First graders will cheer when you announce that they’ll get to do a real, hands-on science experiment. These 1st grade science projects are easy for kids to do, and they also make great science fair experiments for 1st graders, with concepts that help build science knowledge for the future.
To make it even easier to find the best science projects for 1st graders, we’ve given each a rating based on difficulty and the materials you’ll need:
Difficulty:
- Easy: Low or no-prep experiments you can do pretty much anytime
- Medium: These take a little more setup or a longer time to complete
- Advanced: Experiments like these take a fairly big commitment of time and/or effort
Materials:
- Basic: Simple items you probably already have around the house
- Medium: Items that you might not already have but are easy to get your hands on
- Advanced: These require specialized or more expensive supplies to complete
Quick note: Always be sure to watch/review videos before sharing them with students to ensure that the content aligns with the classroom environment you’ve created. Also, be sure to grab your free printable science experiment recording sheet to use with any of the 1st grade science experiments below.
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Animal Science Projects for 1st Grade
Learn about animals, plants, and the Earth in general with these fun science activities for 1st graders.
1. Build a Popsicle stick bird feeder
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Popsicle sticks, glue, string, bird seed
Students design and build a simple bird feeder using craft materials, then fill it with bird seed. This activity introduces basic engineering design and animal needs, while encouraging discussion about how different bird species prefer different types of food.
2. Observe the birds at your feeder
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Bird feeder, bird seed, notebook or chart
Students observe and record which birds visit the feeder, how often they appear, and what they do. This 1st grade science project builds data-collection skills and introduces scientific observation, patterns in nature, and citizen science.
3. Create an animal that camouflages
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Play dough or clay, craft materials, markers
Students will make an animal out of play dough or clay, then build a habitat background where the animal can hide. Classmates will try to spot the animal, and students will see which designs are easiest or hardest to find. This helps them understand camouflage as an adaptation animals use to survive.
4. Sort animals by features
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Toy animals or printed pictures, sorting mats or paper
Students sort animals into groups based on shared features such as fur, feathers, number of legs, or habitat. This activity introduces classification systems and helps students recognize patterns used by scientists to organize living things.
5. Simulate ocean pollution
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Sponge cut into a fish shape, water, food coloring or dirt, cups
Students will put a sponge “fish” into dirty (polluted) water and observe what happens. Then they will try to clean the water and notice that pollution can be difficult to remove completely.
6. Learn about how insects see
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Paper towel rolls, straws, tape
Students create “insect goggles” by placing straws into paper towel rolls to simulate compound eyes. This activity helps students understand how insect vision differs from human vision and how structure affects function in living things.
7. Learn how pollination works
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Flowers; paintbrushes or cotton swabs
Students use brushes or swabs to transfer “pollen” between flowers, modeling how insects pollinate plants. This 1st grade science project demonstrates plant reproduction and highlights the important role pollinators play in ecosystems.
8. Learn about the butterfly life cycle
- Difficulty: Medium
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Butterfly printables, life cycle cards or charts
Students will look at pictures of a butterfly’s life stages and put them in the correct order. Then they’ll use the cards or chart to track each stage and talk about how the butterfly changes as it grows. This helps students understand that living things grow and change in a life cycle.
Nature and Earth Science Activities for 1st Grade
9. Build the layers of Earth with play dough
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Play dough in different colors
Students will use different colors of play dough to build a model of Earth with layers. Then they’ll cut it open to see the inside and identify the crust, mantle, and core. This helps students understand that Earth is made of layers and that the layers are different.
10. Make a solar system model out of fruit
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Slices of fruit, knife (adult use), plate or tray
Students assign different fruits to represent the planets and arrange them in order from the sun. This model introduces planetary order, relative size, and scale within the solar system.
11. Make a sundial
- Difficulty: Medium
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Paper, stick, compass or sunlight, ruler
Students will build a simple sundial using a stick and paper, then use sunlight to see where the stick’s shadow falls. They’ll check the shadow at different times and notice how it moves during the day. This helps students understand that Earth is spinning and that shadows can be used to tell time.
12. Learn about plant life cycles
- Difficulty: Medium
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Seeds, soil, water, cups, observation sheets
Students will plant seeds in cups with soil and water them regularly. Each day (or week), they’ll observe what changes and record what they see as the seed sprouts and grows. This helps students learn how plants grow through a life cycle and practice careful observing.
