty of taking over their child’s(rens) 4th grade science project in an attempt to turn it in on time. Most of this dislike of 4th grade science projects is due in part from a lack of adhering to the schedule set by their instructors, which allows them to end up late for everything and rushing at the last minute to create an 4th grade science project that was spanned over several months, into one night before it is due. By allowing this reaction to an 4th grade science project to become normal behavior, we are, in essence, setting ourselves up for future disasters by creating mindless generations that have no understanding of how to organize, plan, exert effort, and use their brains.

We are teaching our children, by allowing them to procrastinate, when it comes to their 4th grade science project that it is all right to let things slide, to plan for another day because we do not feel like doing something today. Not only are the children who are supposed to be doing the 4th grade science project, being given a bad example, but also they are being shown that no matter what mistakes they make, their mom and dad will do the work for them — regardless of the consequences.

A bit dramatic to make as a statement from why children have been lazy in the past when it comes to completing a 4th grade science project? I think not. It is our duty as parents to encourage our children to do their best in all their endeavors, even the 4th grade science project, and everything else in life. We never know when that one action we encouraged could lead to their main future direction. Ultimately, the way we allow our children to develop, even from completing an 4th grade science project, is the kind of adults we are encouraging them to be. Do we have secret desires for our children to end up as bums on the street? Perhaps we would prefer them to have no jobs for the duration of their adult life. These statements are not only ridiculous, but they hold no weight as being valid either.