Schools have this rule that children should not go back to school until the fever has been down for 24 hours. All the people at school, especially the teachers who do not want to get sick themselves, are happy with this idea. Parents, on the other hand, are stuck with a kid at home who is not sick anymore, but cannot go back to school yet. If they have their make-up assignments, they can work on those, but that will not take up an entire day. They cannot go outdoors to play, since you do not want to tempt fate, so having a fun project like simple one day science fair projects, just might be the thing to save sanity in your home.
What if our science fair is already over? These one day science fair projects are called “science fair” because they are the sort of experiments you might find in a science fair. Something specific, geared towards one thing, and that follows the scientific method where you observe and question something you notice in the world around you, develop some hypotheses or possible reasons why, and experiment to see if what you thought would happen does. Then you share the results. By using the term science fair, it give the project an educational standard.
Why should I make my kids do even more schoolwork when they are home? Science is really an every day, look at the world around you thing. If you use projects based on simple curiosity about things that are seen and used everyday, and you make it sound interesting enough, then it will not feel like school, but feel like a fun activity. Doing projects like this help develop creative problem solving steps that are used all of the time, not just in science class. Kids often feel that school and the rest of their life are two separate happenings. So the more kids can see that school work like science can be applied to every day life, the better it is for them in the long run.
What happens if they are old enough to be home alone without adult supervision? There are plenty of projects that use everyday materials that do not involve matches, using the stove, knives, standing on ladders or any of those things you do not want kids doing while home alone. Simple projects centered around everyday household experiences can easily be found online and downloaded to your computer. Digital products will even have built in spreadsheets in the download to enter the data and make nifty charts. All of this the older child will already have learned how to do at school.
Having some digital one day science fair projects on hand will at least give you some more options of things your child can do on that day they cannot go back to school while waiting for their temperature to stay normal for 24 hours. You will even have them on hand for other times you find your child needs something constructive to fill their time.
Here is a link to a great digital resource for simple, easy to follow 24 hour science projects, weekend projects and demonstration projects. Often these digital products cost less than what you would pay for a pizza. Go to my Blog! One Day Science Fair Projects Step by Step Blueprints for Students and Parents
http://24hourscienceprojects.blogspot.com
Look for great Middle School Science Projects too! (on the top right side bar!)
http://24hourscienceprojects.blogspot.com
My name is Sue Gnagy Fegan and I used a structured, sequential multisensory teaching approach for the past 34 years. I saw first hand the benefits of engaging students in productive, hands on activities to make learning more meaningful and more fun.
