Measuring stuff around the house is a fun and easy science activity for kids. It’s perfect for Saturday afternoons or whenever you want to spend some quality, stress free time with your child. These simple measurement games are flexible enough to grow with your child’s developing skills.

Here’s All You’ll Need to Get Started:

-Tape measure
-Ruler
-Paper and pencil

Activity 1

The Alphabet Game

Here’s how to play this measuring game…

Hunt for three things around the house that start with the letter A. Measure each item and log the measurement on a piece of paper. (Hint:round to the nearest inch.)

Now hunt for three things around the house that start with the letter B. Measure each item and log the measurement on a piece of paper.

Next hunt for three things around the house that start with the letter C. Measure each item and log the measurement on a piece of paper.

Now put a check mark next to the biggest item. Put a circle next to the smallest item.

(Advanced: how many of the smallest items would it take to equal the length of the longest item?)

Activity 2

1/2 a Sandwich and a Cup of Soup Please

Here’s how to play this measurement game…

Measure the length of your couch. Log the result on a piece of paper. Now find something around the house that is approximately 1/2 the length of the couch–for example: the width of your dining table. Measure it, then log the result on a piece of paper. Now find something that is approximately 1/2 the width of your dining table–for example: a picture on the wall. Measure it, then log the result on a piece of paper. Now find something 1/2 the width of the picture on the wall–for example: your toaster. Measure it, then log the result. Now find something 1/2 the width of your toaster–for example: 1/2 a sandwich. Measure it, then log the result. Keep playing until you find something that is approximately one inch long–a peanut for example. Log the result on a piece of paper.

(Advanced: keep track of how long it took to complete the activity. Compare the result each new time you complete this activity. What’s the trend?)

Activity 3

Double Double!

Here’s how to play this game…

In this game, start by measuring your child’s nose. If you measure the width, it should come out to approximately one inch. Log the results. (Your child will love seeing something like ‘Claire’s nose: 1 inch’ on your chart). Now find something approximately double the length–for example: a strawberry. Measure it and log the results. Now find something approximately double the length of the strawberry. Measure it and log the results. Keep going until you run out of things to measure.

(Advanced: measure the entire length of your house. Using that figure as a guide, estimate the distance to your mailbox, nearest park or grocery store).

Measuring things goes hand in hand with the fundamentals of science. These activities offer basic exposure to measuring procedures, and can be played again and again. As your child becomes more skillful at measuring stuff, work toward more precise measurements by rounding to the nearest 1/2 inch, and eventually to the nearest 1/4 or 1/8 inch. A good way to engage in even more precise measurements is to measure coins or book ends to the nearest 1/16 of an inch! Be sure to record the results. Have fun!

There are many things out there that your children can be doing like watching T.V. or listening to music. But these things do not enhance your child’s thinking. You want to challenge your child’s mind, help them build thinking skills that they will need for there lives. Here are 4 reasons your child should do science projects all year, not just for the science fair.

The 1st reason your child should do science projects all year, not just for the science fair is because it gets your child off the couch and using their mind. Make sure to help your child find things to do that they are interested in. Make sure to act interested in science yourself. If you do not act interested there is a big chance your child won’t be interested. So find activities that you and your child can do together.

Then 2nd reason your child should do science projects all year, not just for the science fairs is because it helps your child with their problem solving skills. Problem solving skills are very important to have in their lives. Your child will learn problem solving skills through science projects because they will have to find solutions to different problems. For instance they might be curious how a current charge is made. You can help them research out what makes current charge and then using problem solving find an experiment where you can test out the theory. Problem solving can help your children in future jobs and relationships between other people. When you do science projects all year and not just for the science fair it will help increase the times your child is learning how to problem solve.

The 3rd reason your child should do science projects all year, not just for the science fair is because it will help your child to be more interested in science as a whole. Your child might just try to get through science right now by doing the bare minimum, But with your help you can do science projects all year long and get them to have a bigger interested in science. So not only does it help them to achieve more in there science class it also increases your child’s love for science.

The 4th reason your child should do science projects all year, not just for the science fair is because it will make your child more knowledgeable. You child will start to learn things from science that they did not know before. This will help them to be more interested in there surroundings. It will also help them to pay attention to things around them. For instance it might make your child more out to think on a higher level about how things work. And if they can’t figure out how they work they will be excited to go find out because they know that you will help them do a science project on the things that they are having trouble understanding.

These are all reasons to do science projects all year, not just for the science fair. Doing science projects with your child will help you to find a bond that will help your child in their future. Encourage your child to find solutions and different ways to get things to work. By doing this you are helping your child to learn and grow while having fun. So make sure to do science projects all year.

Easy science fair projects are ideal ways for students to learn to do projects and demonstrate them to lay people and explain to them in simple non technical terms. So being initial training, it’s good if the easy science fair project turns out to be something easy, manageable and elementary.

This training to do the easy science fair projects for the beginners’ can be started in the elementary school itself. Teaching them to select simple single step experiments and explaining to the students how to use simple materials to conduct the experiments. Making them understand and allowing them to explain it in their own words of what they understand will make sure that they had understood the concept. Teaching them to explain it to the audiences who frequent the fair will help them use non-technical terms. Many fairs are usually largely attended by the parents, and close relatives and students of other schools, so it is important for students to be able to express their knowledge and not sound overwhelmed.

Going for an easy science fair project will help the student and parents get all the materials easily, motivate them to put in their creative efforts, sustain and develop their interest in the field of science and also understand simple things much clearly. The topic can be selected from any area of science. Creativity and originality have to be encouraged. Support and guidance will keep the students motivated to exhibit the best.

