Science fair projects you can do in a week

What to expect

A week gives you room to do the tries on different days, which is better science anyway: if the ice melts in ten minutes on Monday and in eleven on Wednesday, that's a real result. It also means the weekend can be for the board, not for panicking.

Every one-day project fits a week, plus a couple that take two days to dry or settle. If your child has a week and chose one of the one-day projects, use the extra days well: do the three tries on three different days and keep a logbook entry for each.

Counted from the projects on this page: 44 about how things move, 38 about water, ice and mixing, 23 about growing and weather; 48 using kitchen things, 40 using paper, tape and toys, 17 using the outdoors and some seeds. 76 are free with what most houses have, and the rest cost about $3 or about $2 or about $1 or about $4. Testing takes from 1 to 7 days. 18 have a step a grown-up does, marked on the page.