13. Turn a plastic bag into a greenhouse
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Plastic bags, paper towels, seeds, water
Students will place seeds on a damp paper towel inside a plastic bag to create a tiny “greenhouse.” They’ll watch how the bag traps moisture and warmth and observe the seeds as they begin to sprout. This helps students learn what plants need to grow and how a greenhouse helps keep those conditions just right.
14. See how shadows change throughout the day
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Sidewalk chalk, outdoor space, students
Students will go outside and use sidewalk chalk to trace their shadows. They’ll come back later to trace their shadows again and compare what changed. This helps students see how the sun’s position changes during the day and why shadows move.
15. Discover how plants drink water
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: White flowers, cups, colored water
Students will place white flowers into cups of colored water and watch what happens over time. They’ll observe the color slowly moving up the stem and into the petals. This helps students learn that plants pull water up through their stems to reach the rest of the plant.
16. Experiment with apples and oxidation
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Apples, knife (adult use), lemon juice or water, plates
Students will compare apple slices left in the open air with apple slices dipped in different liquids. They’ll observe which slices turn brown fastest and which stay lighter longer. This helps students learn that air can cause apples to change color and that some liquids can slow that change down.
17. Dig in the dirt with claws
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Paper or gloves, spoons or paper claws, dirt or sand
Students will make simple “claws” using gloves or paper and try digging in sand or dirt with different tools. They’ll compare which claws work best and what jobs they might help an animal do. This helps students understand that animal body parts are adaptations that help them survive.
18. Observe plant transpiration
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Plastic bag, string, branch or leaves
Students will wrap a plastic bag around a leafy branch and tie it closed. After some time, they’ll observe water droplets collecting inside the bag. This helps students learn that plants release water into the air through their leaves.
19. Discover whether seeds germinate best in light or dark
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Seeds, soil, cups, light and dark locations
Students plant seeds in different conditions and compare growth results. This activity introduces experimental design and helps students understand how environmental factors affect plant growth.
Waves: Light and Sound Experiments for 1st Grade
20. Look into mirrors to discover symmetry
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Mirror, paper, pencil
Students place a mirror along the edge of letters or drawings and observe the reflected image. This activity demonstrates symmetry by showing how one half of an object can be reflected to create a matching whole, helping students understand balance, patterns, and mirror images.
21. Make sound with vibrations
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Rubber bands; tissue box or container
Students stretch rubber bands over a tissue box or container and pluck them to make sounds. This experiment shows that sound is made when objects vibrate and that different vibrations create different sounds.
22. Explore high and low sounds
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Cups, water, spoon
Students will fill cups with different amounts of water, then gently tap the cups with a spoon to hear the sounds they make. They’ll compare which cups sound higher or lower and notice how the amount of water changes the sound. This helps students learn that different vibrations make different pitches.
23. “Bend” a pencil using light refraction
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Pencil, glass of water
Students will place a pencil in a clear glass of water and look at it from the side. They’ll notice the pencil appears “bent” or “broken” where it meets the water. This helps students learn that light can bend when it moves through water, changing what we see.
24. Create static electricity
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Tissue paper, balloon
Students will rub a balloon on their hair (or a sweater) to build static electricity, then hold it close to a tissue paper design. They’ll watch the tissue move toward the balloon, or “dance,” as the balloon gets near. This helps students see that static electricity can pull on objects without touching them.
25. Build a string telephone
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Paper cups, string, tape
Students will build a simple phone using two paper cups connected by a string. They’ll take turns talking and listening while keeping the string tight to see how clearly the sound travels. This helps students learn that sound can move through materials and travel from one place to another.
26. Play a DIY pan flute
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Straws, tape, scissors
Students will build a simple flute using a straw and then blow to make sound. They’ll cut the straw shorter or try different straw lengths to hear how the sound changes. This helps students learn that changing the length of an instrument can change the tone.
27. Explore transparent, translucent, and opaque materials
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Flashlight, clear plastic, wax paper, cardboard
Students will shine a flashlight through different materials like clear plastic, wax paper, and cardboard. They’ll observe how much light gets through each one and compare the results. This helps students learn that some materials let in a lot of light, some let in a little, and some block light completely.
