"Naked Egg".

This is classic elementary science fair project experiment.

You'll need

egg.

vinegar.

water.

couple of paper towels.

flashlight.

Put an egg in the vinegar and watch what happens.

Outer egg shell is made of calcium carbonate (Ca(CO3)2), which reacts with vinegar producing
carbon dioxide, calcium acetate and water.
In approximately 24 hours the egg shell will be completely dissolved leaving only translucent
and soft protein membrane. What's cool is that you can actually see intact inner egg structure!
Use flashlight to observe yolk. Try to find germinal disk. This is the place where the chicken
development begins. If you try to rotate the egg you'll see that the yolk always turn itself so that
its germinal disk is on top of it.

Mentos & Cola experiment.

This experiment is very impressive but make sure you're not wearing new expensive clothes!
You'll need:

Bottle(s) of Cola or Pepsi, or any fizzy drink.

Pack of Mentos.

This experiment is pretty messy and should be performed outside! It'll spray cola in the
radius of few meters.

Carefully open the bottle.

Put the bottle on the flat horizontal surface.

Drop few menthos tablets in the bottle.

Quickly run away!

And yes you can be very creative too!

States of matter
This is one of 1st grade science fair projects that everyone can do at home. You'll need

Ice cubes.

Pot.

Teapot.

Bottle with cold water.

Cup.

Some plastic wrapping.

Small stone or marble.

In this experiment we'll see how matter can change state from hard to liquid to gas and back
again.
Water is amazing substance which exists on Earth in three different states of matter: solid, liquid
and as gas. Liquid is the most usual state of water. To demonstrate two other states we'll need a
fridge and a teapot.
Let kids pour water in the ice cube tray and put it in the freezer. Wait till water turns into ice. This
is first change of the state of matter - liquid matter become solid matter.
Put ice cubes in the pot and put it on the stove. Watch how ice melts.
Put some water in the teapot and boil it. Hold bottle with the cold water in front of the teapot
nose (be careful, steam is very hot!). Watch how steam turns into water on the surface of the
bottle.

Solar Energy Absorption.

This easy first grade science project deals with solar energy. You'll need three small plastic
bottles, black paint, white paint and thermometer (optional). The goal of this experiment is to

show how color of materials affects absorption of energy from the sun light.
Procedure: Paint one bottle with black paint and another one with white. Third bottle should be
left transparent. Fill bottles with tap water and put them in direct sunlight. Leave them in the sun
for 10-20 minutes. Then measure temperature with thermometer or compare temperature of
water in the bottles by just pouring water on your skin.
Water from black bottle is warmer then water from transparent or white bottles.
Try to do the same experiment mixing paint with water. Is there any difference in results?

See-Through Egg Science

by Liana Mahoney

If watching The Little Red Hen has piqued your child's curiosity about chickens, try this simple
science experiment that lets her explore the science behind chicken eggs. Wouldn't it be great if
she could see right through an egg's shell? With a little vinegar, time, and patience, she can do
just that. In this hands-on activity, she'll discover that eggs are all they're cracked up to be!
What You Need:

1 raw chicken egg in its shell (one from the grocery store is fine)

White vinegar

Clear glass jar with lid

Turkey baster

What to Do:
1. Have your child carefully place the whole, uncooked egg in the glass jar. Use a big spoon if
necessary.
2. Pour vinegar over the egg until it's completely submerged.
3. Cover the jar and observe. Talk to your child about what's happening inside the jar. What can she
see? Does she see bubbles forming? What does she think might be happening?
4. Explain to your child that the bubbles she sees in the jar are caused by the vinegar dissolving the
eggshell. The vinegar eats away at the stuff (calcium, mostly) that makes egg shells hard. Ask
her what she thinks might happen if you let the vinegar keep eating away at the eggshell.
5. Place the jar in the refrigerator and let it sit for about 24 hours.

6. After 24 hours, take the jar out of the fridge and use the turkey baster to remove most of the
vinegar. Be careful not to poke or bump the egg during this part! Its shell is very fragile and could
easily puncture.
7. After all the old vinegar is removed, pour fresh vinegar over the egg and return the jar to the
refrigerator for another 24 hours.
8. Continue in this manner until the eggshell becomes see-through. The amount of time you'll need
to achieve this varies depending on the size, variety, and thickness of the egg.
9. Once the eggshell has turned see-through, gently use a large spoon to scoop out the egg. Let
your child marvel at the egg without its shell! You can see the insides of the egg, which are being
held inside by a membrane. Explain that the membrane is like a skin around the egg. Ask your
child to think about why this membrane might be helpful to a chick growing inside its egg, then
explain to her how it keeps out dirt and germs and other harmful substances while still letting air
in.
10. Encourage your child to observe the shell-less egg and describe what she sees. Can she name
any other parts of the egg? (Yolk, egg white or albumen, etc.)
11. Finally, let your child hold the egg in her hand over a sink and give it a very gentle squeeze.
Careful! If she squeezes too hard, the egg will explode. Does it feel squishy like a pillow?
12. Finally, discuss why the inside of an egg is the perfect place for a baby chick to grow. Explain that
because the membrane is squishy, it's like a cushion for the growing chick. Together, the shell
and membrane help keep the baby chick safe until it's ready to hatch.

