Hello. My name is Hilary and I am the mother of a new Kindergartener.  She is adorable, but we have Kindergarten ALL day and when she comes home you’d think she’s run a marathon, and she’s now Cleopatra.  If I knew how to peel grapes,and was willing to cut a palm frond off — you can guess what I’d be doing for her after school snack.

2020 ETA: She’s now in 5th grade and I couldn’t be happier that creating this checklist has been a great tool to help her be a little bit more organized during the school year. Emphasis on “a little bit”.

Suffice it to say that her brother (in 5th grade) isn’t much better.  They walk in the door and literally EXPLODE with school-ness.  I’m left asking, and asking, and asking.  Will you PLEASE put your things away?  Until today.   Enter my After School Checklist. I see lamination in its future {ps, I LOVE this laminator}

Before we get into the checklist — if After School Routines are something you struggle with (because I do, and it is something I have REALLY worked on) — I have a whole section on what to do after school in Family Routines.  You can join for just a month or a whole year, you can cancel at any time!  The price is great, and I guarantee you’ll like it!

After School Routine Checklist

This isn’t brain surgery people.  It’s just a mom wanting her kids to not leave a trail of items everywhere they walk once they enter the front door. So, I left it editable in case you have different needs.

By getting into an organized routine of doing these things, your kids (and thereby, you) will have a smoother afternoon after a long school day!)

Things to do after school:

Put Backpack Away — Having a designated spot for your child’s book bag helps a LOT! Bonus points if it’s on the floor they enter the house (I just find that is more doable for my kids) — but we still use our rooms. Go the extra mile kids!

Put Away Jacket/Coat — It is just SUCH a great habit to get into, put things where they go — touch them once!

Get out homework folder/give adults important papers — I hate the morning “can you sign this” routine — so much eaiser to look over documents in the evening! I have an inbox on my desk where I have the kids put things.

Put away lunchbox — once again, touch things once. Just make sure you have a spot for their lunch bag to go. That’s your part.

Do Homework — Remember, homework is their job. Be sure to have a spot in the kitchen/office/desk for them to do it!

Get Homework checked — if you do this (I don’t — I glance, but I don’t check each problem). I am not the teacher.

Put school clothes away — if you do this, my kids don’t put on play clothes (but I can see that as being important if your school uses uniforms) — btw, I have a post on how many clothes kids need to have.

Get a healthy snack — My kids are always STARVING when they get home, so be sure to put this where it makes sense for your family!

Make lunch ready for tomorrow — Honestly, I can’t imagine this happening, but having their lunch box ready for the next day would be great!

Of course, kids should then move on to other chores, practicing instruments, etc. All of that is editable in the checklist template!

Want to know more about some routines:

• Signs You’re Parenting Out of Fear
• School Essentials Checklist for Mom
• Organize Your Life One Week at a Time
• Getting Your Family to Help Out More
• Summer Activities for Kids

A reminder for perfect moms:

Note: Your child is NOT going to do this perfectly every day, especially if it’s a new routine. The idea is to get them into a routine where they are mostly doing these things. I don’t do my life perfectly every time, but I try. Hopefully our kids are trying too.

This printable checklist is a great way to help them remember all the things they have to do, and teach them responsibility. It’s just creating, simple good habits.

Editable After School Checklist

It’s nothing fancy.  Having clear expectations was most important to me. I don’t need her being caught up in how cute it is, although I may let her color it before I laminate it.  Easy, peasy, lemon-squeezy. {pfft, as if it was that easy}

What are your best tips for a smoother afternoon transition?  I could REALLY use them about now! Also, if you’re looking for some help with just the after-school basics, be sure to check out my Children’s Tasks checklist!

What does our after school routine chart look like?

Honestly, the schedule really dictates the schedule.

I usually allow for 1/2 hour for snacks and unpacking the lunch/backpack.  But after that, it’s off to clean up her room, get her jobs done, get on homework.