28. Learn how to mix colors of light
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Flashlights, colored plastic sheets
Students will cover flashlights with different-colored plastic sheets and shine the light on a wall or paper. They’ll overlap the colored light beams and observe what new colors appear. This helps 1st graders learn that combining colors of light can change what we see.
Weather Science Experiments for 1st Grade
Try these science activities to explore wind, rain, and more with your firsties.
29. Erupt a baking soda volcano
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Vinegar, baking soda, model volcano
Students will add baking soda and vinegar to a model volcano and watch it “erupt.” They’ll observe the bubbling and foaming and talk about how mixing the two materials creates a new reaction that makes gas. This helps students understand that some mixtures cause big changes in matter.
Learn more: Baking Soda Volcano (Guide + Printable Reflection Sheet)
30. Create a weather vane
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Paper, straw, pin, pencil, base
Students build a simple weather vane and place it outdoors to observe how it moves with the wind. By tracking the direction the vane points over time, students learn that wind has both direction and movement, and that weather tools help scientists collect and record data about Earth’s atmosphere.
31. Make it rain
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Jar, shaving cream, water, food coloring
Students create a model cloud using shaving cream and slowly add colored water to observe when it becomes “heavy” enough to rain. This 1st grade science experiment demonstrates how clouds hold water droplets and how precipitation occurs when droplets become too heavy to stay suspended in the air.
32. Grow a rainbow
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: 6 small cups, water, food coloring, paper towels
Fill three small cups with water and add food coloring to each: red, yellow and blue. Then, set an empty cup next to each filled cup, creating a circle. Add a folded strip of paper towel inside each filled up, then into an empty cup, alternating the pattern. Check back in about an hour and notice how the water moved to each cup!
Learn more: Rainbow Walking Water Experiment: How-To Plus Free Worksheet
33. Create frost in a can
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Metal can, ice, water, salt
Students will fill a metal can with ice, water, and salt, then watch what happens to the outside of the can. They’ll observe water droplets forming and sometimes turning into frost as the can gets very cold. This helps students learn that the air has water in it and that water can cool, condense, and freeze on cold surfaces.
34. Grow a crystal
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Salt, water, container, magnifying glass (optional)
Students will mix salt into warm water until it dissolves, then pour the salty water into a container. Over time, they’ll observe what happens as the water slowly disappears and salt crystals begin to form. This helps students learn that water can evaporate and leave behind solid crystals.
35. Learn about snow
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Snow (real or artificial), observation tools
Students will observe snow up close and describe what they notice about how it feels, looks, and melts. They’ll look for patterns and differences in the snow and talk about snow as frozen water. This helps students learn that snow is made of ice and that snowflakes can have many different shapes.
36. Create an avalanche
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Flour, cornmeal, pebbles, tray
Students will layer flour, cornmeal, and pebbles on a tray and tilt it like a mountain slope. Then they’ll gently shake or tap the tray to see how the materials start to slide downhill. This helps students learn how gravity pulls materials down a slope and how avalanches can happen when layers become unstable.
37. Use candy to learn about the sun’s warmth
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Candy, sunlight or warm surface, observation sheets
Students will place candy in sunlight (or on a warm surface) and predict what will happen. They’ll observe how the candy changes as it warms up and record what they notice over time. This helps students learn that heat from the sun can change materials, like making solids soften or melt.
38. Make art with the sun
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Leaves, flowers, twigs, colored paper
Students will arrange leaves, flowers, or twigs on colored paper and place it in sunlight. After some time, they’ll remove the items and observe the lighter “prints” left behind. This helps students see how sunlight can cause changes in materials over time.
39. Make s’mores with a solar oven
- Difficulty: Advanced
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Cardboard box, foil, plastic wrap, s’mores ingredients
Students will build a simple solar oven using a cardboard box, foil, and plastic wrap, then place s’mores ingredients inside and set it in direct sunlight. They’ll observe how the sun’s energy warms the oven and starts to melt the chocolate and marshmallow. This helps students learn that sunlight can be used as energy for heating and cooking.
Learn more: Solar Oven (Guide + Printable Reflection Sheet)
More 1st Grade Science Projects and Experiments
Looking for more? Try these experiments on a range of subjects to teach 1st graders all about science.
40. Float an egg in salt water
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Eggs, water, salt, container
Students will place an egg in plain water and observe what happens, then add salt and try again. They’ll notice the egg begins to float as the water gets saltier. This 1st grade science experiment helps students learn that adding salt changes the water and can make objects float more easily.
