Aspie volunteered for Science Fair...any cool ideas?

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The teacher volunteered my 8 year old to be in the science fair. He's great in science. (And it counts for a grade)

The problem is the sheet that she gave us with ideas on it was called "GAY" (Sorry....gotta love the public school bus riders) by my child and that it was all boring.

Ideas suggested by the school:
What color attracts the most/least heat by the sun? (He already knows the answer)
Which peanut butter is the stickiest? (He said it was stupid)
Which dishwashing liquid creates the most suds? (Stupid)
It doesn't get any better as the list went on!

Everything on it is just too simple for him I was wondering if anyone had any ideas. I suggested one that kinda peeked his curiosity a little "Why does pop corn pop?
He knew why, but thought it would be kinda cool.

He suggested something that was interesting but I don't know if it'll work. Testing the effects of sensory (noises) on neurotypicals and Aspies. Reaction times, noise levels....etc. I told him I'd check into it if we couldn't figure anything else out.

what are his aspy interests?

you might do something with gooblek. Its a non Newtonian solid. Meaning its liquid, but when friction is introduced it temporary turns to a solid. You can move your hand threw it like water but can also walk across it without falling in.

made out of cornstarch and water ( and food coloring if you want it not beige). Its 1 cup cornstarch to 1/3 cup water IIRC, Google it will probably get you the resipie

http://dailydiy.com/

Daily DIY (do it yourself) has lots of neat projects and step by step instructions on how to complete them. I'm sure if you did some browsing there, you could find an easy to complete science project that would be great.



Also, if you pick up the latest edition of make magazine it has a bunch of cool science based magic tricks.

http://makezine.com/

How about something on the weather in a high pressure area... ala... Venus or Jupiter and how run away storms like the giant red spot on Jupiter can't happen on earth because of the effects that land has on systems. Contstuct a series of high pressure, high moisture terrains and generate a weather event... (there are methods)... in each one vary the pressure or the amount of land mass and comapare them.

My kids have been doing Science Fair for six years now. I've seen a lot of cool experiments. Since your son likes weather and space, I'd try to find one related to those.

My daughter made it rain in a bowl by putting hot water in the bowl, plastic wrap over the top, then put ice cubes on the plastic wrap. She then wrote her report about how that causes condensation which becomes rain. She also explained the whole water cycle, which was interesting.

There are a lot of ideas out there, Google "Science Fair projects" and you'll get tons of hits. Good luck finding something!

Are there any books he could check out at the library about science fair projects that fit his interests? I think the things he's interested in are much better than the suggestions he was given at school.

This worked for me at a little older age then your child,
but its simple and fun.

Magnetise a needle, static electricity from your own hair will do,
rub it in the hair or on skin to get it oily,
the oils will make the needle float in a glass of water,
if done right, it becomes a makeshift compass.

Thanks for all your ideas! Since he is obsessed with weather we found a great project that involves him building his own weather station from household items. A weather vane, barometer and hygrometer.

He'll use these instruments & weather folklore to predict the weather. The control is local news.

Thanks for the ideas again!

Sounds cool! I wish you luck!

Edit: the 'you' here should be read as being in the plural, stupid English!