Kyra, as well as the entire 4th-grade classes, was assigned a science project to complete and display for their annual Science Fair. As the mom, I moaned and groaned a bit because it was already a struggle to have her get her nightly homework done and now there’s this at home project to be completed.
She initially chose to have her project be on what weather conditions were necessary and what caused hail. This idea was turned down since she, unfortunately, could not control the weather in order to experiment on the right combination of conditions to create hail. The project had to be something SHE could experiment with and manipulate. So we scoured the internet and found some easy, at home and free ideas for her to choose from.
- Idea #1: Put a piece of red meat, chicken and fish into coke and see what happens to the meat after five days.
- Idea #2: Use baby food to determine which would become contaminated- the one in the fridge or the one on the counter.
- Idea #3: What happens to various house hold products (i.e. flour, salt, sugar, borax, laundry soap, baking soda) when it comes in contact with a flame.
After careful consideration, idea #3 was ruled out as an option since playing with fire is baaaad. I thought the soda one would be cool, if not a little disturbing to see what coke or carbonated drinks do to meet or the inside of your body. But ultimately Kyra decided to do the baby food experiment.
We got two containers of the same baby food, put one in the fridge and one on the counter, and documented the level of contamination. Below are the results and her finished poster for the Science Fair.
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