Environment
Environment projects for class 6 to 8: 34 ideas.
Each project below opens to its own page with what it shows, the science behind it, the materials, safety, step-by-step instructions, what you should see and viva questions. Many can be made from things at home; where a kit helps, the page links one.
Other subjects for class 6 to 8: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Earth and space, Electronics and robotics, Computing and coding.
Plastic bottle bird feeder
Waste plastic can be reused instead of thrown away, and a feeder lets you observe local birds. Keep a diary of which birds visit and when.
Food chain and food web model
Energy passes from plants to plant-eaters to meat-eaters. Taking one living thing out of the web affects all the others.
Rainwater harvesting model
Rain falling on a roof is collected by gutters and pipes, filtered, and either stored in a tank or sent down a recharge pit to refill the groundwater.
Three-layer water filter
Gravel, sand and charcoal trap particles of different sizes, and charcoal also removes some colour and smell. The water looks clearer but is still not safe to drink, because germs pass through.
Solar water heater model
Black surfaces absorb more sunlight than shiny or white ones, and a clear cover traps the heat, so water in a black, covered container warms fastest.
Soil erosion with and without plants
Plant roots hold soil together. When water is poured on, bare soil washes away much faster than soil covered with grass or dead leaves.
Compost in a bottle
Microbes and small creatures break peels and leaves down into compost, but plastic does not break down. Layers of wet "greens" and dry "browns" rot best.
Greenhouse effect in a jar
A covered jar in the sun warms faster than an open one. It is a simple model of how greenhouse gases keep heat near the Earth; the real atmosphere traps heat by absorbing infrared rather than by stopping air moving.
Air pollution sticky cards
Dust and soot in the air settle on surfaces. Sticky cards left in different places show where the air carries the most particles.
Drip irrigation from plastic bottles
Water dripping slowly at the roots reaches the plant with far less waste than flooding, because less water runs off or evaporates.
What rots and what does not: a six-week burial test
Natural materials such as peels, paper and cotton are broken down by soil organisms within weeks, while plastic, foil and glass stay unchanged. Burying samples and digging them up shows which waste is biodegradable and which will stay in a dump for centuries.
Vermicompost tub that turns kitchen peels into worm castings
Composting worms eat vegetable waste and pass it out as dark, crumbly castings that are a rich plant food. A tub with drainage, bedding and the right moisture turns a family's peels into compost and shows how much kitchen waste never needs to reach a dump.
One-week plastic audit of a household with a bar chart of sources
Counting and weighing every piece of plastic a family throws away in a week shows where it comes from: packaging of snacks, milk pouches, carry bags and bottles. Sorting it by type and by whether it can be recycled shows which habits would cut the most.
How much water a dripping tap wastes, measured and scaled to a year
A tap that drips once a second seems harmless, but catching the drips for ten minutes and multiplying up shows it wastes thousands of litres a year, enough to fill a water tanker. Measurement turns a small leak into a number people act on.
Bucket versus running tap: measuring water used for daily tasks
The same task, such as brushing teeth, washing hands or washing a plate, uses many times more water when the tap runs than when water is taken from a mug or bucket. Measuring both ways gives the family hard numbers for saving water.
Leaf dust tape test comparing air quality on five streets
Dust and soot from traffic settle on leaves. Pressing clear tape on leaves from different places and sticking it on white paper gives a visible grey patch whose darkness shows how dusty the air is at each spot.
Noise map of your neighbourhood with a phone decibel meter
Sound level is measured in decibels, a scale where every 10 decibels sounds about twice as loud. Measuring at the same spots at different times of day gives a noise map that shows where and when levels pass the limits set for residential and silence zones.
Tree census of the school ground with species, girth and shade area
A census records every tree in an area with its species, girth and canopy, the same way city forest departments do. The data show which species dominate, which trees are oldest, how much ground is shaded, and where new trees would help most.
Biodiversity diary of one square metre kept for a month
Even one square metre of garden or wasteland holds dozens of kinds of living things: grasses, weeds, ants, beetles, spiders, snails, birds that visit. Watching the same patch daily and recording every species shows how rich ordinary ground is and how it changes with the weather.
Dawn bird count at three points with a simple species chart
Birds are easiest to count at dawn when they call and feed. Counting every bird seen or heard for ten minutes at fixed points, a method called a point count, shows which species live near you and how a park, a road and a water body differ in bird life.
Gravity-fed bottle bird feeder that refills itself
Seeds fall under gravity to fill a small tray as birds eat them, so the feeder keeps itself topped up. It shows gravity and also helps garden birds in the hot summer.
Recycled paper sheets made from old newspaper pulp
Paper is made of plant fibres, and these fibres can be soaked, mashed and pressed into new sheets. Recycling saves trees and water.
Sealed bottle terrarium: a mini ecosystem that recycles its own water
Plants, soil and water in a closed bottle recycle water through transpiration and condensation. It models how the Earth’s own cycles work.
Bowl and cup solar still that makes clean water from salty water
Water evaporates in the sun and condenses on cool plastic, leaving salt behind. It is a small model of how the water cycle and distillation work.
How many litres does your family use in a day? A water audit
You measure how much water each daily activity uses by counting buckets, mugs and tap flows, and then work out litres per person per day. The result helps find where water can be saved.
Foil panel solar cooker that warms a pot of water
A panel cooker uses flat foil-covered reflectors to bounce extra sunlight onto a dark pot sealed in a clear bag. It shows that sunlight can heat water without any fuel.
Solar still in a basin that separates fresh water from salty water
Sunlight evaporates water from salty or muddy water, and the vapour condenses on a cool plastic sheet as clean water. It models how sea or borewell water could be made drinkable with free heat.
Straw, leaf, paper and bare soil: which mulch keeps pots moistest?
A layer of mulch slows evaporation from the soil surface. Weighing identical pots each day shows how much water each mulch saves, which helps farmers during dry spells.
Terraces and contour furrows against straight slopes: runoff model
Terracing and ploughing along the contours slow rain runoff and hold soil on hillsides. A sand tray model measures the soil and water lost on each slope.
Five home water cleaning methods ranked with a clarity tube
Cloth, sand, charcoal, alum and boiling each do different jobs. A homemade clarity tube ranks how well each method clears water, and the project explains which methods also remove germs.
Newspaper roll pencil stand
Old newspaper can be turned into something useful. Reusing paper saves trees and reduces waste.
Bottle cap mosaic picture of a fish or a flower
Plastic caps can be reused to make art. We sort by colour and see how many small parts make a large picture.
Newspaper gift bag to replace plastic bags
A strong paper bag can be folded from old newspaper, which cuts down use of plastic bags. Folding and gluing teach geometry too.
Plastic bottle hanging planter for a small herb
A waste bottle can hold soil and a living plant. Drainage holes let extra water out so roots do not rot.