[Middle School Students] Easy One-Day Science Projects and Crafts Ideas
Have you already decided on your summer vacation independent research project? It’s easy to panic when you feel you have to do it but don’t have much time.
For junior high school students like that, here are some simple research and craft ideas you can complete in a day.
Once you gather the necessary materials, you can start right away! For example, there are experiments using everyday items and fun crafts you can make.
If you enjoy it, you’ll finish in no time.
After the experiment, write up your summary and reflections in a report.
That’s the most important part of the project.
Start thinking about it early so you can enjoy your summer vacation!
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[Middle School] Easy One-Day Science Projects and Crafts (111–120)
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.
Portable cloud
Clouds are an essential part of everyday scenery, but I don’t think many people understand the principles behind them in detail.
So let’s research how clouds form and try to recreate that inside a plastic bottle as an independent study project.
All you need are a plastic bottle and an incense stick! Clouds form when water droplets gather around tiny particles, so we’ll use incense smoke as a substitute for those particles.
Make carryable water
Did you know you can hold water? Mix sodium alginate into water thoroughly.
Then just drop that water into a calcium lactate solution.
That’s all it takes to make “edible” spheres of water you can hold.
It’s a fun experiment with a jiggly appearance.
Why does this “holdable water” form? It would be great to write a report explaining the mechanism.
Recommended for students who enjoy science experiments.
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 investigate the power of air suction!
You can easily experiment with the power of air suction using things you have at home! First, prepare a candle, an aluminum dish, water, and a glass cup.
To make it easier to see, it’s best to color the water with paint or food coloring.
Here’s how to do the experiment.
First, stand the candle in the center of the aluminum dish and pour in the colored water so that the bottom part of the candle is slightly submerged.
Light the candle and cover it from above with the glass cup.
As you do this, changes in air pressure inside the cup will cause the water outside the cup to be drawn rapidly up into it.
It’s a very mysterious and fun experiment!
Let’s make an air gun
An air gun is a great recommendation for kids who love crafts.
There are many steps to make it, but the materials are things you likely have at home, or can all be found at a 100-yen shop if not.
To make it, connect an insert cup holder to an empty plastic bottle.
For the part that pushes out the air, attach a piece of balloon cut to fit over the bottom of the cup.
When you snap the balloon, the air pressure gives it a realistic, gun-like power.
You can make a proper air gun using simple, easily available items.
It’s fun, so definitely give it a try.
Make insect repellent spray
Summer is the season of bugs like mosquitoes.
They’re a concern when you go to the sea, the mountains, or the river, right? So how about making your own insect repellent spray? All you have to do is mix suitable amounts of peppermint oil, purified water, and rubbing alcohol.
It’s very simple.
Try it yourself to see how effective it is, then write up a report and submit it.
It might be even better to test it with several people so you can collect some statistics!