If you want entertainment for your child that is simple, fast, affordable and fun why not consider a science project? Ok, I know, when that time comes around each year and the flyers come home from school that there is a science project coming up you probably cringe at the thought. All you can think about is all the time and money you have to spend on doing a science project. Well it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some ways to make science projects that are simple, fast, affordable and believe it or not fun!

1. Use items you have around the house.

2. Find something that is fast and easy. You don’t need to pick something that you are going to have to spend months on. For example growing a plant or watching mold grown or anything like that. You could do something easy like a volcano. All you have to buy is the clay that you form the volcano out of. Everything else you can find in your kitchen. All of the ingredients are pretty affordable. All you need is food coloring, baking soda, and vinegar.

3. Choose something that takes the ordinary, and makes it extraordinary. For example, a science project that is simple, fast, affordable and fun is a potato battery. That is right you can make a clock run off of a potato rather than a real battery. All you will need is two potatoes, two short pieces of heavy copper wire, to normal galvanized nails, three alligator clips/wire units (these are alligator clips hooked to each other by wire), and the last thing you will need is a LED clock that works off of a 1 to 2 volt button type battery. You will then want to take the real battery out of the clock. Make sure that you take notice which side the positive side was on and which side was the negative side was on. Then you will want to number your potatoes and put 1 galvanized nail in each potato. Then you will want to take the short pieces of heavy copper wire and place one piece in each potato. Try to get the copper wire as far away from the galvanized nail as you can. Then using one of the alligator clip connect the copper wire in the number one potato to the positive terminal in the clocks battery compartment. Then take the other alligator clip and connect it to the nail in potato number two and then connect it to the negative terminal in the clocks battery compartment. Then using the third alligator clip to connect the nail in potato one to the copper wire in potato two and set your clock. After you have done this experiment you can then research what makes the potato work as the battery. You can also talk about what makes a battery work and use the potato clock as your example of how a battery works. This can be a fun project that you probably won’t see at every science fair. It is also something that is very affordable and is fast and simple. You can build a potato clock in a couple of hours.

4. Choose projects with the ends in site. Science projects do not have to be something that is going to be a hassle and take weeks on end to complete. You should make science projects fun so that your children will look forward to doing them. If your child knows that you dread helping them do their science projects they are going to dread science projects too. But if you support them and make and effort, science projects will help your children want to be more involved with how science works and what science has to offer. So find ideas for science projects that are simple, fast, affordable fun so you and your child can have a positive experience and go away with knowledge that you can retain for years to come.