Sixth grade science covers a wide variety of topics and varies depending on the curriculum. We’ve rounded up the best 6th grade science fair projects to inspire kids, as well as classroom science demos and activities that will grab their attention.
To make it easier to find what you’re looking for, we’ve rated all the projects and activities by difficulty and the materials needed:
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 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
Jump to:
Plus, fill out the form on this page to grab your free printable bundle of science fair award certificates to honor your students’ efforts! There are more than 40 award categories included plus a customizable blank certificate for you to create your own awards.
Biology and Earth Science 6th Grade Science Fair Projects
For students interested in anatomy, animals, geology, and ecology, these are the science fair projects they need.
1. Find the fastest way to ripen fruit
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Need to ripen those bananas or peaches in a hurry? Do some research and then experiment to find the fastest way to safely ripen fruit without sacrificing flavor.
Kitchen Counter Chronicle
2. Clean up an oil spill
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Learn why an oil spill is so devastating for wildlife and the ecosystem with this hands-on activity. Kids experiment to find the best way to clean up oil floating on water and rescue the animals affected by the spill.
Learn more: Oil Spill Cleanup
3. Explore new ways to filter water
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Basic water-filtration systems are pretty simple, but they make terrific science fair projects. Experiment with different setups, and find a way to make safe drinking water for people who need it.
Love To Know
4. Shake it up with earthquake science
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Build simple model structures, then experiment to see how the actions of earthquakes affect them. Do research into what engineers and architects build in earthquake zones, then perform an experiment to see if you can improve on their findings.
Learn more: Earthquake Science Project
5. Grow a better garden using hydroponics
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Hydroponics is the hot new gardening trend, but is it really a better way to garden? Find out with a DIY hydroponics gardening setup, comparing the results with traditional container gardening.
The Happy Housewife
6. Create top-notch compost in a cup
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This is an easy science activity, and you can turn it into a science fair project by experimenting with different mixtures, layering, and conditions for your compost cups.
Learn more: Compost Cups Science Project
7. Learn the best way to repel ants
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Do you really need to use poisons to keep ants out of your home? Explore other possible solutions in this science project idea.
8. Simulate a tsunami and find ways to protect people
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Build a model to simulate a tsunami, then come up with potential ways to minimize the damage future waves may cause.
9. Design a squirrel-proof bird feeder
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Squirrels can be real pests at backyard bird feeders, and people are always trying to come up with new solutions to the issue. Can you be the one who finally solves this pesky problem?
11. Explode a lunch bag
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This is a cool science experiment that teaches about greenhouse gases.
Chemistry 6th Grade Science Fair Projects
Students who love to mix up chemicals and explore the results will enjoy these 6th grade chemistry science fair ideas.
12. Compare baking powder and baking soda
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Baking powder and baking soda have similar names, but do they behave the same when used in a baking recipe? Bake up a few cakes and find out!
13. Devise a formula for creating the biggest soap bubbles
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Soap bubble formulas vary, and some allow you to make bigger bubbles than others. What does it take to make the biggest bubble of them all?
14. Learn if tea and cola damage teeth
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Use eggshells to explore how various beverages can stain teeth in this classic 6th grade science fair project. (It also teaches important lessons about dental hygiene!)
15. Look for iron in your breakfast cereal
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
The human body needs iron to be healthy, and many breakfast cereal boxes boast that they contain it. Conduct a 6th grade science fair project to find out if cereals really contain all the iron they say they do.
Gally Kids
16. Find the best way to clean up old coins
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Use common household items to make old oxidized coins clean and shiny again in this simple chemistry experiment. Form a hypothesis about which method will work best, then do some research to explain the results.
Learn more: Cleaning Coins Experiment
17. Explore the effects of various sugars on yeast
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
We love “sweet” science fair projects for 6th graders. Yeast needs sugar to grow, but does the type of sugar matter? And can you use sugar substitutes instead?
KiwiCo
18. Grow the biggest carbon sugar snake
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Tinker with the formula to create the biggest carbon sugar snake possible! This is an engaging project that will wow other students too.
Learn more: Carbon Sugar Snake
19. Determine whether soda has more sugar than juice
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Which do you think has more sugar, a glass of Pepsi or a glass of orange juice? Boil away the water to find out in this 6th grade chemistry experiment.