And then, it’s free time.  I really try not to deliniate too much what they have to do WHEN because sometimes they just need some cooling off (literally here — it’s still like 106 in the afternoons in September).

FAQ’s:

Q: Do you print off an afterschool routine for each day?

A: I actually laminate mine and have my kids use a dry erase marker. It’s a simple way to get the most use out of it.

Q: Do you tie screen time to finishing the chore chart?

A: There is “free” time and they can use that however they wish.

Don’t miss my Children’s Daily Task Checklist which you might find really handy as well!

Interested in more after school posts?  Don’t miss my after school cookies post to cheer your kids on to finish their checklist, and don’t miss my before school routine:

If you liked this post, join my practical parenting series — that gives you some actionable ideas for easier parenting.

The post Editable After School Checklist appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Today we’re talking about getting your kids to pitch-in and clean! I think we all think (when our kids are babies) that our kids will be great at helping around the house, but sometimes we aren’t aware of how long it takes to train them.

Today’s guest is Katelyn Fagan from What’s up Fagans (she has two Instagram accounts — @GoalOrientedMoms and @What’sUpFagans. She is also the author of Speed Clean the Deep Clean (which is my bible for cleaning up stuff).

Psst: The fun thing about this interview is that I had JUST found out that Katelyn was pregnant, and then a few weeks later we found out she’s having TWINS (her second set). SO, getting kids involved in the cleaning process is going to be ALL the more important for Katelyn!

This post was inspired by the MANY posts I have about getting kids to do chores. I love this post on the things you DON’T have to do for your kids, and this one on cleaning your kids rooms.

This just in: I have created a schedule (that includes cleaning) for my kids during this little Corona break….

Big thanks to our sponsor The Organized Home — all about simplifying organizing your house. The more organized you are, the easier it is to clean-up!

Mentioned in the episode:

• Cleaning Printables for each room
• Children’s Daily Task Checklist

Other things you might find interesting:

• Cleaning the bathroom
• Toy Organization

Producer: Drew Erickson

Check out my other parenting podcasts:

Check out all my podcasts:

Transcript:

Hilary Erickson 0:00
Welcome back to the pulling curls podcast today on episode 33 we’re talking about getting kids to clean right? That’s why you have kids so they would clean your house right? Isn’t that what you all think before you have kids? Let’s untangle it. Welcome to the pulling curls podcast where we untangle everything from pregnancy parenting, Homer, teens, even some family travel because heavens knows our lives are tangled. I’m your host, Hilary Erickson. Okay, before we get started, I wanted to tell you guys kind of a little bit about how I deal with kids and jobs at our house. Something I do that that’s kind of helpful is that I have the kids assign jobs every day and those jobs shadow kind of what mine does. So when it’s vacuum your room, they vacuum their room when it’s cleaned the bathrooms they clean their bathrooms and twofold if their home it allows them to add on my job without too much fuss or must also if they’re sick or like out of town that I can add on their job without like a big shift in what I’m doing and so on Monday Days our kids kind of have each their own assigned tasks but on Tuesdays they clean the bathroom same day I clean the bathroom on Wednesdays they vacuum the room. I’m vacuuming the room. On Thursdays they kind of clean up in their room same for me. So that’s kind of an idea. If you are trying to figure out how to assign chores at your house. That’s something that we do that I think is super helpful. Today I have a guest on she is the blogger behind me Instagram accounts goal oriented moms want to be neat freak. And what’s up Fagan’s. She is also the author of speed clean the deep clean she is one of my good friends I want to welcome to today’s podcast Kayelyn Fagan. This episode of The pulling curls podcast is sponsored by the organized home the realistic way to manage your home reduce clutter and clean less ever wished you could relax with Netflix rather than worrying about the state of your home or that lost paper you need. No more needing hours to prep for company be prepared for any doorbell. Let’s simplify organizing so you can enjoy life more. Save 15% with the coupon code untangled you can find it at pullingcurls.com and the menu under COURSES Or in this episode show notes Hey, Katelyn, welcome to the pulling

Katelyn Fagan 2:06
girls podcast. Hey Hilary Glad to be

Hilary Erickson 2:09
here. Okay so quick rundown what ages kids do you have at your house right now?

