Promoting the study of the sun as well as non-polluting sources of power are two popular science project ideas and building a solar oven satisfies both. You will need a shoebox with a fitted lid along with masking tape, tin foil, scissors, a Popsicle or lollipop stick and everyone's favorite camping food – marshmallows and hot dogs.

With the shiny side of the foil facing up, line the inside of the shoebox and lid, smoothing it as you go. Secure the foil to the box and lid edges to prevent unraveling using the masking tape. Next, cut a flap into the lid of the box using the scissors measuring to ensure you have at least one inch clearance from three of the four sides of the lid. Fold the lid back so it stays in the upright position for maximum reflection and use tape if needed to secure the foil around the lid opening.

Use the Popsicle stick to prop the lid open once you have placed it on top of the box. Your next step it to place the solar oven in the bright sunlight and ensure that flap on the box lid is open. Place a hot dog or marshmallow inside the center of the solar oven and allow them to bake. It could take quite a while for the box to heat up enough to cook anything but you don''t have to worry about burning food.

Testing the sun's power is the focus of many science project ideas these days because the sun is a source of great renewable energy and a way to decrease dependency on energy produced by oil and gas. The solar oven reflects how well a simple contraption can harness the sun's energy to cook food. Your reward for this experiment is hot dogs and toasty marshmallows as well as a healthy respect for the power of the sun.

You and your child will need room temperature water, rubbing alcohol, food coloring, and a clear plastic straw, not the bendable, colored, or striped kind. You will also need a clear plastic bottle and approximately eight to eleven ounces and modeling clay.

Fill the bottle up to ¼ of the way full with equal parts alcohol and water. Choose your favorite food coloring hue and put a few drops into the liquid solution and mix until blended. Place the clear straw in the bottle but do not allow it to touch the bottom of the bottle. Instead, using the modeling clay, seal the neck of the bottle to hold the clear straw in place.

Next, using your hands, wrap them around the bottom of the bottle where the mixture is contained. What do you see? Try placing the bottle outside in the sunshine and observe what happens. Patience may be needed as the water in the bottle warms up a bit.

The homemade thermometer project is among the easiest science project ideas because of its quick assembly time and the ability of young kids to understand how taking someone's temperature works. Remember with the old mercury thermometers the red color rose based on how high your temperature was? Your child will discover in this controlled experiment how the colored mixture inside the bottle expands as it warms up. When the water has no where else to go as it expands, it pushes up through the straw.

With hot temperatures, the water mixture may rise up through the straw and out the top. However, what happens to the colored mixture as the temperature cools off? Your child can discover this too through observation. The mixture's level in the straw goes down. This theory can easily be tested with a real old-fashioned thermometer in comparison so you and your child will know exactly how thermometers work - heat rises causing higher temperatures.

Next on the materials list are two empty 2-liter soda bottles with caps. Duct tape, water, and caulking (silicon is best) are the remaining required materials. There are several optional components that might work as a good reinforcement tool – food coloring or glitter.

The reason why creating a tornado model is among the best science project ideas for kids is because it is easy to put together. Take the caps off the 2-liter bottles and have an adult drill a hole in the center of each cap. Next, using the silicon caulking, apply a beading around the hole of one of the caps and then place the other cap over the top of it, flat ends facing each other, taking care to line up the drilled holes without them becoming obstructed from the caulking. The caulking, once dry, will form a seal to prevent water leakage.

Using the duct tape, wrap several layers around the joined caps to provide extra reinforcement. You may have to cut the tape down to the proper width before wrapping. Next, screw this new double cap onto one of the empty 2-liter bottles. Fill the remaining empty bottle with water, approximately ¾ full. At this stage, you can add either the food coloring or glitter if you wish.

Screw the empty bottle with the double cap onto the bottle filled with water. Using one hand, hold the area where the two bottles are joined, supporting it as you use your other hand to support the bottom. Flip the filled bottle over make a swirling motion with your hands as this simulates the vortex of a tornado as the water drains into the empty bottle.

The color or glitter added to this faux tornado emphasizes the swirl of the water and highlights the vortex for easier visibility. Easy, informative science project ideas are plentiful and the tornado is one of the simplest ones for young kids.

You will want to be sure that the mouth of the two jars is large enough to fit over either the entire saucer or at least over the candle with room enough to rest its base on the saucer bottom. A lighter or match to light the candles is needed as well.

Any science project ideas that involve fire in any way are often a big draw for youngsters which are why adult supervision is necessary to keep watch. Place one candle in a saucer and repeat with the second and third one. Next, light the candles on each saucer and let them burn until all three look about the same in appearance.

Next, place a small jar over one of the lit candles and repeat the action on another candle with the large jar. The third candle will remain uncovered, exposed to the air. With your youngster, sit and observe what each of the three candles does before drawing conclusions.

The first candle to burn out should have been the candle with the small jar followed by the candle with the bigger jar placed over it. The third candle should be burning at bright as ever. Why did the candles under the covered jars eventually flicker out? The answer lies in oxygen or lack thereof.

Oxygen is a clear, odorless gas in the air you breathe and is necessary to fuel fire. When you deprive an environment of oxygen, a flame cannot be sustained indefinitely. The small jar's candle burned out quickly because it trapped less oxygen inside it than the larger jar. The candle without a jar covering it had oxygen from being exposed to the air you breathe and therefore kept burning. The main lesson kids should take away from this one of many oxygen science project ideas is that oxygen is a necessary ingredient for sustaining a fire or flame.

First, start off with a simple list of items including plastic or paper plates, notebook and pen, napkins, cups, and drinkable water. Food items can include any variation of cookies, pudding, potato chips, ice cream, snack crackers, pastries such as brownies or cream-filled sponge cake. Note that, for each food item, a low-fat or fat-free version and a regular version will be used together in this project.

Begin with an explanation of what will take place, demonstrating which foods will be sampled and in which order and using the cups to swallow water between tastings to help cleanse the palette.

Gathering volunteers will be very easy as free food is involved. Take care not to let the participants see the packaging that the food came in, have it ready to eat on disposable plates beforehand. Use the marker to mark on the edge of each plate which variety of food is on each plate using a code that only the project leader knows, such as "A" for regular food and "B" for low-fat food.

Portion out the food on plates. A good example of a portion would be two small cookies of the low-fat variety and two small cookies of the regular variety and one tablespoon of the low fat ice cream and one tablespoon of the regular ice cream.

Record the reaction of the participants in the notebook, taking care not to mix up the different plates. Not everyone has to sample all the food used in the experiment. Participants can each sample one or two types of food. Record if they can tell the difference between the two samples and which one they think is low fat and which one is regular. Also ask them which tastes the best.

One can enlist the help of a dog to see if animals can differentiate between the two. Place low-fat crackers on one plate and regular crackers on the other. When the dog has eaten from both plates, put more crackers on each plate and see if the dog favors one over the other. Be careful not to put anything on a plate that has chocolate, as chocolate is harmful to dogs.

To conclude, a chart can be made showing which of the foods the participants were able to distinguish between low-fat and regular versions. Another good idea is to produce an accompanying report to explain if there was a preference between hard and soft food, or salty and non-salty, or between low-fat and regular versions of sweetened or salty foods. The effect of artificial sweeteners can be touched on here if desired, as low-fat and artificially sweetened often go hand in hand.

This project can be very fun and can be even more so when non-human participants are recruited.