🦺 Science fair safety: what every school bans and why

The rules, one by one

These are the rules the school rule sets we opened share. Each one says where it comes from.

• No flames of any kind. Every rule set we opened bans open flames, at home and at the fair. No candles, matches or lighters, and nothing that burns. (UNM STEM-H K–5 rules; Washington County, Utah; Lowville elementary)
• No live animals at the fair. Living things stay home, and projects that test animals need forms and a teacher's review at every level up to the international fair. (Lowville elementary; UNM STEM-H K–5 rules; the ISEF international rules)
• Don't grow mold or bacteria at home. The K–5 rules we read say no microbe cultures at home. Older students do these only under a teacher, with forms. (UNM STEM-H K–5 rules; the ISEF international rules)
• Kitchen chemicals only, in small amounts. Elementary rules allow safe household things such as baking soda and vinegar, and ban dangerous chemicals. One rule set limits a safe chemical to under a tablespoon on display. (Washington County, Utah; Lowville elementary)
• Projects that test people need a review first. Taste tests, surveys, reaction times and memory tests all use people as the thing tested, and every rule set we read says those need review and consent before they start. (UNM STEM-H K–5 rules; the ISEF international rules)
• Nothing hot, wet or powered on the display table. One K–5 rule set bans liquids and batteries on the display and anything hotter than 75 °C; another bans open containers. Bring photos and drawings of the test instead. (UNM STEM-H K–5 rules; Washington County, Utah)
• The board has a size limit. A common limit is 30 inches deep, 48 inches wide and 96 inches high, from the table. A standard 36 × 48 inch tri-fold fits. (Washington County, Utah)
• The words on the board are the child's own. Judges at elementary fairs favour children's own language and drawings over a grown-up's typing. (Washington County, Utah)

Why these rules exist

• Flames: a fair is a room full of paper boards, and at home a burn can happen in a second. No candles, no matches, nothing that burns.
• Animals: a busy hall is frightening for a living creature, and an animal can't say no to being tested. Older students who study animals need forms and a teacher's review first.
• Mold and bacteria: when you grow them on purpose you can't tell which kinds you grew. The K–5 rules we read say none at home, and older students grow them only with a teacher.
• Chemicals: kitchen things like baking soda, vinegar, salt and sugar are fine in small amounts. Cleaning products stay out, even the ones under every sink.
• People: when people are the thing you test, as in a taste test or a survey, they have to agree first, and someone at school has to check the plan. That takes forms and time, so a first project tests things instead of people.
• The display table: no water, nothing plugged in and nothing hot. Bring photos and drawings of your test instead.

How Peabody keeps them

Every one of the 118 projects here is checked by a computer test before it can reach this site. The test looks for words that break these rules and refuses any project that says one. Its groups are: no flames, no chemicals off the kitchen list, no animals, no cultures, no people as the thing tested and no social media.

Any step that needs a knife or hot water is a grown-up's step, and the page says so: 20 of the 118 projects have one. Each project page also has a safety strip read from what it uses, with lines like these:

• 😎 Never look at the sun.
• 🚫 Test food is not for eating.
• 🧍 Drop from standing: never climb.

Where these rules come from

We read these rule sets on 30 October 2026:

• UNM STEM-H Center, K–5 research project rules and forms (revised 11 Aug 2022).
• Washington County School District (Utah), district science fair rules (October 2011).
• Lowville elementary science fair rules.
• Society for Science, ISEF International Rules and Guidelines.

Grown-ups can find the same list with links on the rules page.

Every school writes its own rules, and some are stricter than these. Read your fair's rule sheet before you start, and if it says something different from this page, do what it says. Your school's sheet wins.