Good Science Project for a 5-year-old

[Pythagorean]

Just looking for ideas here. My initial thought was wave property of light, just using a pinhole image and a water analog, but still thinking of ideas.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I hate to reference pinterest but this is a nice visual list of ideas
https://www.pinterest.com/stevespangler/best-kids-science-experiments/

 

[thankz]

when I was 5 I remember doing a experiment from a mr. wizard book, it was showing static electricity with water, salt and pepper and maybe sugar for the life of me I can't remember how it worked but the pepper did react to the positive charge and move away from the (sugar? salt?) , when added to the water. they have vids on youtube that use a comb to create the static charge to pick up pepper from salt but that is no where as enlightening as doing the experiment in water.

 

[Vanadium 50]

The absolute best book for this, if you can find it, is "Learn While You Scrub: Science In The Tub" by James Lewis. My favorite experiment was "Was I That Dirty?" - it involves putting a coffee filter over the drain.

 

[Evo]

You might like these

 

[Enigman]

Tiny paper boats powered by soap and/ or guided by magnets, bicarbonate and vinegar powered rockets and volcanos, pin-hole camera, mentos in a coke, elementary electric circuits, a small electric motor, chromatography using tissue paper- can't think of anything else right now.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Kids like explosions:

 

[OmCheeto]

Kids are also fascinated by poop.

Why Poop is Brown
by Vera Lynn​

Introduction
My poop is brown, even when I don't eat brown food. When I mix my finger paints all together, they turn brown.
I think my poop is brown, because my food gets mixed up inside me.

Experiment: Have finger paints of different colors available, and mix them, showing different resulting colors. In then end, have the children mix all the colors together.

Background:
In the summer of 1984, my mother and I were tasked with baby sitting my 5 nieces and nephews. Mother, being about 60, was not up to the task, so I took charge. I presented them with an old piece of scrap wood wall paneling, 8 containers of fluorescent paint, and a paintbrush for each one. Each child created a beautiful image, until, my two eldest nieces, discovered that when you mix the colors together, something magical happened. One screamed out; "It's poop!". Which prompted the other niece to do the experiment, which prompted her to scream out; "Yes! It makes poop!". At this point, they decided to turn everyones drawing into poop, which make my nephew cry, so I terminated the experiment, and made the poop-meisters sign the resulting masterpiece.

It still hangs on my bedroom wall.

​

ps.
Crystal & Kelly were both 5.
Michael was 7, and was obviously very upset that his relatives were still obsessed with poop.
I probably would have cried too. It's sad when people don't grow up.

pps.
If you're upset that her conclusion is wrong, remember this:
Just this past year, I discovered that "Purple" is not a spectral color, but a construct, of our minds.
And in the last month, I discovered that "potential energy ≠ mgh". It's a lie!