Katelyn Fagan 2:14
I have five kids and I have 29 year old girls. I have a six year old boy a four year old girl and almost two year old girl.

Hilary Erickson 2:24
Yeah, so Katelyn has kids that are a lot younger than I am. So it’s kind of fun to you know, compare and contrast what what different agents do right? Yes. Okay. So what type of jobs do you have those kids do

Katelyn Fagan 2:35
well, I have my twins doing a lot of jobs. At this point, they kind of are in charge of doing all their laundry and kind of start to finish although sometimes I still you know have a little bit here and there but they also then you know help with doing the dishes or cleaning up after a while they don’t do the dishes. I prefer to wash the pots and pans but they’ll you know clean off the table and they’ll sweep and sometimes a mop and Sometimes they’ll help with other kind of regular jobs, they take out the recycling bins like to the curb and back, you know, on Thursdays and try to think what else they do. That’s mostly and then the six year old you know, he’s does a lot of kind of still like, you know, we asked him to wipe off the table sometimes or helps we or have put away his own laundry and hang it up. He’s still sometimes helps fold and sort and all that as laundry. But yeah, it’s not always as willing participation from him. Of course.

Hilary Erickson 3:33
Yeah, six fixes a fun age for helping Yeah, so fun.

Katelyn Fagan 3:38
And then from my, for my four year old, well, she’s just kind of along for the ride. I mean, she has like folded her laundry and if you know, have her clean up her own messes, and we try to help her like organize your room and kind of pick up her own toys and if she gets out games or something to encourage you to pick it up after herself, and you know, show how Hang up her shirts and stuff like that, too. So we’re working with her, you know, she gets closer to five and stuff to kind of do a little bit more as well. And the two year old This is the reason we have to clean up all day. She is the tornado see is something Yeah.

Hilary Erickson 4:14
And you are FEMA. And I’m what your FEMA? FEMA? Yeah. So I mean, I think everybody needs to realize that it is a process that takes years. So it’s kind of fun to see your progression, at least from the other side of like, how much they’re helping and stuff like that. Okay, Katelyn, here’s the real tough question. Is it faster for you to do the chores yourself?

Katelyn Fagan 4:37
Yes, of course it is.

Of course it is. It’s always faster to do it yourself because you know exactly what to do and you don’t get distracted by like 1000 things and you know that the quicker you get done, that’s done. You don’t have to like I don’t know how and your kids over and over to do it, you know? Yeah, yeah, cuz that’s always not fun, right? I mean, that’s like, half The battle with getting the kids to do it too. But obviously, like I do better job like, I’m going to pay better attention to details and I’m going to fold it perfectly or if not, you know, close enough. And you know kids are you know, I got it done, mom. Yeah, it’s done. It’s shoved in my closet. It’s fine. You know. So different levels of cleanliness and just focus.

Hilary Erickson 5:22
Yeah, I think a lot of times we think, oh, we had these kids, I am going to have them be my slaves, and my house will be so clean, right? I think you think that when you’re like newly married, oh, we’ll have children and they’ll help us around the house. And I will say that my older kids are getting to the point, not even the 10 year old, but the older ones are getting to the point where they can do stuff pretty much as good as I do it because they don’t want to deal with the hassle of me like turning off their internet or whatnot. If it’s not done, right.

