Science fair projects for 5th grade

What to expect

By 5th grade a child can run the whole project with a grown-up nearby rather than beside them. The new thing is the conclusion: not just "my hypothesis was right", but which numbers show it, and what they would change next time. A judge will ask, and the best 5th grade answers point straight at the table.

Fifth graders can also handle projects that run over several days, like the sprouting beans or the crystals. Those need a logbook: a dated line each day saying what they did, what they saw and what they think. The logbook is often what separates a good 5th grade project from a great one, because it shows the work happened over time. Line graphs suit these: days along the bottom, the measurement up the side.

Counted from the projects on this page: 37 about how things move, 34 about water, ice and mixing, 30 about growing and weather; 43 using kitchen things, 33 using paper, tape and toys, 25 using the outdoors and some seeds. 66 are free with what most houses have, and the rest cost about $1 or about $2 or about $3 or about $4. Testing takes from 1 to 21 days. 15 have a step a grown-up does, marked on the page.