Recommended for high school students! A collection of easy one-day science project ideas
High school students who are struggling to choose a topic for their summer vacation independent research project, this is for you.
If you’re looking for an easy project—like “an experiment that can be done in a short time” or “a research project that looks impressive”—good news! This article introduces independent research ideas packed with the fun of science, focusing on experiments and hands-on builds.
From steam engines to planetariums, these are all projects that will make viewers exclaim, “Wow!” And surprisingly, many are easier to tackle than you’d think.
Find a wonderful project that will become a lasting summer memory!
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Recommended for High School Students! A Collection of Easy One-Day Independent Research Ideas (21–30)
underwater soap bubbles
When you think of soap bubbles, you probably picture them floating gently in the air.
But you can actually make soap bubbles underwater, too.
All you need to do is prepare water mixed with dish detergent, then soak it up and let it drop from above.
It’s so simple that you can try it right away.
If you want to add a twist, you can mix paint into the water to make colored bubbles.
How about lining up bubbles of different colors and taking some dreamy, atmospheric photos?
Gel candle making
How about making gel candles using materials you can get at a 100-yen shop? As the name suggests, the wax part has a jiggly, gel-like feel.
Simply put, you just pour the base gel into a container and let it set—but since this is a creative project, make it your own by adding color, shells, or colored sand for a cute finish.
Create a one-of-a-kind candle.
If you have the time, try making lots of them!
Recommended for high school students! A collection of simple one-day science project ideas (31–40)
Try making yogurt from milk
Many high school students eat yogurt regularly, but few have made it themselves, right? So how about a science project where you make yogurt from milk? In fact, making your own yogurt is as simple as mixing store-bought yogurt into milk and letting it sit.
If you want to dig deeper, it might be interesting to investigate the conditions under which it fails.
Let’s make a leaf vein specimen
Let’s make a leaf vein specimen using leaves you can find around you.
First, bring water with 3 tablespoons of baking soda to a boil and add the leaves.
Simmer for about 15 minutes, then when the water turns brown and the leaves become limp, remove the leaves.
This softens the pigments other than the veins.
Next, rinse the leaves under running water and gently tap them with a toothbrush to scrape away everything except the veins.
Be sure to choose sturdy, relatively tough leaves for this experiment.
A science project you can just leave alone
It’s hard to decide what to do for an independent research project, and you don’t want to spend too much time on it, right? So why not try some ideas that you can basically just set and forget? Here are three simple projects.
The first is to line colorful candy-coated chocolates around the rim of a plate, pour in water, and observe what happens.
The second is to soak an egg in vinegar to make a “skeleton egg.” The third is to dip kitchen paper into colored water and observe how it absorbs and changes color.
All of them are very easy, so give them a try!
Making instant-freeze packs
Perfect for hot summer days—let’s make an instant cooling pack! Prepare urea, borax, PVA glue solution, and water.
Urea and borax aren’t common names, but they’re not dangerous and can be purchased at a regular drugstore.
Just put them into a zipper-seal bag that closes tightly and knead.
As you knead, it gradually becomes cool, and once it turns slime-like, it’s ready.
Try making artificial salmon roe
With educational candy kits and the like, you can sometimes make things that look just like salmon roe.
How about a science project where you make such “artificial salmon roe” yourself? Specifically, by using sodium alginate and calcium lactate as ingredients and mixing in something like strawberry-flavored shaved ice syrup, you can create artificial salmon roe that looks just like the real thing.
It would be fun to make them in various colors.