30 Science Activities for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 13 min read
Middle school is a good time to connect what you learn in class with practical experimentation. Since classroom curricula at this stage may include only a few experiments, extra science activities can help you explore ideas more deeply. They give you a chance to ask questions, test concepts, and understand how science relates to everyday life. These experiences also support critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, helping you prepare for more advanced topics later on.
What are Science Activities for Middle School Students?
Science activities are projects that let you explore topics in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and other areas through experimentation and simple investigations. You might try designing small models, testing everyday materials, coding simple simulations on Scratch, or building tools that demonstrate how scientific ideas work. These activities encourage you to ask questions, make observations, and draw conclusions. By exploring science this way, you can better understand classroom concepts and see how they connect to everyday life.
In this blog, we’ve curated 30 fun and educational science activities for middle school students.
If you are looking for virtual leadership activities, check out our blog here.
Do research with Lumiere’s Junior Explorer Program
Lumiere’s Junior Explorers program provides a research-focused math experience for middle schoolers interested in applying mathematical ideas in practical ways. You’ll be paired with a PhD-level mentor in mathematics. You'll begin the program with one-on-one classes covering foundational concepts in math research, move on to design and carry out an independent research project under the guidance of your mentor, and end with a formal research paper. Although this program is not a traditional classroom course, its structured lessons and individualized research training provide a personalized, coursework-style learning experience.
Materials/Investment Required: Internet access, computer, application or program fee
Suitable for: Beginners, students with stronger STEM knowledge can complete higher level projects
Construct a Wind Turbine Model
This activity introduces middle school students to key ideas in mechanical and electrical engineering, with an emphasis on sustainability. You’ll cut blades out of plastic, mount them on a dowel, and attach the assembly to a simple motor. You’ll then test your turbine using wind outdoors or with a household fan. If you want to add more advanced analysis, you can use a simple multimeter to measure the electricity output and evaluate the efficacy of your turbine. You’ll see how similar principles apply to larger-scale wind systems and learn how engineering design supports renewability initiatives.
Materials/Investment Required: DC motor, cardboard, dowel, fan, multimeter (optional)
Suitable for: Students with some knowledge of engineering
Grow Crystals
Growing crystals is a simple, hands-on way to explore chemistry principles of solubility and crystallization through common household products. You’ll dissolve salt, sugar, or borax in hot water until the solution is saturated, then pour it into a glass jar with a string suspended from the lid. Over the course of a few days, crystals will form on the string as the solution cools and dissolved particles come out of the solution. This experiment helps students observe the process of a chemical reaction step-by-step and in real time.
Materials/Investment Required: Jars, string, salt/sugar/borax
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a Wind-Powered Car
In this activity, you’ll see aerodynamics in action, while strengthening your knowledge of physics and engineering. You’ll build a simple car chassis out of cardboard and mount it on wheels, using skewers for axles. After attaching a sail made from cardstock, you’ll use a fan to make your car move. By testing how far and how fast it travels, and then adjusting the sail's shape and size, you can practice iterative design and see how small engineering choices affect performance. This project will help you develop engineering skills, learn about energy transfer, and prepare for more complex vehicle design projects.
Materials/Investment Required: Wheels, cardboard, skewers, tape, cardstock, fan
Suitable for: Beginners
Make a Water Rocket
This science activity introduces middle school students to Newton's laws and pressure. You’ll create a simple rocket by partially filling a plastic bottle with water and sealing it with a cork to allow for the pressure to build. You will then pump air into the bottle and release the cork to launch your rocket skyward. Through this activity, you’ll learn how variations in design, such as different amounts of water or air, can affect propulsion and overall flight performance.
Materials/Investment Required: Plastic bottle, water, air pump, cork
Suitable for: Beginners
Create a Solar Water Heater
In this activity, you’ll place black-painted bottles in sunlight to heat water, demonstrating how materials absorb heat and how solar energy can be harnessed. You’ll learn about heat absorption and the power of solar energy by measuring water temperature. Experimenting with design variations such as painting bottles with different colors, testing temperatures at varied time ranges, or using bottles of varied sizes and shapes will reveal how design choices can alter the efficacy of solar-powered devices.
