VanCleave's Science Fun

Your Guide to Science Projects, Fun Experiments, and Science Research

ABOUT THE SOUND PICTURE

With mouth wide open, vibrating air coming up the throat from the vocal chords leaving the open mouth and spreading in all directions. Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50+ best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years and now am creating this science website.   My scream was not staged. The picture was to be of two adult cats, which I was holding. A microsecond before the camera snapped, the two cats dug their claws into my skin as they prepared to leap out of my arms. A picture like this is great for making inferences. Kids could make "guesses" as to why I am screaming. They would be drawing on facts from the photo, such as I look like I am in pain or maybe I am just pretending.

Sound Supplies and Sound Investigations

Educational Innovation Sound Supplies A black and yellow logo for Educational Innovations. A place to find fun science supplies.

Rice-Paddy Art

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With only three different colors of rice plants, some rice farmers in Japan are creating large murals by planting three different colors of rice plants. This idea started in 1993 and has become one of the “you must see this” tourist attractions in Japan. From ground level, the acres of colored plants are not very […]

Glue

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Question: How does glue stick things together? Answer: Glue is an adhesive, which means it has a strong attraction for other materials. Some glues are specifically designed for paper, while others are attracted to many different kinds of materials. While a glue may be advertised as a glue-all, it sticks to rough surfaces better than […]

Recycle: Paper

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Paper makes up a large percent of the waste in landfills in the United States. Recycling paper is one way to reduce the amount of trash in landfills. Recycled paper also takes less energy and uses less water to produce because most of the energy and water in paper making is used to change wood […]

Surface Tension

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Question: What is the trick behind floating a paper clip on water? Answer: There is no trick. The diagram shows the paper clip on a small piece of paper. I used a piece of paper towel. The paper helps to position the paper clip so that is sits flat on the water. The pencil in […]

Chemistry:Water Resistant

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Have you notice how rain forms spherical drops on some things, such as leaves and raincoats,  but make wet spots when they land on your clothes? Water forms drops on substances that are water resistant. Being water resistant is a physical characteristic. Materials that are water resistant do not absorb water. These materials do not […]

Physics: Pressure

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Pressure is a force spread out over a surface. Weight is a force. If the same person wears the three different styles of shoes shown on this page, the heels of the shoes in diagram A apply the greatest pressure  on a surface, diagram B, medium pressure, and diagram C the least pressure.The difference in […]

Starter Science Fair Projects

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Question: How do I start a science fair project? Answer: Since getting started on any thing, whether it is writing a book or designing a science fair project, I have decided to try something new. My idea is to create “starter science fair projects.” These projects will be focused on “kicking off” or starting a […]

Astronomy:Blue Moon

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Question: What is a blue moon? Answer: A blue moon does not refer to the Moon’s color. Instead, it is a term used for the second full moon within the same month. Most years have twelve  full moons-one each month. A lunar month is about 29.5 days –from one full moon to the next. A […]

Scientific Method: Further Investigation

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Today, I’ll discuss the last and eighth step of the scientific method–Further Investigations. Some do not include this since the investigation is over. But I think it is an import part. This step gives you ideas for a future science project. As a reminder, the symbol in the upper left corner of this page links […]