Katelyn Fagan 5:46
Okay. Yeah, I get that. One of the small perks of having teenagers Yeah. So how do you teach your kids how to do the jobs? I’ve heard that some people do like a certificate when the child’s ready to do the job. I’ve never gotten that. So Awesome, but do you have anything you teach them? Usually it says teaching by just everyday living and normal instruction and always you have to kind of do it side by side for a long time like kids don’t know what sweeping looks like or what good sleep sleeping looks like and they’re always much more motivated to do it when you’re next to them and showing them it’s like even with like the two year old like if she dumps food on the floor like she did tonight like it’s a matter of Okay, well no it’s pick it up and sometimes it’s a matter of like getting down next to her and like just having her put it into your hand you know, and picking up the little pasta noodles or cereal and having your put it into a little plate or something where it’s not so like overwhelming like take it all the way to the trash can or something right so it’s this kind of small steps and then just realizing that they can do these simple things. So same with like folding towels, you just, you know show them how to do that how to match up socks, how to fold the socks together. There’s no certificate that I give out anything like that I’m not that you know, organized or on top of it or awesome. I don’t know, whatever. But yeah, I mean, I try to just help them and encourage them and point out the fact like, Hey, you could do these things like your big kid.

Hilary Erickson 7:15
Yeah, I think it’s important for them to realize that as they grow up, there’s perks for growing up and they have responsibility right? Yeah, yeah, I do have like cleaning principles in some of the rooms of like the bathroom because sometimes my kids will be like, yeah, I wiped off the counter but they forgot the toilet or the floor anything else and so sometimes I have a printable in the bathroom that reminds them what to do but they’re not that good about it either. I should probably do that because yeah, the bathrooms one of those they don’t know what really needs to be cleaned. Right? They just think looks clean to me like Right, right. It’s like why didn’t even sweep the floor their kids? Yeah, it’s hard because we each have our own level of cleanness. I’m sure some people will come to my house and think it looks clean to me, but I’m like, look at the water spots. So yeah, all right. So do you clean your kids rooms for them? Or do they clean their own,

Katelyn Fagan 8:03
I generally don’t clean their rooms, I will kind of periodically go in when it’s just everything’s disorganized, and a total chaos. And if I go, if I’m going through their room, it’s often too like, well, maybe it’s time to get rid of some choice. We keep kind of like bare minimum toys. A lot of times in our house, we’re not a household overflowing with toys by any means, especially when we go to other people’s houses. And I’m always like, Oh my gosh, there’s just this entire room dedicated to toys. And it’s crazy to me, because we don’t have that we just have, you know, a few toys in each kid’s room and try to keep them packed up somewhat. So if I’m having them clean their room, it’s like usually to organize and help them like find their stuff again in the future. And then also show them like how to better keep it clean, right? I mean, that’s also the process and also they just get bits of trash everywhere in the room. I don’t know, like papers and whatever. So I’d like to clear that all out periodically. That’s maybe like once a quarter. I wouldn’t say it’s you know, every month. That just depends on the season a little bit.

Hilary Erickson 9:02
Yeah, I’m pretty similar, especially with the 10 year old I will say that we got carpet recently and she suddenly realized that the corners is not a hiding place for every piece of trash she’s ever seen. Like, she had to clean everything out. And she was like, Oh my gosh, I opener. Right, those

Katelyn Fagan 9:17
closets and under beds and Nixon drawers and yeah, so sometimes it’s worthwhile to kind of go through and just help them have an organized space. And yeah, that’s beneficial to them. But like the nine year olds, I pretty much don’t help them that much with their room.

Hilary Erickson 9:31
Yeah, I think it’s really hard for my daughter to figure out what she can throw away especially like clothing and stuff. Yeah. So sometimes I have to go in there and be like, No, those shorts, those pants are at your knees. We can just we can throw them or send them to Goodwill. Yeah, yeah. So when a kid does something that they need to clean up from they Sharpie the wall or they throw their food on the floor, which sounds like it happened tonight. Are you good about helping them do it? Do you do it? What do you do?