Write Invisible Messages with Lemon Juice

by Latrenda Knighten
Do you have a budding detective at home? Does your curious first grader have a keen eye for
science? Encourage your little science detective to develop her powers of observation by
solving the case of the invisible ink. All you need is lemon juice and an iron to get started.
Bulk up the learning in this activity with a lesson on the scientific method. Later in school when
your child learns about scientific concepts, she'll make observations, conduct experiments, and
make note of any changes. These are some of the fundamentals of scientific thinking as well as
the basis for the scientific method. Introduce her to this important concept now to give her a
head start on science!
What You Need:

1 lemon

Cup

Paint brush

24-pound white bond paper (available at office supply stores)

Iron (adults only, of course!)

Newspaper

What You Do:

1. Slice the lemon in half or fourths and have your child squeeze all its juice into the cup.
2. Ask her to think of a secret message to write to a friend or family member.
3. Have her dip the paint brush in the lemon juice and paint her message on the white bond paper.
4. Allow the paper to dry completely. Watch as her message vanishes on the paper as the lemon
juice dries.
5. Once the paper is completely dry, place the drawing between several sheets of newspaper and
begin to iron it. Continue ironing until a brown message "magically" appears!
6. Encourage your child to examine the secret message and describe how the message looks
different now than it did before. What does she think happened?
7. Once she is finished solving the case of the invisible message, help her deliver her secret
message to a friend or family member!

Did You Know? When the lemon juice message dries on the paper, it turns invisible. When the
iron heats the lemon juice, however, the natural sugar in the juice activates and starts to burn,
turning into a brown carbon substance. The browned lemon juice then appears as the secret
message!

Water Pollution: Can You See It? by Victoria Hoffman

What You Need:

4 large, clean jars

4-5 large, wide-mouth jars

Masking tape

Cone-shaped paper coffee filters

Magnifying glass

What to Do:
1. Using the four large jars, collect samples of water from four difference sources. Good sources to
use might be tap water, bottled water, rain water, or water from creeks, ponds, rivers, or even the
ocean.
2. Use a strip of masking tape and a marker to label each jar so that you will know the source of the
water.
3. Fit the coffee filters just inside the mouths of the large, wide-mouthed jars. Take one of the water
samples, and slowly pour the water through the filter into the other jar. Repeat this step for each
water sample. Don't forget to label the filters and new jars, so they don't get mixed up.
4. Open each filter and examine it through the magnifying glass. Discuss the filters with your child.
Which filter is the most discolored? Which filter caught the most particles? Did any of the samples
leave a colored residue on the filter?
5. Discuss with your child how the water in rivers, streams and ponds can become polluted. Where
do pollutants come from? (A major cause of water pollution is due to the chemicals and dyes that
factories release into rivers. Individuals who drop litter in any water source like rivers, streams, or
creeks, also contribute to water pollution.)

You can show your child that water can be polluted even if the pollution is not dramatically
visible.
What You Need:

Large, clear container

Cup

Red food coloring

Water

What to Do:
1. Pour one cupful of water into the large container.
2. "Pollute this water by adding a little red food coloring.
3. Add clear water, one cupful at a time, until the water looks clear.
4. Discuss with your child what the results of this demonstration are. Assist him in making
connections between this experiment and the real world. Some questions to think about
can be: Can we see the dye? Is the dye still in the water? If someone drinks from this
water, will they also drink the dye? What would happen is the dye was poisonous or
dangerous?

Make a Wind Vane

by Julie Williams
Breezy weather? Help your first grade scientist relate it to weather across her community and
state, and make a replica of a classic scientific measurement tool in the process!
What You Need:

Round plastic drinking cup with lid, or round food storage container with lid

Pebbles or sand

Sharpened pencil

Drinking straw (straight one, no bendies!)

Straight pin

Posterboard or card stock paper

Sharpie marker

Compass

What to Do:
1. Start by putting the lid on the plastic container, and turn the container upside down. Trace around
the lid, and then make another circle around the
outer edge, at least 2 wider than the first one.
2. Use a ruler to divide the lid in half along its
diameter, and then divide each of those halves in
half. Have your child write the words for the four
parts of the compass along the outer edge of
each of the four sides. Moving from top,
clockwise, she should write North, East, South,
and West.
3. Now open the container. Stick a blob of modeling
clay or putty on the bottom of the container, and
then fill the remainder to the top with pebbles or
sand. Snap the container lid on, and tape it, if necessary, to keep it secure.
4. Glue the container, upside down, onto the cardboard compass base you have just made.
5. Take the sharpened pencil, and poke it through the center of the plastic container so that the
eraser is on top, and the point is held by the putty and sand.