20. Explore the properties of plastic made from milk
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Making milk from plastic is actually pretty simple. Turn it into a science fair project by learning more about its strength, durability, and flexibility and proposing a practical use for it.
21. Determine which type of juice has the most vitamin C
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
We love science fair projects for 6th graders that revolve around nutritional value. Vitamin C might not immediately cure your cold, but it definitely has health benefits. Does orange juice really have the most vitamin C? Conduct an experiment using an iodine titration method to learn the answer.
22. Construct a homemade lava lamp
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This 1970s trend is back—as a 6th grade science project! Learn about acids and bases while putting together a totally groovy lava lamp.
23. Blow up a balloon—without blowing
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
This is the classic science experiment that helps you teach the reactions between acids and bases, plus what happens when you mix different substances together. Fill a bottle with vinegar and a balloon with baking soda. Fit the balloon over the top of the bottle, shake the baking soda down into the vinegar, and watch the balloon inflate.
Learn more: Baking Soda and Vinegar Balloon Experiment (Guide + Printable Reflection Sheet)
25. Create golden rain
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
This experiment shows a chemical reaction between potassium iodide and lead (II) nitrate. It results in lead (II) iodide. The color change will amaze your students. Be sure to wear all the proper safety equipment.
26. Test the pH levels of drinks
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
This is a fun 6th grade science project that might also encourage your kiddo to make healthier food choices! Gather as many different types of drinks as possible and then test the pH levels of each one to determine which are the most acidic versus which are the most neutral.
Physics and Engineering 6th Grade Science Fair Projects and Classroom Activities
Calling all tinkerers! Build, create, and engineer a science fair project using physics principals.
27. Make a tower from one piece of paper
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
It doesn’t get much simpler than this STEM project. Each student gets just a single sheet of paper and is challenged with building the tallest tower. Make it a competition!
28. Make a paper skyscraper
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Similar to the one above, but rather than limiting the paper, you offer as much paper as students want. Provide them with unlimited paper, tape, and scissors and see who can build the tallest, sturdiest tower in the allotted time.
@vivifystem via Instagram
29. Create a straw rocket
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Students will enjoy building rockets from straws while experimenting with variables like fin size and weight distribution. This simple engineering project helps students understand concepts like force and motion, center of gravity, etc.
Learn more: Rocket STEM Challenge
@vivifystem via Instagram
30. Design an ocean habitat
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Science fair projects for 6th graders that incorporate both engineering and biology, like this one, are some of the best. This is a fun project to help students familiarize themselves with the engineering design process. Include requirements such as every diorama must include an observatory complete with a figure.
Learn more: Ocean Animal Habitat Diorama
Oak Hill Academy via Instagram
31. Design a LEGO bridge
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This is another great “build a bridge” engineering project, but this time using LEGO. Be sure to provide your students with a variety of LEGO bricks in different sizes and shapes. They can see if they can build a bridge that will support those mammoth water bottles 6th graders can always be found carrying.
Learn more: Build a Bridge STEM Challenge
32. Create a paper ball run
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Basic
There are a lot of different ways to build a paper ball run. You can supply your students with a variety of paper materials (think paper towel rolls, paper plates, etc.) and challenge them to see what they can create. You can also assign it as a project to do at home.
Oratory Prep via Instagram
33. Withstand the weight of a basketball
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Basic
Using just cardboard, newspaper, and tape, challenge your students to make a structure that is at least 1 foot high and can hold the weight of a basketball.
@steminthemiddle via Instagram
34. Design a corn maze
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This is the perfect engineering project to complete in the fall. You’ll want to stockpile green and yellow LEGO bricks in advance.
Learn more: Create Model Corn Mazes
Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls
35. Build a powerful paper-plane launcher
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Here’s a cool 6th grade science fair project. Design and build a paper-airplane launcher that can fly a plane farther than anyone else’s.
Learn more: Paper Plane Launcher
36. Figure out the fastest way to cool a soda
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Adding ice to a glass of soda cools it off, but it also waters it down. See if you can find a fast way to cool down soda while it’s still in the can or bottle instead.
37. Launch a bottle rocket higher or more accurately
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
A basic water-powered rocket isn’t that hard to assemble, but you can turn it into a bona fide 6th grade science fair project by playing around with the design. Figure out how to launch it higher, or change the trajectory to hit a certain target.
