Recommended for 5th graders! A collection of easy self-study ideas you can enjoy while learning

Let’s make kohakutou (amber sugar)

[Independent Research by a Former Private Tutor & Cram School Instructor Mom] Easy! Make Kohakuto (Amber Candy) for a Tasty Science Project

How about choosing kohakutou—beautiful and cute to look at, and delicious to eat—as the theme for your independent research project? It takes time, but you can summarize the changes over that period as your research findings.

Kohakutou is easy to make: dissolve sugar and agar in water, transfer the mixture to a container, add color with food coloring or shaved ice syrup, then once it sets, cut it and let it dry.

Depending on how much it dries, the texture will range from bouncy and soft to crisp.

You can record which number of drying days you found the most delicious and summarize your results.

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utatane

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Investigate the conditions required for seed germination

5th Grade Science: Conditions Required for Seed Germination

In fifth grade, students also learn about seed germination.

So let’s investigate, through experiments, the conditions necessary for seeds to germinate.

When examining which conditions are needed, you must conduct a controlled experiment: keep all other conditions the same and change only one condition for comparison.

Try various conditions to confirm what leads to germination.

You may have already learned about the conditions for germination in class; if so, this experiment would be a good way to review what you learned.

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Hane Keisuke

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Research how to make a paper airplane fly farther

How to fold a paper airplane that flies 100 meters, paper airplane folding Guinness record

Summer vacation is fun, but the thing that always trips us up is the independent research project or craft assignment, right? We also have to do our other homework, and we’ve got to go out and play! So here’s a project you can finish in one day.

This is a paper airplane everyone knows well… but it’s one that flies straight and far.

By getting creative with how you fold it and how you throw it, you can make a paper airplane that’s a little different.

How about explaining, with diagrams and text, how you came up with your ideas?

Let’s take a photo with the magnifying glass camera.

[Camera using a magnifying glass] You can print photos on light-sensitive paper. Learn how photography works! It’s also great for summer vacation crafts and independent research projects! You might even start to understand focus, exposure, shutter speed, and sensitivity!

When you take photos, you probably use a smartphone or a digital camera, but you can actually make a camera with everyday materials.

Prepare an outer tube made of cardboard with a magnifying glass attached to its bottom, and an inner tube made from a milk carton with tracing paper attached to its bottom.

Insert the inner tube into the outer tube, and your camera is complete.

You can focus by moving the inner tube.

When taking a photo, first adjust the focus, then attach photosensitive paper to the tracing paper, fix the camera in place, and wait.

Take out the photosensitive paper and apply heat with an iron, and the image will appear.

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sasashina

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Making transparent eggs

Summer science project: Make transparent eggs using vinegar [Research]

Suddenly, but do you know what happens if you put a raw egg in vinegar? Believe it or not, it turns into a transparent egg.

It looks a bit swollen, and when you touch it, it feels soft and squishy.

Try carefully observing the process from the moment you put the egg in until it changes.

You could also study why this happens.

By the way, the transparent egg can be easily popped with a toothpick.

The satisfaction of popping it is one of the highlights of this experiment—you’ll probably want to pop more.

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yamamoto

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Plant dyeing with vegetables

Plant dyeing with onion skins: Let’s make handkerchiefs with different patterns

Would you like to try natural dyeing with vegetables? This time, let’s give onion dyeing a try.

First, as preparation, get a plain white towel and soak it in a mixture of 1 part soy milk to 2 parts water, then let it dry.

For the dye bath, place onion skins in a mesh bag and simmer for 20 minutes to make the dye.

Fold the towel and tie it with rubber bands—changing how you fold it and where you tie it creates different, interesting patterns.

Put the towel into the dye bath and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, then rinse with water and let it dry.

Finally, fix the color using a mordant solution, and you’re done! Why not enjoy this as a free research project by exploring different perspectives, such as variations in patterns, results without the initial prep or mordant, and differences in color depth depending on simmering time?

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sasashina

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Vegetable Stamp Art

I tried making veggie stamps!!!

Many people are likely looking for easy science projects or crafts for lower elementary school students.

For you, we recommend “vegetable stamps.” Cut various vegetables, apply ink to the cross-sections, and make stamps.

Since each vegetable has a different cross-section, you could even turn it into a quiz-style project.

Using the stamps to create pictures is also a great idea.

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Saitō Ayumu

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