Science fair project packet: a free printable template (PDF)
9 pages that take a project from the question to the certificate. Print one for every child, and each one fills in their own.
What's in the packet
- 🗓️ My project plan. The question, the grades and the five jobs spread over the days, with a box to tick for each.
- 💭 My hypothesis. If… then… because…, the variables card, and what a hypothesis looks like at each grade.
- 🧺 Change, measure, keep the same. The three variables in big boxes, how many tries in all, and what to gather as a tick list.
- 🪜 My steps. The steps, numbered, with the grown-up's steps marked and the safety line.
- 📊 My results. Levels down the side, tries across, a mean column from 4th grade, and graph paper.
- 📓 My logbook. Dated lines for what I did, what I saw and what I think.
- ✅ My conclusion. Right, partly right or not, the numbers that show it, and what to test next.
- ✂️ Board titles to cut out. Question, Hypothesis, Materials, Steps, Results and Conclusion, big enough for the board.
- 🏅 The judge's questions and my certificate. The nine questions a judge asks, and a certificate with a line for the name.
One tap prints all nine, in order, on Letter paper. To keep a PDF, choose "Save as PDF" in the print window. The lines are spaced for a pencil, and a dark-mode screen still prints black on white.
Every project on Peabody prints this packet already filled in, with its own question, levels, units, steps and the answers a judge will want. Children can find a project in four taps or start with the easy ones. Running the whole fair? The fair organizer has the timeline, the letter home and the judge's rubric.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: _______________________________________________
My days
| When | Job | Date | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🧺 Gather what you need and print your sheets | ☐ | ||
| 🧪 Do the test: the first try at every level | ☐ | ||
| 🔁 Do it again until every level has its tries | ☐ | ||
| ✏️ Find the middle numbers, draw the graph, write the conclusion | ☐ | ||
| 🪧 Make the board | ☐ |
Count back from the fair day and write in each date: gather first, test, test again, write, and the board last.
Dates from my teacher
- My question is due
- Testing starts
- My results table and graph are due
- My board is due
In this packet
- 🗓️ My project plan
- 💭 My hypothesis
- 🧺 Change, measure, keep the same
- 🪜 My steps
- 📊 My results
- 📓 My logbook
- ✅ My conclusion
- ✂️ Board titles to cut out
- 🏅 The judge's questions and my certificate
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: _______________________________________________
If I change ______________________, then ______________________ will ________________, because _____________________________________________
| I CHANGE | I MEASURE | I KEEP THE SAME |
|---|---|---|
What I think will happen, in my own words:
- 1st–3rd grade: Keep it short and say it out loud first. A grown-up can write it down, as long as the words are yours.
- 4th–6th grade: Name every level and say which one will win. You'll work out the mean of your tries, so say it about the means.
- 7th grade and up: Say how much, and use a science idea for the because. Then plan a second test: one more thing to change, with its own hypothesis.
Stuck on the because? Think of something you have seen happen, and say why it might.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: _______________________________________________
I CHANGE
the independent variable
I MEASURE
the dependent variable
I KEEP THE SAME
the controls
______ levels × ______ tries at each = ______ tries in all. If anything you keep the same changes, you won't know which change made the difference.
What I need
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: _______________________________________________
Be safe: a grown-up does anything sharp, hot or that plugs in. Write Grown-up by that step.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: _______________________________________________
I changed: ____________________ I measured: ____________________
| What I changed | Try 1 | Try 2 | Try 3 | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
MY GRAPH
What I noticed: ______________________________________________
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: _______________________________________________
| Date | What I did | What I saw | What I think |
|---|---|---|---|
Write something every day you work on it, even the days you only gather things. More days? The three-page logbook prints from peabody.kids/science-fair/templates/logbook.
Name ______________________ Fair day ____________
Question: _______________________________________________
My hypothesis was ☐ right ☐ partly right ☐ not right.
I know because my numbers show:
What surprised me, or what might have gone wrong (7th and up):
Next time I would test:
Question: _______________________________________________
- What made you want to ask this question?
- What did you think would happen, and why?
- What did you change, and what did you measure?
- What did you keep the same, and why does that matter?
- How many times did you test it?
- What did you find out? Show me in your numbers.
- Was your hypothesis right? How do you know?
- Did anything go wrong, or surprise you?
- If you did it again, what would you change or test next?
🥽 Peabody Science Fair
Certificate of Real Science
This is to say that
______________________________
asked a real question, tested it three times or more at every level, and showed what they found at the science fair:
Signed ______________________ Date ______________
👨👩👧 For grown-ups and teachers: how much to help, the safety rules, and running a school fair. Science fair v0.16.1 · Checked .