Materials/Investment Required: Black paint (and other colors for experiment variations), plastic bottles, thermometer
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a Mini-Biosphere
This project introduces core ecological concepts and the water cycle through the creation of a simple closed ecosystem. You’ll place stones, soil, water, and plants in a glass jar, seal it, and place it near a window for sunlight. You can observe your biosphere over the course of several weeks and evaluate how plant growth and condensation change as the system recycles its own water. You can also make multiple ecosystems using different plants, modified water levels, or amounts of sunlight, and compare how varied environmental conditions can affect plant life.
Materials/Investment Required: Jar, rocks, soil, small plants
Suitable for: Beginners
Iterating Paper Airplanes
In this project, you’ll learn key aerodynamic concepts by exploring how wing design, size, and weight influence flight. You’ll create paper planes with different wing shapes, and measure the travel distance and time in the air for each. You can rebuild the same models by using smaller or larger pieces of paper, or by making use of heavier materials such as construction paper to observe how weight and surface area affect lift and drag. You’ll learn the physics of flight in this simple at-home activity.
Materials/Investment Required: Paper, measuring tape (optional for evaluating exact travel distance)
Suitable for: Beginners
Make a Lava Lamp
In this activity, middle school students can explore basic chemistry concepts by building a decoration for their room. You’ll fill a bottle, or a jar resembling a traditional lava lamp, with a combination of oil and water, add food dye to provide color, and drop in an effervescent tablet to release carbon dioxide. As bubbles form and move throughout the jar, you’ll observe how differences in density and immiscibility create a lava lamp effect. Adding a light beneath or behind the jar turns it into a simple, homemade lamp, a fun addition to your room.
Materials/Investment Required: Oil, water, food coloring, effervescent tablets, bottle or jar
Suitable for: Beginners
Construct a Popsicle Stick Bridge
This project offers hands-on experience in structural and civil engineering, using simple materials. To start, you'll sketch a design for a truss or beam bridge, then glue popsicle sticks together to bring your drawing to life. Once the bridge dries, you can test it out by gradually adding weight and evaluating the strength of your structure. You can boost your iterative design skills by noting any weak points or flaws in your bridge and attempting a modified design to craft a sturdier structure.
Materials/Investment Required: Popsicle sticks, glue, paper
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a Seismograph Model
Seismographs are used to measure the effects of earthquakes and explosions, and building a simple model is a great way to observe wave motion firsthand. You can create a basic model by attaching a pen to a weighted item that you suspend from a sturdy frame. You’ll place it on a table above a piece of paper, and shake the table to see the pen record vibrations on the paper. While you should be careful not to damage your furniture, you can shake the table at slightly different strengths, directions, or frequencies to see how seismographs distinguish between varying levels of seismic activity.
Materials/Investment Required: Weight, string, pen, paper, frame/mounting item
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a Hydraulic Arm
Middle school students interested in biomedical and mechanical engineering can try their hands at designing a simple hydraulic arm. You’ll use cardboard to build an arm structure, connecting syringes to the device’s joints to control its movement. You can consider adding more advanced features, such as finger movement or additional joints, to attempt more complex motions and gripping functions. This project builds an understanding of hydraulics and force, and prepares you for future robotics activities.
Materials/Investment Required: Syringes, tubing, cardboard, water
Suitable for: Middle school students with some experience building dynamic mechanical models
Make Biodegradable Plastic
This activity uses basic chemistry to create an environmentally friendly plastic alternative to traditional plastics. You’ll heat a mixture of cornstarch, vinegar, and glycerin on the stove until it thickens, then pour it evenly onto a sheet to cool. Once it dries, you can test its flexibility and density, learning about polymer creation and ways of developing more sustainable materials.
Materials/Investment Required: Cornstarch, vinegar, glycerin, sheet pan/plate
Suitable for: Beginners
Scratch Video Game Project
In this project, you’ll build computer science skills by creating a fun, interactive game. You’ll work in Scratch to create elements such as sprites and background layouts, then use the software’s features to add movement controls and other game functions. You can add additional features once you’ve mastered the basic design, such as harder levels and obstacles. You’ll also gain experience in debugging code and game design, which you can apply to more advanced computer science projects, video game creation, and animations.
Materials/Investment Required: Computer, internet access
Suitable for: Students with some coding knowledge/experience in Scratch.
