If you have a child in elementary school, consider this fun science fair project. You’ll need colored construction paper, a multi-colored candy (such as M&Ms or Skittles), a stop watch, six plastic baggies, two to four volunteer “predators” and a notebook for your child to record her findings.
Before the science fair, set up six different colored sheets of construction paper to serve as “habitats.” Place 10 candies (mixed colors) into each plastic baggy. When the science fair begins, your child should explain the rules to her “predator” volunteers. She will empty the contents of one baggy onto a given sheet of paper and set her timer for 10 seconds. Then, the “predator” volunteers will use two fingers to eat as many of the candies as possible before the timer runs out. Have your child record how many of each color candy started out on the paper, and how many remained after the 10 seconds. Repeat for all six “habitats.” The experiment should demonstrate the concept of camouflage as the candies matching the “habitats’” color will be more likely to survive.
This zoology science fair project works best if you have a child in sixth to eighth grade. You’ll need a stop watch, notebook, outdoor thermometer and crickets. If you don’t live in an area with crickets, they can be purchased from your local pet store. You’ll also need a wide evening temperature range (ideally between 55 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit), so it will be best to conduct this experiment over a two-month span from late summer to early fall.
Since crickets are cold-blooded insects, their body responds to the temperature of their surroundings. Cold weather makes them sluggish, while warm weather causes an increase in activity. Have your child create a chart, table or graph to record the nightly temperature and cricket response. Calculate the cricket response by counting the number of chirps over a 14-second period. Add 40 to the number of chirps, and you’ll have the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Create a fun cricket-themed display to show off the experiment’s findings--whether the cricket-reported temperature matched the actual temperature--at the science fair.
For high school children, consider this zoology-based science fair project idea. Gather four small lamps with four different colored light bulbs: red, green, blue and white. You’ll also need writing and recording supplies, fly paper, measuring tape, a timer and masking tape. The goal of the experiment is to determine whether different colored lights will attract more moths, so you’ll want to conduct the experiment during warmer months when moths are active.
Set up the four lamps outside. Ensure that they’re at least 5m apart from one another and from any other strong light source. Tape a piece of fly paper beside each lamp to capture the moths. For the first night’s observations, try using four white light bulbs and record the number of moths captured by each lamp to create a control group. On the second night, use the multi-colored lamp. Ensure that the lights are only on for a set amount of time, such as 15 minutes. Record your data in a table or graph to analyze your findings.