There are plenty of sources to select an experiment for an easy science fair project. Science books contain them according to the age groups. There are many science forums that make learning science easy and interesting for children. The internet is full of sites offering help, but caution must be urged in utilizing the many free sources of information. The projects that you can find just anywhere on the internet are overdone, and typically receive poorer grades than the more creative projects you can find by digging deeper.

Teaching your children that everything is governed by laws of nature in their young age helps them not to be carried by various myths spread around. Giving them a chance to ask questions and fueling their inquisitive mind will keep their minds active and creative. It is also a platform for them to exhibit their talents to the lay people and to let parents know what they learn in the school.

It is a fair place to introduce the use of simple scientific tools, methods, techniques, concepts and equipments, to small children. The use of such materials by the children should be always supervised and monitored. The danger of handling such instruments should also be inculcated in their minds, though in a way that they don’t fear using them.

Use of simple materials that are easily available either naturally or in and around the area make it easier to start the experiment or project with less investments and wastage of time in acquiring them.

Several fun science experiments can be conducted with basic materials that you already have in your home. These little experiments will keep your children entertained while enhancing and reinforcing their science knowledge.

The first easy experiment will teach your child how sound is caused by vibration.
Gather a small empty box such as a match box or a child’s shoe box, some
rubber bands, a few small drinking glasses, a spoon, and some water. First, fill
the drinking glasses with different amounts of water. Have your child tap on the
glasses using the spoon and point out how the amount of water inside the glass
affects the sound that is produced. Next, wrap the rubber bands around the box.
Make sure they are all facing the same way. The box should look similar to a guitar
if done correctly. Let your child pluck the strings to make sound. There are additional
ways to produce sound as well. For example, you can put wax paper over a comb
and blow on it like a harmonica. Kazoos are also a fun way to produce sound. If
you live near a school supply store you might also consider purchasing a tuning
fork to enhance this experiment.

Static electricity is something else that can easily be taught. For this experiment
you will need a balloon, a comb, a plate, and some small bits of scrap paper.
This experiment works best in the winter. First, tear the scrap paper up into
tiny bits and place it on the plate. Next, let your child run the comb through
his/her hair. The comb will now chase the bits of paper about the plate. After
you are done with that phase of the experiment, blow up and tie the balloon. Vigorously
rub it on your child’s hair or let them rub it through yours. The balloon
should now stick to the wall because of the static electricity.

Another simple science experiment involves learning how plants grow. Gather paper cups, water, dirt, seeds, carnations,
food coloring, a spoon, leaves, paper, and a pencil. First, let your child add
some dirt and a little water to two paper cups. Next, plant some seeds into each
cup. Place one cup in a window or a sunny spot. Place the other plant in a shady
spot that rarely sees the sun such as a closet. Water each plant regularly. As
time passes your child will notice how the plant that receives sun thrives and
how the other plants do not. This experiment proves that plants need sunshine
to grow. There are some related experiments that you can also do. Pour some water
into several cups and add different hues of food coloring to the cups and stir.
Add a carnation to each cup. By the next day, the carnations should have changed
to the color of the water. This demonstrates how plants absorb water. You might
also have your child do leaf rubbings using paper and pencil to show how the plant
food is produced.

As you can see, there are many simple science experiments that can be done with
your child. Gather those materials and let the fun and the learning begin!

There are many things that you can do that would be a great activity for you and your children to do. For instance you can go swimming, or fishing, or even go for a hike. But another great activity to do is a science project. Here are 6 instances where a science project would be a great activity.

The 1st instance where a science project would be a great activity would be while taking a hike. You could incorporate a science project into your hike. For example, say that you see butterflies along the trail on your hike. You could point out to your kids the different colors on the butterflies. Then you could ask the question of how is a butterfly made or where do they come from. Then you could explain the whole process of how the caterpillar turns into a cocoon and then the butterfly forms and emerges from the cocoon. You can then try to have your kids find a caterpillar on your hike or see if they can find a cocoon. Then when you get home, incorporate what you talked about, and make a hands on project they can do to test their theories and knowledge. Find some information on the internet and show them. This will help put curiosity into your child’s mind and make them stop and think about things more.

The 2nd instance where a science project would be a great activity would be when going to the zoo. You could go to the different cages with the different animals and explain what role the animal has in the world. For instance show birds and explain how they keep the populations of bugs down. This will help your child to start thinking out side the box and want to discover more about the animals in the world and what their purpose is. You can plan a science project around something you would see at the zoo and do it before hand.

The 3rd instance where a science project would be a great activity would be when going to a museum. You can show your kids how things that have evolved through science over the past centuries. You can show them how science has helped to make cars. Show your children how science has made medicine where it is today. Help your child to understand that science is a very important part of how we live. Without science we would be stuck in the dark ages. This will help your kids to want to be interested in science and what it has to offer. Then, when you return home, have your children do a science project that helps increase their understanding of a concept they learned about at the museum. So, if they learned about electricity, teach them about closed circuits, and do a project.

The 4th instance where a science project would be a great activity would be when you take a vacation. Make sure to point out how science helps make the technology used today in the rollercoaster rides you will go on, or the airplane that you will ride on to get to your destination. Help point out things like this that your kids might not even take into consideration as being part of science. This would be a great opportunity to incorporate a science project.

The 5th instance where a science project would be a great activity would be when you are discussing something that you child has questions about. For instance if your child has a question on why clouds are the way they are. You could do a science project to help them understand clouds and what makes different clouds, and what the different clouds represent. For example if you have dark grey clouds it usually means it is going to rain. Make sure to explain the science behind it while doing the science project.

These are all instances where a science project would be a great activity. Take the opportunity to incorporate science projects into your activities every chance you get. This will help your child have a love for science and what it has to offer.