Katelyn Fagan 9:56
It depends on mass a little bit like you know, broken glass. Okay, yeah, I have to handle You know, I’m not gonna let my kids mess with that

Hilary Erickson 10:02
we broke glass tonight at dinner. Oh, you know,

Katelyn Fagan 10:04
hey, it happens. I break glass sometimes and I’m like, it happens. It’s just what it is. And I try to like remember like, it happens, you know stuff breaks people drop food, whatever. Sometimes people throw food too if you’re a toddler, but

Hilary Erickson 10:19
hopefully it’s not your husband. No.

Katelyn Fagan 10:23
This is checking out the kids. Here’s your here’s your candy. No, I’m sorry. What was the question?

Hilary Erickson 10:30
Do you clean up your kid’s room? Or like when they make a mess? Do you clean it up? Or you let them do it?

Katelyn Fagan 10:34
Yeah, so marker and stuff on the wall? Yeah, I it’s a mixture sometimes. So the reality is, is because I’m a blogger, and I write about clean tutorials and sometimes I then clean it up so I can take video and take pictures of me cleaning it up. So we’re weird.

Hilary Erickson 10:49
I know

Katelyn Fagan 10:50
I’m a weirdo but they give me great material to work with and blog about so you know, I do some cleaning experiments and sometimes I don’t want the kids messing with all the cleaning supplies or something. Especially like the toddler, so I might do that during nap time, but I do often involve like my older twins and help me do that. If it is like something easy to wipe up because the washable marker then yeah, the two year olds definitely helped me wipe it up and they usually love it. They go gung ho and if you involve some water, they’re all over that because water plays the best.

Hilary Erickson 11:19
Yeah, I always tried to get out the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser because I felt like that couldn’t really hurt them. So we’d give it a try.

Katelyn Fagan 11:24
Yeah, yeah, we’ve done magic erasers many times on many walls.

Hilary Erickson 11:29
Yeah. The worst. I do feel like after you have them scrub for a fair amount of time, though, hopefully reminds them that they should never ever ever do it again. You think that’s the hope? But you never know. Yeah. I mean, sometimes they need a reminder a few times. Alright, Katelyn, this was awesome. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, you’re very welcome.

Katelyn Fagan 11:48
Thanks for having me. This is so fun.

Hilary Erickson 11:50
Okay, guys, I hope you ended up liking that episode. I think this reveals the hard truth. You didn’t have kids so that they would clean your house. Am I right man? Oh man. I wish they were But they just frankly are not. And so I really liked this episode I enjoyed talking to Katelyn about it. I think it’s exciting to see that it is a progression that takes years getting kids ready to clean but again, my 15 year old is fairly self sufficient depending on the day my 19 year old is pretty much self sufficient but we all kind of have our own ideas of how we want things done. So I would guess that even you are thinking well my husband is fairly self sufficient. And I bet he thinks my wife is fairly self sufficient. In fact, he didn’t like the way I folded laundry so guess who folds the laundry now not me anyway, I think you know, expectations need to be balanced. You got to get in there and teach and so I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you’d like to know more about giving kids jobs and also those cleaning principles I mentioned check out the show notes for today. It is on pulling girls com backslash podcast or you can check it out. Today’s episode is number 33. Big thanks to our sponsor, the organized home if you are looking to simplify organizing to really help your kids get in there and clean because the worst is when you have to clean up in order to get your kids to clean if you’re Looking to simplify it is the course for you be sure and use coupon code untangled to save 15% and of course Big thanks to Katelyn for coming on. She is a super busy mom of five kids and it was just fun to hear what she does and she really is the speed clean the D plan. If you guys are looking for cleaning tutorials head on over to her blog. She has lots of good information for you. If you liked today’s episode, of course we would love it if you would share, subscribe and review. We love a review. We hope to have you with us next time we drop an episode every Monday and until then, I hope you have a tangle free day!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The post Getting Kids to Clean with Katelyn Fagan from What’s Up Fagans — PCP 033 appeared first on Pulling Curls.