Craft a Catapult
In this activity, you’ll build a mini catapult by using wood or sturdy cardboard and rubber bands to provide tension. You’ll observe projectile motion in action by launching items varying in size and weight from the catapult, and compare how each item travels. You can also experiment with how far you draw back the catapult to see the effect of launch force.
Materials/Investment Required: Balloons, rubber bands, wood/cardboard
Suitable for: Beginners
Make a Homemade Thermometer
This easy-to-build thermometer is a great way to learn about thermal expansion and how liquids respond to temperature changes. You’ll add food coloring to rubbing alcohol to aid visibility, and place a sealed straw at the top of the bottle. By placing the bottle in warmer and colder environments, you’ll see the level of liquid in the straw rise and fall. Through these observations, you'll deepen your understanding of kinetic energy and thermodynamics, thus preparing for future physics coursework.
Materials/Investment Required: Bottle, straw, rubbing alcohol, food coloring
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a Periscope
By building a simple periscope, you can observe principles of optics in action through a device that lets you see over obstacles. You’ll cut two openings into a tube, attach a curved tube of cardboard pointing forward, and place mirrors at angled positions inside the structure. When you look through one end, the mirrors redirect light so you should be able to see over barriers in front of you. You can shift mirror positioning to optimize your view, learning about the dynamics of reflection and how it affects what you see.
Materials/Investment Required: Cardboard, tube, mini mirrors
Suitable for: Beginners
Create a DIY Barometer
In this science activity, you’ll learn how air pressure is measured by building a simple barometer. You’ll stretch a balloon over the mouth of a jar, and tape a straw to the balloon's surface so it extends outwards. You’ll use an upright ruler or piece of cardstock with measurement markings behind the straw to track the movement of the balloon as air pressure changes. As air pressure changes, the balloon will flex slightly, causing the straw to rise or fall. This simple device demonstrates how pressure measurements are used to evaluate weather conditions.
Materials/Investment Required: Jar, balloon, rubber band, straw, ruler/cardstock
Suitable for: Beginners
Parachute Design Practice
This fun activity combines physics with iterative design processes by letting you test different parachute designs under controlled conditions. You’ll create parachutes using materials such as plastic bags, fabrics, and paper. You’ll start by creating parachutes of the same shape and size, then try out different designs to see how changing individual variables, such as shape and material, affects performance. You can drop your parachutes from a variety of heights with different weighted items, thereby learning about air resistance and effective experimental design.
Materials/Investment Required: Plastic bags, fabric, string
Suitable for: Beginners
Model the Greenhouse Effect
This experiment demonstrates how climate change works on a small scale and helps you build a foundational understanding of environmental science. You’ll create a greenhouse by placing a thermometer in a glass jar, covering the opening with plastic wrap, and placing the jar in varied levels of temperature and sunlight. As heat gets trapped inside, you can track the rising temperature and compare it to an uncovered control setup. By keeping your greenhouse out for longer periods of time, you can observe how heat accumulation increases over extended exposure periods.
Materials/Investment Required: Plastic wrap, jar/plastic container, thermometer
Suitable for: Beginners
Arduino Traffic Light System
For middle school students with some prior experience in coding, this science activity increases knowledge of circuit functioning and hardware programming. You’ll connect LEDs to an Arduino board, and write code that replicates actual traffic light timing patterns. You’ll get to see your traffic model work automatically, learning how simple programming and circuitry come together to create the systems that control everyday infrastructure.
Materials/Investment Required: Arduino board, LED lights, resistors, computer, and internet access
Suitable for: Students with some prior coding experience
Create a Magnetic Levitation Track
In this activity, you’ll make toys that appear to float to understand how advanced maglev trains function. You’ll create a “track” with a strip of wood or cardboard lined with magnets, then attach opposite-pole magnets to the bottom of a model train or car. When you place the vehicle on the track, the opposing magnetic forces should cause it to levitate and glide along the surface. You’ll learn the principles of magnetism and transit design through this fun game-like format.
Materials/Investment Required: Magnets, cardboard/wood, toy car/train, glue/tape
Suitable for: Beginners
Testing Surface Tension
This simple activity for middle school students models the scientific principles of surface tension in water. You’ll sprinkle pepper or other spices in a bowl of water, then add a drop of soap to the bowl. As the soap disrupts the cohesive forces between water molecules, the surface tension breaks and the spices scatter across the surface of the water. This quick experiment will help you visualize how surface tension works and how easily it can be altered by chemical changes.
