This experiment will allow students to show their creative side. Begin by making or
purchasing enough hard-boiled eggs so that each student in the class gets one. Allow the kids to use glitter glue, stickers, permanent markers (with assistance) and other crafty items to decorate their egg as a face. Encourage students to create a face that resembles their own or to create a new character. Line up the eggs together when children are finished decorating. Seeing the eggs in a group will allow students to see how each one is decorated differently.
This experiment will give students a chance to identify and understand the different inner properties of raw eggs and hard-boiled eggs. Put the students in groups of four to five people. Give each group one raw egg and one hard-boiled egg. Have them pre-placed into a large container or something that can contain a spill if the raw egg breaks.
Have the children spin the eggs. Ask them if they notice how the raw egg is more wobbly than the hard-boiled egg. This is because the fluid inside the raw egg is moving in all directions while the inner solid of the hard-boiled egg stays in one spot.
The concept of density may be a little too much to comprehend for first-graders. However, this experiment will help instill some small basics.
Put students into groups of four to five. Give each station two glasses of water, each about 3/4 full. Have 4 tbsp. of pickling salt available that students can add to one of the glasses. Regular table salt can be used, too, but it will make the water cloudy.
Have the students drop one egg into one glass. The egg should float on top of the salt water but sink in the glass of regular water.
Explain to the students that the egg floated in the salt water because its size (volume) and heaviness (mass) is smaller than salt water whereas it is greater than tap water.
Give students a tall glass with an egg inside of it. Allow someone from each table to pour enough vinegar in the glass to cover the egg.
The next day, dump the vinegar out of the glass. Then, allow a new student to pour enough vinegar in the glass to again cover the egg.
Wait for seven days before removing the egg from the glass. During the waiting time, have students look closely at the egg. Ask if they notice the bubbles -- this is the vinegar eating away at the eggshell.
Remove the egg from the glass and rinse it with water. Ask students to feel the egg. The shell has been eaten away and all that remains in the outer membrane.