ifamily | Science Fair

I have fond memories of Science Fairs. I wasn’t necessarily the most “sciencey” kid but I always enjoyed the science fair. It’s fun to have a festive environment surround learning and discovery and a science fair does just that. While focusing on English Language Arts for the past almost decade I haven’t been around too many science fairs (though I did write a play about one where all the of the projects came alive.) Kids love science projects and building stuff and so I propose you host a “Family Science Fair”.

In this instance I think it’d be really fun to invite other families to participate in your fair. A family could contribute one project or several depending on their preference and perhaps the age of their children. Obviously younger children will need more consistent assistance from parents and therefore it’s harder to take on too much. To help narrow the project selection down you could determine a theme that all projects have to follow. A popular one is “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle”. This was the theme for one of my junior high science fairs and my friend and I constructed a rowing exercise machine out of a skate board, old lumber and cut up tire tubes for resistance. It was awesome.

Now that it’s warming up outside it’d be great to host the fair outdoors. It’ll make for a lot less clean up (especially if you have a classic baking soda and vinegar volcano entry!) Have all of the families set up their projects and then take time as a whole group to visit each display and hear their presentation.

To add to the festivities you could serve theme related snacks and award homemade “blue ribbons” to everyone. You could also come up with some silly award categories like “Best Mad Scientist Hair”.

Regardless of what you may think, the majority of kids do actually like doing things with their parents. By adding other families to the pot you mix it up a little bit and make it even more appealing. It’ll take a little work to pull off but it will be well worth it in the end.

(Image found on pinterest. Couldn't find the direct link.)