Any ideas for 1st grade science fair?

My son is participating in science fair in two weeks. He's in gifted and talented, and I'm trying to think of something unique and interesting for him to do. His teacher has hinted that volcanoes, carnations changing color in food coloring, and styrofoam solar systems are not original. Any ideas?!

Any ideas for 1st grade science fair?
How about putting a very dirty, or aged penny each in different solutions and see if it affects the appearance in X number of days.



Example of types of solutions: Coca Cola, orange juice, or hot sauces from a fast food place, (Taco Bell), milk, and water.



Take a picture of the penny 'before' you place it in the solution, and 'after' to see if it returns into it's shiny and new state.



There will be noticeable difference in the appearance due to the high acidic (sour, tangy) chemical make-up of the solutions. And maybe mild to no change in the non-acidic solutions. (i.e. milk; water).



If it can clean a very dingy penny, think what it could do to the inside of your body.



I don't know if these is difficult for a 1st grader to comprehend or understand the purpose of this particular experiment, but since your son has been identified as gifted/talented, I thought this might be an appropriate experiment. I was amazed with the findings when I did this experiment a gazillion years ago!



OR

A comparison of different brands of baby diapers. Measure, say a cup (or more) of water, (put food coloring so you can 'see' the water better), and pour it into each brand of diapers, (same size/stage), and see which can hold the most without spilling or leaking or breaking the diaper. This experiment will help determine, if the most expensive diaper is better at holding fluids, or the cheapest is not the best, or cost doesn't prove that the diaper is better or not better.



Good luck!
Reply:A vlocano you make a volcano out of paper mache. Then you get backing sodaq and vinegar and put it inside then watch. It will explode
Reply:When I was in first grade, I did a project called the magic egg. It looked hard but it was a very simple task. You can go to: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceEx... it has more information.
Reply:didnt you just read it it says volcanoes not original

you can go to like book stores and buy science fair books and your son and you can help choose a topic together
Reply:make a electromagnet. it's very simple to make, first you will need apiece of coper wire and a piece of metal like a screw.then you wrap it around the metal many times you will probably see the two ends of the wire, now get a fully charged AA battery and stick one piece of the wire on the negative side and the other wire end put it on the positive end, now put your nail on a item like a paper clip and it will stick.it's a fifth project so the teacher will be impressed.
Reply:How about examining the effect of fat content on the rate at which milk will spoil? Get a quart or half gallon of skim, 1/2%,1%, 2 % and whole milk. Also a small can of skim evaporated and whole evaporated. Place in small 1/2 cup identical sample containers and record the appearance of each over 1 week at room temperature. Don't refrigerate or some will take longer than 2 weeks to spoil. Carefully record data and observations at least twice daily for 10 days. Form a hypothesis as to which will spoil most quickly. (He might be surprised). His conclusions should address whether his hypothesis was correct and why/why not. Look up Pasteurization as part of his research. Make a nice science fair board out styrofoam (any office supply store has them) and attach the milk container labels and container tops, which will be different colors. Attach a simple graph or data chart appropriate for 1st grade. This is a good project to teach data collection and organization techniques as well as the scientific method. Take daily photos of the samples and include them on the board, because after 10 days some samples will smell too foul to take to the fair. Hope this helps
Reply:www.sciencebuddies.org