I run our school science fair (after running our Carnival and being PTO president). As parents, we find it important for our kids to have a science fair, so we have made it a priority. I’ve run it the last couple of years and I wanted to share how you might start one at your school. Also, how to help your kid have a rockstar science fair project that helps them learn many things (including responsibility).

Types of Science Fairs

Sceience Fairs can come in many forms:

• Informational — where students share something they’ve learned about a topic, but isn’t set-up with the scientific method.
• Invention — where students try to solve a problem with an invention. Most often the invention is crude or just a drawing — but shows how to solve a problem
• Scientific Method — These are set up the same as a scientific study with a hypothesis, testing, variables, etc.

Scientific Method Science Fair

We have chosen to do a scientific method science fair at our school

We have done this for a variety of reasons:

• In order to have judging, you do have to pick one area in order to make sure they are completing the outlined process
• It allows kids to learn about the scientific method, which is actually not taught much in our elementary curriculum (leaving kids unprepared as they get into the upper grades)
• It teaches kids about variables, and how to read a study as they grow-up scientific or otherwise.

As this is the main type of science fair that I have been involved in I will be talking about scientific method projects and fairs.

Science Fair Projects

There are a TON of cool science fair projects out there. I actually have a Pinterest board all about science projects (many are done as a demonstration, but you could add a variable and make it a project within the scientific method).

Personally, we’ve done everything from

• Running hot wheels off our slide
• Made paper airplanes
• Seen how magnetic something was
• Seen how many drops of water could stand on certain substances
• Grown gross things out on Petri dishes
• Had mold grow on food items
• Grown crystals

I’m sure there is more than that with 3 kids but those are the things on the top of my head

How to pick the best science fair project for your kid

My best advice is to find something your kid is already interested in:

• If they love legos — see if the size of brick matters if you build a tall tower
• If they love playing video games, see if their positioning changes how good they are at a game
• If they love hot wheels, see which car goes the farthest off a slide
• If they love barbies, see if they disintegrate in water.

Or, take something — a question you’ve had in your house. Which paper towel is the best, does stain remover really work, etc — and test it!

Make sure your kid has a good amount of input into the project. It will really help their interest level.

Here are a few I’ve found to give you some ideas:

I like this one about pencils in a bag of water.

This one is a demonstration, but I like how she takes you through the steps:

Kindergarten Science Fair Project Tips

It is SO true that you want to let your child do as much as they can, but they will likely need a fair amount of help at this stage. So, support — use their words when you can and help them understand what they learned.

** Remember to do something your child already has interest in — it will help you much in the long run!

3rd Grade Science Fair Project Tips

Your child is getting older, and go do more on their own. If you have done the project with them for the past few years, start to step away more. Let them brainstorm ideas on their own first.

This is the time to consider being a bit more “scientific” in your research. Do data that allows for numbers (measure the mold vs saying “a lot”)

If your school does an interview do a mock interview with them, so they have a positive experience (they will feel mor pressure to do well than they did in the younger grades).

5th Grade Science Fair Project Tips

Now is the time to step away. In 5th grade, kids should be able to do almost 100% of the project themselves (besides driving places to get supplies).

Step away mom, let them do this. They CAN do it!

The most important thing about a Science Project

The MOST important thing about a science project is that it is YOUR CHILD’S PROJECT. NOT YOURS.

That means letters might not be straight, or even look good.

They may make mistakes as they perform the experiment.

The hardest part about science projects (for me) is that they have to be done at home (for the most part) and especially when kids are younger, they do need some help with the project. BUT, the key is not helping too much.

And it is SO. HARD.

Can I get an amen on that one?

It’s hard not to give your two cents, or chime in. Or frankly, to take it over.

Let your child do ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that they CAN do.

Let them ask for your help on the other stuff, and STAY. OUT OF IT.

But, do nag them to make sure they do it — because there are a lot of benefits.

Frankly, this is a skill I’ve had to work on throughout my kid’s lives (even applying to colleges).