38. Identify the best insulating material
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Insulating an item can prevent it from losing heat, like an insulated beverage bottle. What materials are the most effective insulators? How can you find out?
39. Drop parachutes to test air resistance
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Use the scientific method to test different types of material and see which makes the most effective parachute. This is an easy project that’s perfect for kids interested in design and engineering.
40. Make a potato battery
When we think of making things from a potato, we usually think of potato salad or home fries, but what if you could make a battery? This experiment demonstrates how to make an electrochemical battery or cell.
41. Engineer the strongest craft stick bridge
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Basic
This is a classic science activity for the classroom, but it works well for 6th grade science fair projects too. Form a hypothesis about the strongest type of bridge design, then build your own models to test it out.
Home Science Tools
42. Assemble the best simple motor
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Looking for an idea that’s impressive but not too complicated? Build your own simple motor! You only need a few special supplies, including insulated copper wire and neodymium magnets. Turn it into a true 6th grade science fair project by altering the variables to see if you can increase the speed, reduce the noise, or make other improvements.
Learn more: DIY Motor
43. Learn if room temperature affects candle burn rate
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Science fair projects for 6th graders that are simple and inexpensive, like this one, are perfect. Burn birthday candles in a variety of temperatures to see if they burn faster in higher temps.
44. Determine how much money energy vampires are wasting in your home
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
So-called “energy vampires” use up energy even when they’re not in active use. And energy costs money. Determine how much energy is being wasted by energy vampires in your home, and figure out how much money you can save on an annual electric bill by getting rid of them.
45. Do the Egg Drop Challenge
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Challenge your students to create a vessel to protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a high height. Students will learn about energy and momentum as they experiment with different ways to buffer the collision of the egg with earth.
Learn more: Egg Drop Challenge Ideas
6th Grade Science Classroom Demos and Hands-On Activities
Engage students with a live demonstration showing the concepts they’re studying. Even better, give them a chance to get hands-on and do the science themselves!
Babble Dabble Do
46. Assemble motorized tiny dancers
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Build a homopolar motor to make little spinning wire dancers. It takes a little practice to get it right, but it’s a really fun way to learn about motors and energy.
Learn more: Tiny Dancers
The Mad House
47. Amplify your smartphone with basic supplies
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
No Bluetooth speaker? No problem! Build your own from paper cups and a toilet paper tube. This is a 6th grade STEM challenge that’s sure to amaze kids.
Learn more: DIY Phone Amplifier and Stand
Pragmatic Mom
48. Wear a gene bracelet
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
This is a neat way to talk about our genes. Have each student add pony beads to their bracelet to represent different traits. Then they can compare their differences and similarities. It’s likely that no two students will have the same bracelets!
Learn more: DNA Gene Bracelet
49. Magic milk experiment
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This experiment teaches us about the science of molecules and how substances interact. The soap breaks down the fat molecules and makes them move apart, showing us a simple but fascinating example of chemistry in action!
Learn more: Magic Milk Experiment
50. Experiment with eggs and vinegar
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
You and your students are going to love the Egg and Vinegar Experiment. It’s an easy project you can complete in a few days, and it makes a good science fair experiment too.
Learn more: Egg and Vinegar Experiment + Printable
Rookie Parenting
51. Send water traveling down a string
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Explore the properties of cohesion and adhesion with this simple experiment using only water and cotton string. Expand the learning by trying the same experiment with different materials and liquids.
Learn more: Traveling Water Experiment
52. Launch a two-stage rocket
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
The rockets used for space flight generally have more than one stage to give them the extra boost they need. This experiment uses balloons to model a two-stage rocket launch, teaching kids about the laws of motion.
53. Change the color of a liquid in an instant
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Want to see your kids gasp in amazement? Perform the iodine clock reaction. You only need a few drugstore chemicals to change the solution from clear to dark blue faster than students can blink.
Buggy and Buddy
54. Levitate a Ping-Pong ball
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Basic
Kids will get a kick out of this experiment, which is really all about Bernoulli’s principle. You only need plastic bottles, bendy straws, and Ping-Pong balls to make the science magic happen.
