Skip to Main Content

Science Experiments and Science Fair Ideas for Kids, Parents, and Teachers: Earth Science

Parent and teacher resources about the scientific method, conducting experiments, and local citizen scientist opportunities.

Academic Search Elite

  • Projects for a healthy planet: Simple environmental experiments for kids. Presents instructions for environmentally-themed experiments for children. Types of ozone; Effect of chlorofluorocarbons on ozone layer.

  • Earth Science for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments That Really Work. Presents experiments for elementary students about earth science, from the book `Earth Science for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments That Really Work.' Dripper; Sampler; Tip; Cold 'n Hot; Rock eater; Rock bridge; Solar energy; Purposes; Materials; Procedures.

MAS Ultra

  • Hands-on Science: The article presents a science experiment to help students learn more about how chlorofluorocarbons break down ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere.

  • Milky Way Earth: The article presents a science experiment which helps students to understand plate tectonics.

  • Hands-on Science: A science experiment for children about the hardness of minerals is presented.

  • Make Your Own Rain Forest: The article describes an experiment about the rainforest. The project aims to demonstrates the water cycle in the rainforest by recreating the rainforest environment in a jar. This project requires the use of gravel, soil, and small plants. It is suggested that the jar should be photographed once a week to have a picture record of the project.

  • Create a Crater: Presents information on a student activity for creating a crater to find out whether all meteorites leave the same imprint when they collide with Earth. Materials needed to create the crater; Instruction for creating the crater; Conclusion of the experiment.

  • The Power of Change: Provides children instructions on how to conduct a weather experiment that focuses on heating and cooling.

  • Summer Science Experiment: Dew It!: The article presents step-by-step instructions to build one's own weather station with an aluminum can and a thermometer.

Explora Elementary

  • Where Is the Center of the Universe: Presents an experiment to show what an earthbound astronomer is seeing through a powerful telescope.

  • The Power of Change: Provides children instructions on how to conduct a weather experiment that focuses on heating and cooling.

  • This Week's Lab Zone Activity: The article presents information on an experiment to determine how seasons change in each hemisphere. The experiment will investigate seasonal weather patterns and climates of different hemispheres by comparing historical weather data for major cities around the globe. The earth is divided up into regions called hemispheres. There are two hemispheres that are divided by the equator, that is, the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.

What Are the Earth Sciences? from Mr. Weather

Scholastic Teachables

  • Life in the Arctic Tundra: Take students on an imaginary expedition to the frozen desert of the Arctic tundra. Contains a number of clever experiments for exploring this eco-system–and a reproducible to create a spinner for reinforcing important facts.
  • A Hard(ness) Test (Rocks and Minerals): An Earth Science Journaling Activity: Scientists measure the hardness of rocks and minerals on a scale from 1 to 10. With this journaling activity, students will think, predict, observe, and experiment to explore the properties of different rocks.
  • Whirlpool in a Bottle: Soda Bottle Science: With this earth science experiment, kids discover how whirlpools and hurricanes result from the dynamics of fluid flow. Includes a step-by-step teaching guide and a reproducible lab sheet.
  • The Air is There (Air Pressure and Motion): Students investigate how the pressure that air exerts can be changed by heating and cooling through a demonstration and a hands-on investigation.
  • Going through a Phase (Lunar Cycle and Eclipses): Students investigate lunar phases and eclipses through a demonstration and a hands-on investigation.
  • High and Dry (Evaporation): Students explore the different conditions that affect the rate at which water evaporates through a demonstration and a hands-on investigation.
  • The Habit of Crystals (Minerals/Crystal Structure): Students investigate different crystal structures in different types of materials through a teacher demonstration and a hands-on investigation.
  • Down and Dirty (Properties of Soils): Students investigate the properties of different soil types through a teacher demonstration and a hands-on investigation.
  • Here Comes the Sun (Our Solar System's Star): Students discover that the sun is a star that provides most of the energy to sustain life on Earth.
  • Wasting Away (Weathering and Erosion): Students explore the processes of weathering and erosion through a teacher demonstration and a hands-on investigation.
  • Fantastic Fossils (Fossil Formation and Age Dating): Students discover how fossils can provide scientists with some important clues about past life-forms through a teacher demonstration and a hands-on investigation.
  • Folding Over (Landforms and Plate Tectonics): Students learn how plate tectonic action creates landforms on Earth’s surface through a teacher demonstration and a hands-on investigation.

Middle Search Plus

  • Science Ice Bubbles!: The article presents an experiment using soap bubbles during winter. It mentions a step-by-step instruction for doing the experiment along with materials to be used including soap solution, a piece of paper, and a rubber band. It discusses the effect of cold weather on bubbles wherein warm air within the bubbles allow it to rise and break like a glass when touch due to the solutions used for creating the bubble.