Things that should be on a Scientific Method Science Board

First off, we usually get a tri-fold board, it just makes it easier to stand up — but check what works best at your school.

Also, that one I listed is a bit smaller. Unless your child is above 4th or 5th grades I prefer the smaller ones as they will have less to say and will have a very bare looking board if it’s huge.

• Question: What are you testing?
• Hypothesis: What do you think will happen?
• Materials: What are the physical items you’ll need
• Procedure: What will you do:
• Variables: You need a fixed variable and one that you change
• Data: This would be the #’s you get, or your visual inspection decision (this one has “a lot” of mold)
• Results: This is a paragraph explanation of what you saw in your data (less numbers, more of a summary)
• Discovery: What did you learn — were you wrong/right?
• Further Investigation: What would you want to try next, or what would you do differently if you did this experiment again?

The Big Scientific Method question:

The biggest part of these things (besides the hypothesis, because making a guess beforehand is also important) — is the variables. One has to say the same, and one has to change.

So, in the hot wheels and the slide, the slide is the constant — and the different cars are the variables

In growing mold, the environment might be the constant (if you used your kitchen counter) and the variable would be the different types of food.

What really matters in a science project?

While it’s really easy to get wrapped up in being right, or wrong — LEARNING something about something you were interested in is the MOST important thing!

Being right or wrong doesn’t really matter, but what you learn and considering changes you could make to make the experiment more perfect. Those are my favorite results, by far!

We REALLY try to stress this with kids, because they want to be right. But learning is more important than being right (what a great thing to learn, right)!

Setting-Up a Science Fair at Your School

Now, I am guessing that most of you don’t want to run a science fair — but in case you do, here are a few steps:

Science Fair Assembly

We do an assembly with an engaging teacher who does an experiment. She talks about all the things we’ve talked about so far (especially how LEARNING is the most important thing). We also send a note home with all the kids that day (we also email it to parents) about how the science fair works and how they can participate

Science Fair Projects are Done at Home

As I said before, we don’t devote any school time to the science fair. Children do them at home, and can pick a partner in their grade level (we have allowed some siblings to pair up)

Communicate with Parents about the Science Fair

Email Parents: I email parents a couple of times to elicit questions and to remind them it’s coming up.

Set-up Science Fair Judging

We used to give a score, and kids would get different colored ribbons depending on how they scored, but some parents felt this was unfair (big brew-ha-ha) so we just have coments and checkmarks to tell kids how they did.

Getting Volunteers for Science Fair Judging

Get volunteers! You need judges (believe ME — you don’t want to be the one to judge all these projects)! We use a sign-up genius form and we email parents several times asking those who have a scientific background to consider donating a bit of time. Judges can come for as short as they would like in the morning, and we do have a few shifts (and honestly ,we’d take them whenver, as I love to see parents involved at school)

Displaying Boards at the Science Fair

Display boards: you need an area of your school that you are able to use to display the boards. Most teachers also walk their classes through these areas during the coming couple of days that they are up. Also, we ask kids to leave anything breakable, dirty or dangerous at home. We emphasize how much we like great pictures on the board.

Science Fair Judging

Judge! We do an interview with each child. We emphasize to parents that the main goal of the science fair is for kids to feel great when they leave them. That means a lot of positive things and engaging kids in a meaningful way.

Pro tips: We ask that judges try not to judge kids that they know, or at least know well. There is a huge benefit for kids explaining to a stranger about something they learned. It is my ABSOLUTE favorite part of our science fair and there is so much value in this aspect.

Bonus: I believe that our “judging” brings in a lot of parents who don’t normally come into school. I love that a lot, and I encourage that.

Reward Kids for Doing the Science Fair

In the afternoon we do a pizza party for the participants. We also give them ribbons on their board for participation (everyone gets the same ribbon).

Honestly, I’ve been involved in our school’s science fair for the past seven years. I love to see what kids learn and how they grow during this process. It’s a great thing. If you’re considering it at your school — DO it!

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