Students gain a deeper understanding of the cardiovascular system when they construct a working model of a heart ventricle.
Learn more: Heart Pump Model
Surviving a Teacher’s Salary
57. Construct a pair of model lungs
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Build model lungs using a plastic water bottle and some balloons to learn more about the respiratory system. You can modify the experiment to demonstrate the effects of smoking too.
Learn more: Lungs Model
Gift of Curiosity
58. Dissect an owl pellet
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Dig into an owl’s regurgitated meals (it’s not as gross as it sounds!) to discover what their diet consists of. Owl pellets are readily available online, and kids will be intrigued by what they find.
Learn more: Owl Pellets
KC Edventures
59. Study sound waves with a spoon
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
With just yarn and a metal spoon, learn how vibrations create sound, and explore the role of conductors.
Learn more: Spoon Sound Waves
The Homeschool Scientist
60. Make sparks with steel wool
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
All you need is steel wool and a 9-volt battery to perform this science demo that’s bound to make their eyes light up! Kids learn about chain reactions, chemical changes, and more.
Learn more: Steel Wool Experiment
Angelic Scalliwags
61. Create a colorful cell model
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
There are lots of cell model projects out there, but this might be one of the cutest ones we’ve seen! And it’s easier to assemble than you might think.
Learn more: Cell Model
62. Extract DNA from a strawberry
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
It’s surprisingly easy to pull a strand of DNA from this sweet fruit. Teach your kids about genetics and DNA with this 6th grade science project that uses only basic household supplies.
Teach Engineering
63. Design a biodome
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
There’s so much to learn with this 6th grade science project. Kids build a scale-model biodome to learn more about different environments and ecosystems, decomposition, the food web, and more.
Learn more: Biodome Project
Left Brain Craft Brain
64. Pull an egg into a bottle
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This is another classic science demo that never fails to delight. Use the power of air pressure to suck a hard-boiled egg into a jar—no hands required.
Learn more: Egg in a Bottle Experiment
Compound Interest
65. Make a pH indicator from a vegetable
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Who knew such a simple material could be used to determine a substance’s acidity or alkalinity? Your students can explore acids and bases with this simple experiment.
Learn more: Red Cabbage pH Indicator
67. Create a crystal egg geode
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
Who would have thought that there is a hidden geology lesson in a raw egg? You’ll surely amaze your students with this experiment!
68. Experiment with electromagnets
Difficulty: Medium / Materials: Medium
There are a few different ways to make an electromagnet. You can start with a 9V battery, a connector, some copper wire, safety pins, and a nail.
Slime Science Projects
If you’re looking for more unique ways to make slime, check out the recipes below.
69. Try out some butter slime
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
We love slime at We Are Teachers. Not only is it super fun and a hit with any 6th grade class, it also teaches about chemical reactions and molecules. Butter slime is a fun twist on an old favorite thanks to the secret ingredient: Model Magic!
71. Make glitter slime
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
This slime recipe calls for some interesting ingredients like contact lens solution and, of course, glitter! In addition to being a great sensory experience, slime teaches viscosity. Take the opportunity to introduce students to the concept of a non-Newtonian fluid.
72. Experiment with magnetic slime
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Medium
Slime is obviously a favorite science experiment for kids, but the addition of iron filings really takes this up a notch. Get some magnets and let kids experiment with the magnetism.
74. Go simple
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
This is just too simple! Grab some cornstarch and dish soap and make the perfect slime! Use it as an opportunity to introduce the concept of states of matter.
75. Try chocolate slime
Difficulty: Easy / Materials: Basic
Slime made from hot chocolate? Why not. Just remember when all is said and done, this is NOT edible!
Get your free printable science fair award certificates!
If you’re organizing a science fair, make sure to grab our free printable bundle of award certificates with more than 40 categories along with a customizable blank certificate so you can create your own awards.
Need supplies for your 6th grade science fair projects and activities? Check out these Science Kits for Middle and High School That Make Hands-On Lessons Easy.
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Rebecca Bell is a news writer for the Bloomfield Free Press, specializing in sports, education, and technology. She has been writing about these topics for years, and she's passionate about helping people understand what's going on in their world. Rebecca loves to write about things that matter to people—whether it's a new education initiative or an innovative way to increase your child's athletic performance.