41. Explore states of matter
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Water, cornstarch, container
Create a simple mixture of water and cornstarch in a container to make Oobleck. Have students test how its materials can react under different stress conditions. Because Oobleck doesn’t follow the usual rules of liquids, it can be a lot of fun for your 1st graders to experience this anomaly.
Learn more: How To Make Oobleck (Free Printable Worksheet)
42. Make magic milk
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Milk, dish soap, food coloring, shallow dish, dropper
In a shallow dish, pour in milk. Then add small drops of food coloring onto the surface of the milk. Using a cotton swab dipped into dish soap, you lightly brush the surface of the milk. The dish soap breaks the surface tension of the milk, and the soap molecules try to attach to the fat molecules in the milk. This causes swirls and bursts of fun rainbow colors.
Learn more: Magic Milk Experiment (Guide + Printable Reflection Sheet)
43. Make a lava lamp
- Difficulty: Medium
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Oil, water, Alka-Seltzer, food coloring, container
Students will pour water and oil into a clear container and add food coloring to see the layers. Then they’ll drop in a piece of Alka-Seltzer and watch bubbles form and move up and down through the liquid. This helps students see that oil and water don’t mix, and that gas bubbles can make liquid move in interesting ways.
Learn more: DIY Lava Lamp Experiment: How-To Plus Free Worksheet
44. Make popcorn dance
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Popcorn kernels, Alka-Seltzer, water
Students will place popcorn kernels in a cup of water and add a tablet of Alka-Seltzer. They’ll watch bubbles form and stick to the kernels, lifting them up, then popping off so the kernels sink again. This helps students see how gas bubbles can make objects rise and fall in water.
Learn more: Dancing Popcorn (Guide + Printable Reflection Sheet)
45. Will it sink or swim?
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Variety of small objects, container of water
Students make predictions and test a variety of objects in water to see whether they sink or float. This investigation introduces properties of materials and density, helping students understand how an object’s material and shape affect whether it stays afloat or sinks.
46. Learn about aerodynamics
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Paper; tape or paper clips
Students will design and fold paper airplanes in different shapes, then test-fly them to see how they travel. They’ll compare which planes go farther, fly straighter, or stay in the air longer, and make changes to improve their designs. This helps students learn that an object’s shape and weight can change how it moves through the air.
47. Make a bouncy egg
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Egg, vinegar, container
Students will place an egg in vinegar and check it over the next two days. They’ll observe the bubbles and how the eggshell slowly disappears, leaving a soft, rubbery egg. This helps students see how some liquids can cause big changes in materials.
Learn more: Egg and Vinegar Experiment (Guide + Printable Reflection Sheet)
48. Roll marbles to explore momentum
- Difficulty: Easy
- Materials: Basic
- Materials needed: Marbles, rulers or tracks, ramp
Students roll marbles down ramps with different heights and slopes and observe how far and how fast they travel. By changing the marble size or ramp angle, students explore momentum and learn how mass and speed affect an object’s motion.
49. Make sidewalk chalk paint
- Difficulty: Medium
- Materials: Medium
- Materials needed: Cornstarch, water, food coloring, cups, paintbrushes
Students will mix cornstarch and water (and optional food coloring) to make their own chalky paint. They’ll use paintbrushes to test how it spreads, feels, and dries on paper, and compare different colors or mixtures. This helps students explore how ingredients mix to create new textures and how pigments add color.
Learn more: How To Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint (Plus Free Printable)
50. Make elephant toothpaste
- Difficulty: Medium
- Materials: Medium
- Materials Needed: Hydrogen peroxide, yeast, dish soap, food coloring, container
Students will combine hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, food coloring, and yeast in a container and watch a big foam reaction happen in this 1st grade science experiment. They’ll observe how quickly the foam forms and how it grows as the ingredients mix. This helps students learn that some mixtures create new substances, and that yeast can help a reaction happen faster (with adult assistance).
Learn more: Elephant Toothpaste (Guide + Printable Reflection Sheet)
Get your free printable science experiment recording sheet!
Looking for science fair experiments for 1st graders that are simple and fun to run in class or at home? Just fill out the form on this page to get instant access to your free printable experiment recording sheet.