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Home > Calendar > Event Detail: Homeschoolers Day Science Fair

Montshire Homeschool Day:
Science Fair

This spring, show off the cool science you’re doing at home at the Montshire’s Homeschool Science Fair! Develop and conduct your own experiment at home. Then create a display that presents your project and its results. Share all your hard work and teach others about what you learned at the Montshire.

Need some ideas? Here are some recommendations to get you started.

  1. Start with a question! 
Have a question that’s stumped, puzzled, or baffled you? Make a list of them. Figure out which of those questions you can actually test. Make sure the experiment is something that you’re interested in and can be done with the materials and time available to you.
  2. Make a prediction or hypothesis. 
What do you think might happen? In the end, it doesn’t matter whether your prediction was wrong or right. A good experiment will teach you something no matter what the outcome, and generally results in new questions!
  3. Design your experiment. 
To do an experiment, you need to figure out what you’re going to change (these are your variables) and what you’re going to keep the same. Sometimes you might have to try things out a few times before you settle on how to best approach the experiment.
  4. Conduct your experiment and collect your data. 
Use measurements, drawings, or photographs to record your results.
  5. Figure out what it all means. 
Review the results and assess the situation. Was your prediction correct or not? Most importantly, what did you learn?
  6. Share your knowledge. 
Organize your process and the results in a poster or display, so others can see what you did and discovered. Share new questions you had along the way and what you might do differently next time.

Plus (click or tap to expand) + Science Fair Details

The work will be displayed in three categories (student categories are for projects where one student did 60% of the work or more):

  • Students grades 1-4
  • Students grades 5 and up
  • Families (any group size where at least one adult and one child worked together; it can be a team of two or twenty!)

Each participant will share a table with others, so please make sure your presentation materials will fit in a 3x3 foot area.

You may show small examples of your experiment or project, but please don’t share anything that’s messy, dangerous, or requires a flame! You may want to take lots of pictures and show those instead!

Plus (click or tap to expand) + Science Fair Schedule

The Science Fair will be organized in an open house-style setting.

Morning session:

10–11am: Set-up
11am: Presentations available for review.

Afternoon session:

1–1:30pm: Set-up
1:30pm: Presentations available for review

Plus (click or tap to expand) + Need help coming up with a question?

Here are some questions that might make for an interesting science fair project. Use one of these or come up with an even better one!

Examples of Experiment Questions:

1. Can you determine the relative density of vegetables/fruit by checking predictions on which will float and which will sink?

2. Does the type of animal you own affect your exercise habits? Do owners of certain pets get more exercise then others?

3. What is the best way to clean up silly putty stuck to fabric?

4. Does playing outside have a greater influence on happiness then other indoor
activities?

5. Do family members share fingerprint traits? Are family members’ finger prints more similar then non-family member fingerprints?

6. Do birds have a preference on birdseed variety?

7. What is the best play dough recipe you can make in your kitchen?

8. How are icicles created? How does frost form? Is it possible to replicate icicle or frost formation?

9. What fabrics/materials keep me the warmest outside and why?

10. What wild animals visit my yard and where do I see their tracks?

11. How does snow temperature vary with depth?

12. Are there differences between a plant grown in sunlight versus no light?

13. What tricks help keep a bouquet of flowers stay fresh longer?

14. Is it possible to grow anything outside right now?