Science Fair

Grown-ups

Where does grass come up first: a sunny window, a shady room or a dark cupboard?

kindergarten · 10 days of testing · about $3 · ages 5 to 6 · 10 minutes a sitting

  • 🧼 Wash your hands after
What you need for the grass seed and light project: paper cups with a hole poked in the bottom, potting soil, grass seed, a spoon, water from the tap

My hypothesis

If I change where the cup of seeds sits, then how many days until we see green will ______, because ______.

You fill in the blanks. Think about what plants need to grow, and which place gives them the most of it. A guess is a good because: the test finds out.

Change, measure, keep the same

CHANGE

where the cup of seeds sits: Sunny window, Shady room, Dark cupboard

MEASURE

how many days until we see green, in days

KEEP THE SAME

  • the same soil
  • the same pinch of seed in each cup
  • the same spoonful each day

Scientists call the thing you change the independent variable and the thing you measure the dependent variable. The things you keep the same are the controls: if one of them changed too, you wouldn't know which change made the difference. Try each of the 3 levels 3 times.

What you need

  • Paper cups with a hole poked in the bottom: 9
  • Potting soil
  • Grass seed: a pinch for each cup
  • A spoon
  • Water from the tap
  • Crayons or markers

Steps

  1. Fill nine cups with soil, and sprinkle a pinch of grass seed on top of each.
  2. Grown-up: Your grown-up gives each cup a spoonful of water.
  3. Put three cups on a sunny window, three in a shady room and three in a dark cupboard.
  4. Every morning, look at every cup. Is there any green yet?
  5. Grown-up: Your grown-up gives each cup its spoonful every day.
  6. Make a tick each day until a cup shows green, then count its ticks.
  7. Colour a box for every day. Which place was first?

2 steps are a grown-up's, marked above. Write each number down straight away, in the table below, so nothing is lost.

Your results table

MY RESULTSPeabody 🦉 peabody.kids/science-fair

Name ______________________ Fair day ____________

Question: Where does grass come up first: a sunny window, a shady room or a dark cupboard?

I changed: Place   I measured: how many days until we see green (days)

PlaceTry 1 (days)Try 2 (days)Try 3 (days)
Sunny window
Shady room
Dark cupboard

MY GRAPH (a bar graph: place along the bottom, days up the side)

What I noticed: ______________________________________________

Write each try's number in its box. Then draw a bar graph, one bar for each thing you tried.

📊 Make my graph🖨 Print the whole packet (9 pages)

Why it works

A seed carries a little food of its own, so it can start to grow even in the dark. Warmth helps it wake up sooner, and once the shoots come up they need light to turn green and keep growing.

Going further (7th and up): Change a second thing: keep measuring for a week after the seeds come up, and see which cups stay green.

My picture board

A kindergarten board is one page: the question, a guess to tick, a drawing of the test, a box coloured for each count, and what your child found out, in their words. Glue it to a folded card, or the middle of a tri-fold.

MY PICTURE BOARDPeabody 🦉 peabody.kids/science-fair

Where does grass come up first: a sunny window, a shady room or a dark cupboard?

I think… tick one:

  • ☐ Sunny window
  • ☐ Shady room
  • ☐ Dark cupboard

This is my test: draw it.

I counted: colour one box for each day, for my first try.

Sunny window
Shady room
Dark cupboard

I found out:

Board layout

MY BOARD · 36 × 48 in tri-foldPeabody 🦉 peabody.kids/science-fair
  1. ❓ Question (10 × 8 in): Where does grass come up first: a sunny window, a shady room or a dark cupboard?
  2. 💭 Hypothesis (10 × 9 in): If I change where the cup of seeds sits, then how many days until we see green will ______, because ______.
  3. 🧺 Materials (10 × 12 in): 6 things: see your list.
  4. 🪜 Steps (22 × 9 in): 7 steps, three tries at each level.
  5. 📊 Results (22 × 16 in): Your table (Place down the side, tries across) and your bar graph.
  6. ✅ Conclusion (10 × 14 in): My hypothesis was right / partly right / not right. I know because…

Materials to list: Paper cups with a hole poked in the bottom; Potting soil; Grass seed; A spoon; Water from the tap; Crayons or markers.

Bring photos or drawings of your test. Nothing wet, hot, powered or alive on the table.

This project at your grade

KindergartenTries: three at each level (one is fine at a first fair). The table: levels and tries, numbers or pictures. The graph: a picture, or a simple bar graph. The conclusion: what happened, in their words.

From 4th grade up, the table gets a mean column. See every project for kindergarten, or print a blank results table.

What a judge will ask

  • What did you change, and what did you measure? I changed where the cup of seeds sits and measured how many days until we see green, in days.
  • What did you keep the same, and why does that matter? I kept the same soil and the same pinch of seed in each cup the same, so the only difference was where the cup of seeds sits.
  • How many times did you test it? 3 times at each of my 3 levels.
  • If you did it again, what would you change or test next? I'd keep measuring for a week after the seeds come up, and see which cups stay green.

Make it yours

Keep this project on this device and Peabody counts down to your fair day, with a plan for each day. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Try next

👨‍👩‍👧 For grown-ups and teachers: how much to help, the safety rules, and running a school fair. Science fair v0.16.1 · Checked .

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