10 Environmental Research Projects for Your Kid’s Science Fair!!

For most students in elementary and middle school, the beginning of the year also means an introduction to year-long projects. Science projects for the annual science fair are common long-term assignments that your child may be required to complete several years in a row. If your child is struggling to come up with a great idea to use for her science fair project this year, here are some suggestions. Help her focus her efforts on environmental research with these 10 timely topics.

1. Pollution

Pollution is the first potential topic your child could focus on for her big science project. First, she needs to decide if she’s going to highlight water, air, or land pollution for her research. Investigating the impact of pollution on two different local bodies of water may be a good way for your budding scientist to get involved in conservation efforts in the neighborhood.

2. Recycling

Another reasonable idea for your child’s science fair project could be recycling. Your child could investigate your own family’s recycling habits. After studying when and how your family recycles the most, then, your child could introduce even more ways to help reduce the amount of trash waste you put out each week to be collected. Your child can also come up with some new uses of old, discarded items and teach your family a new way to be less wasteful.

3. Solar Power

A project that highlights solar power may also make a great research topic for your child’s science fair topic. If your scholar has a knack for building things, you may want to suggest that she build a solar-powered device, such as a solar powered radio or toy car. You’ll just need to help out with the cost of materials, such as a solar cell and parts to build the item.

4. Climate Change

Climate change is a topic that is often in the news today, and it could be a good starting point for a great science fair project. Instead of simply doing research about climate change and presenting her findings, a better idea may be to conduct an experiment. For a science fair project, your child’s experiment should mimic a process already happening in the environment that is related to climate change.

5. Trash Cleanup

Although trash and waste management don’t sound like very exciting topic ideas, your child may be able to create a unique project by focusing on trash or cleaning up. For a child in elementary school, focusing on the family’s waste habits may be an age appropriate research investigation. Your child could get practice in collecting data about how much trash is thrown away each day and figure out some ways to reduce this.

6. Plant Biology

Kids who love to garden may want to focus their science fair project on plant biology or sustainable agriculture practices. For this type of project, it’s important to get started early to give your child enough time to either grow something or see the impact of a plant’s biology. Then, she could find a connection between a growing process and better sustainability efforts.

7. Water Conservation

If your kid is fascinated by water, a project in water conservation may be a smart choice. Before conducting a research investigation at home, teach your child about professional conservation efforts, such as the cadiz water project in California. Then, at home, your child could evaluate a few different methods of reducing water waste in your household.

8. Soil Issues

There are plenty of opportunities for a great science fair project related to the soil in your own backyard. If you’re on a limited budget, you can easily get materials for this type of project for free. Your child could experiment with different types of soil in the neighborhood and see if there is an impact on how a plant grows.

9. Threatened Species

If your child wants to focus her efforts on animal biology, she may learn something about the environment and the world by doing a project about an endangered species. First, she’ll need to do a little bit of background research and identify any species she has a strong interest in. Then, she may need to come up with some practical ideas that could help the species thrive.

10. Urban Sprawl

Development and urban sprawl may not be part of your child’s vocabulary, but in most neighborhoods, there could be an opportunity to study this topic. You can help your child get ideas about this topic by finding a construction site for housing or retail in your town or neighborhood. Help your child ask questions about the building process and learn about the impact the construction may be having on the local animal and plant population. Then, she can present her findings on her project for the science fair.

Don’t let your child get stressed out about choosing a topic for this year’s science fair. Help her narrow down her choices or give her some suggestions related to environmental education to help her get started toward success.