Materials/Investment Required: Water, pepper/spices/small buoyant items, soap
Suitable for: Beginners
Build an Anemometer
Building an anemometer demonstrates how wind speed is measured in the field of meteorology. You’ll create a cross out of straws, attach each side to a small cup, and mount it on a stick using a pushpin so it can spin freely. You’ll then bring it outside to watch it rotate in the wind, and count the number of spins over a set period of time to estimate wind speed. If you want to test your device in varied conditions, you can place it in front of a fan and measure the rotations on different fan power settings.
Materials/Investment Required: Cups, straws, pushpins, fan (optional)
Suitable for: Beginners
Planetary Orbit Simulation
In this activity, you’ll tie ping pong balls to strings of different lengths and attach them around a central “sun.” This model of planetary motion and gravity is a fun and simple activity to explore circular motion, gravity, and the basics of orbital mechanics. By gently rotating your “solar system” in circles, you’ll see differences in orbital speeds based on string length and distance from the “sun.” You can use scaled distances from our own solar system, develop a model of your own, or try both to observe the changes in orbital behavior. You can also experiment with balls of different sizes and weights to see the impact of planet mass on orbital motion.
Materials/Investment Required: Ping pong balls, string
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a Spectroscope
Spectroscopes separate light into its component wavelengths, allowing you to observe the color spectrum produced by a light source. You’ll place a CD fragment into a cardboard box and cut a small slit on the opposite side. You'll then point it towards a light source, and as you look at the CD’s reflective surface, you’ll get to see the spectrum created by diffraction from the CD. This is a great option for students interested in physics and astronomy to understand the principles behind advanced equipment used to study stars and galaxies.
Materials/Investment Required: CD, cardboard box
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a “Robotic” Hand
This simple biomechanics activity shows how resistance and tendon-like systems work, while helping you build dynamic design skills. You’ll cut a palm and fingers out of cardboard, use strings and straws to model tendons, and attach each piece of the hand together. By pulling the strings, you’ll be able to bend and move the fingers– mimicking how real hands function. You can make the model more complex by using sturdier materials or adding additional joints, exploring how you can enable a broader range of movements through a network of strings.
Materials/Investment Required: Cardboard, straws, string
Suitable for: Beginners
Build a Smartphone Amplifier
This activity offers a simple alternative to a speakerphone by amplifying sounds through the physics principles of sound waves and resonance. You’ll use cardboard to create a horn-shaped tube, with a slot allowing you to fit your phone speaker at one end. When you play music from your phone, the shape of the tube helps amplify the sound. By experimenting with longer or shorter tubes, or wider and narrower openings, you can observe how different designs affect volume and clarity.
Materials/Investment Required: Cardboard, tape, phone
Suitable for: Beginners
Test pH Levels
In this activity, you’ll learn how to estimate the pH of liquids using a homemade indicator instead of a pH meter or test strips. You’ll start off by boiling red cabbage to create a thin purple liquid that will serve as an indicator solution, and pour the juice into a few clear cups based on the number of liquids you want to test. You’ll then add a different liquid, such as vinegar or soap, to each cup; the solution will remain purple for neutral liquids, turn red for acids, and turn blue or green for bases, giving you an easy visual method for comparing pH levels.
Materials/Investment Required: Red cabbage, cups, soap, vinegar, water, other liquids
Suitable for: Beginners
Build an Electric Lemon Battery
This advanced science activity guides middle school students through building a functional battery capable of powering a small light. You’ll insert a penny into one side of a lemon and a galvanized nail into the other, and then attach wires to each metal piece. Connecting the wires to a small LED will activate the light, demonstrating how chemical energy is converted into electrical energy. You can also experiment with voltage by connecting multiple lemons, or test your battery on a buzzer or other small device instead of an LED light. This activity will provide hands-on learning on chemical energy, electricity, and electrochemical reactions.
Materials/Investment Required: Lemons, pennies, nails, wires, small LED light
Suitable for: Students with some basic knowledge of electricity-based experiments
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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