Science Fair

Grown-ups

Top 10 science fair kits, honestly priced (with the free swap for each)

None of these kits is ours, and Peabody earns nothing from any of them: no affiliate links, no paid places. Each price is what the seller's own page showed when we opened it on 31 October 2026, so check before you buy. Next to each is the free swap: one of our projects that asks the same kind of question with things from home, checked against school safety rules. A kit with flames, lab chemicals, magnets or germs in it says so plainly.

How it's ordered: Cheapest first, by the price on the seller's page (a subscription by its first month or crate).

The ten, in order

  1. Erupting Mini Volcano (Lakeshore Learning): A volcano 1⅞ inches high, for ages 5 to 8; you add the baking soda and vinegar. $6.99 on Lakeshore's page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: a volcano always erupts, so on its own it's a show, not a test. Change how much baking soda goes in and measure the foam, and it becomes one. The free swap: 🌋 Does more baking soda make a bigger fizz?
  2. Bacteria Growing Kit, Science Fair size (Educational Innovations): Six 10 cm Petri dishes, nutrient agar powder, six long cotton swabs, a stirring stick, a beaker and instructions. $12.49 on Educational Innovations' page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: it grows bacteria, and the K–5 rules we read say no growing microbes at home; older students do it only with a teacher and forms. A reviewer adds that you'll need a microwave-safe container for the agar. The free swap: 🍎 What keeps a cut apple from going brown?
  3. Ready, Set, Launch! Water Rocket (Lakeshore Learning): A 9¾ inch rocket and a pump with a 6 foot hose, for ages 6 to 11; you add water, outdoors. $19.99 on Lakeshore's page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: one reviewer's went roof-high and another's cracked after 12 launches, and it can't come to the fair, so the board needs photos. The free swap: 🎈 Does more air make a balloon rocket go farther?
  4. Tinker Crate (KiwiCo): A monthly engineering crate for ages 9 to 12: the parts for one build (a robot hand, a delivery bot, a bottle rocket launcher), instructions and bonus challenges. The Tinker Crate page shows no price; KiwiCo's own store lists its crates, such as Mega Hand, from $24 (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: it's a subscription, and a build isn't a fair test until you change one thing and measure. The free swap: 🎯 Does a longer arm make a catapult throw farther?
  5. Crystal Growing Discovery Set (Lakeshore Learning): Six 5½ inch trees and a crystal growing liquid to pour on them, for ages 4 to 11. $24.99 on Lakeshore's page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: the page calls the liquid nontoxic but doesn't say what's in it, so check the box against your school's kitchen-only list; and with one liquid on every tree there's nothing to compare. The free swap: 💎 Which grows crystals faster: salt or sugar?
  6. ScienceWiz Light Kit (Lakeshore Learning): 25 light experiments, from a kaleidoscope to a pinhole camera, with a 40-page book, magnifiers, mirrors and clips, for ages 6 to 11. $27.99 on Lakeshore's page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: it needs a 1.5 volt button cell battery, not included, and a swallowed button battery is an emergency, so a grown-up fits it and keeps the spares. The free swap: 🔦 Does a shadow grow when the light comes closer?
  7. MEL Chemistry (MEL Science): A monthly chemistry kit for ages 10 and up, starting with a home lab (a flask, a macro lens and a VR headset), with enough chemicals for most experiments twice. From $29.90 a month on MEL's page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: its reagents are chemistry-set chemicals, not the kitchen things elementary rules allow, and one kit, Fire foam, sets hydrogen foam alight: every rule set we read bans flames. The free swap: 🥬 Which kitchen liquids change red cabbage water?
  8. Paper Airplanes STEM Design Challenge (Flinn, from Educational Innovations): A classroom design challenge for 30 students in pairs, who choose their own materials within a budget; tape measures are sold separately. $29.99 on Educational Innovations' page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: the page lists no parts, and it's made for a class, not one child at home. The free swap: ✈️ Which wing shape flies farthest?
  9. Spy Labs: Forensic Investigation Kit (Thames & Kosmos, from Educational Innovations): Twelve detective experiments for ages 8 and up: pH tests, invisible ink, UV light, fingerprints, fake money and ink chromatography. $36.99 on Educational Innovations' page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: the page doesn't name its chemicals or fluorescent solutions, so check them against your school's kitchen-only list, and the experiments are a set of mysteries rather than one question. The free swap: 🖊️ How many colours hide in a marker's ink?
  10. Magnet Activity Lab (Lakeshore Learning): 50 pieces, among them bar magnets, compasses and electromagnets, with seven experiment cards, for ages 8 to 10; it needs 4 AA batteries. $79.99 on Lakeshore's page (checked 31 October 2026). The catch: small magnets and loose pieces (a reviewer found a bag of small metal beads) are a swallowing danger near little brothers and sisters, and swallowed magnets can be very serious. It's priced for a classroom. The free swap: ⚡ Which gives a balloon the most static: hair, wool or cotton?

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

For grown-ups: Peabody has no ads, not one, and nothing to sell your child. The Kids Pick, an independent kids' directory, rates its games 90/100. See what other free kids' sites load · Grown-ups, sign in · Already have a profile?