6. Now cut a broad triangle and square, about 3 across,

from your construction paper. Cut a slit in each end of
the straw, and pull the triangle through one end and
the square through the other. Use a bit of glue if they
seem to slip. Push the pin through the center of the
straw and attach it to the top of the pencil eraser. If
you flick the straw, or blow on either end, it should

move freely.
7.

Take your wind vane outside to a place

where the wind is not highly obstructed.
Help your child find north, south, east, and
west on a real compass, and line up the
wind vane. Wait for the next breezethe
arrow will point to where its coming from,
giving your child a great lesson to reinforce
those first grade mapping and earth science skills shes learning in school.

Play with Pulleys by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone

You Need

empty thread spool

2 chairs the same height

ribbon just thinner than the spool

2 plastic pails with handles

string

broom

pennies or marbles

Do This

1. Run a piece of sting about 1 foot (30 cm) long through the hole in the spool and tie the
ends of the string together.
2. Slide the spool and the string onto the broom handle. Rest the handle across the two
chairs with the spool hanging between.
3. Put one pail on the floor and tie the end of the piece of ribbon to its handle.
4. Slide the other end of the ribbon over the spool and tie it to the handle of the other pail,
which should dangle in the air.
5. Add a few pennies to the hanging pail. What happens to the pail on the ground?
6. Return the pail to the ground and add a handful of pennies or marbles. Pull the handle of
the hanging pail toward the ground. What happens to the pail filled with weights?

Tell Time with a Shadow Clock

by Latrenda Knighten

Time plays an important part in the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. Did you know that before
we had watches and clocks, people used shadows to tell time? These "shadow clocks" were
called sundials, and used a shadow cast by the sun to show the time. Introduce your child to the
science of sundials by making a shadow clock of your own. It's a fun way to play with shadows,
and helps boost her time-telling skills, too!
What You Need:

Pencil

Empty thread spool

Glue

Large piece of white paper

Permanent marker

Clock

Sunny day

What to Do:
1. Glue the bottom of the spool to the center of the white paper, and invite your child to stick the
pencil inside the hole in the spool.
2. Go outside and have him find the sunniest spot he can. Lay the shadow clock there.
3. Start your experiment on the hour (for example, at 10 o'clock exactly, not 10:15 or 10:30, etc).
Take a look at the shadow clock, and point out the shadow that the pencil is making on the paper.
4. Invite him to trace the length of the shadow with the marker, and label the time of day beside it.
Repeat this every hour throughout the day.
5. At the end of the day, ask your child to take a look at the shadow tracings and describe them.
Were the shadows all the same sizes? When were they the longest? The shortest?

At the end, talk about how your shadow gets longer when the sun is setting and shorter when
the sun is rising. What does he think happens when the sun is directly overhead? This is a great
way to help him understand the concept of time in relation to the movement of the Earth.

http://www.education.com/activity/first-grade/science/

Float or Sink A Science Activity for Kindergarten to Grade 1

What You Need

1 block of solid wood

1 plastic bottle cap

2 pieces of heavy-duty aluminum foil

1 piece of modeling clay

Sink filled with water

What to Do

Tell your child to hold the wood block in one hand and the plastic cap in the other hand. Ask him to

answer the following questions:

o

Which one feels heavier?

Do you think the wooden block will float or sink?

o Will the plastic cap float or sink?

The Lever experiment

This first grade science fair project demonstrates the function of a lever. You will need a round pencil,
an ice cream stick, a piece of tape, and some small coins like nickels. A craft stick works well also in
place of the ice cream stick.

Place a flat side of the stick across the center of the pencil. At first try placing about 3/4 of the
stick across and then tape it in place. The pencil should roll easily when placed on a flat surface
allowing the stick to rock up and down.
I placed three nickel at the end of the short piece of the stick. When I placed one nickel at the
edge of the long end it lifted the three nickel. It will depend on how much length of the stick you
placed across the pencil whether it lifts three nickel by the way.
If you changed the position of the stick on the pencil making one side even shorter it will lift
more weight. If you make it longer it will lift less. If it is perfectly centered across the pencil it will
be balanced when the same weight is applied to each side.
You can do this experiment using a board across a brick or across a small round piece of
wood... You may be able to lift an adult two or three times your weight. Aren't first grade
science fair projects fun?
http://www.science-projects-resources.com/first-grade-science-fair-projects.html