Ugh…what a fun hater. What kid would have complained that they had already done Shrinky dinks?? No one because Shrinkies are amazing.
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Oh, lol, I am just scrolling through to see if anybody already called her :D. Also @Lynx. I know I am missing a sciency gal or two here…
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I would move this topic to https://forum.lettucecraft.com/c/crafts/discussion-and-questions > tag: crafts-for-kids 
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How about the milk and food coloring art experiment?
Pour milk (whole is best) in to a pan like a pie tin. Drop in drops of food coloring. Then take a toothpick dipped in dish soap and poke it down into the milk - watch the color zoom away! Good for the age range, quick, repeatable, artsy and STEAM!
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/milk-color-explosion/
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I really like Steve Spangler activities because he actually does a good job of teaching the SCIENCE behind the bells and whistles.
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I’ll second the vote for recycled shrinkies. I think both #1 and #6 plastics work.
Maybe have a range of plastics, and have the kids test to see which ones work.
I know I’m late here, but hopefully not too late!
We are planning an origami night and a mandala night for our older kids (9-11) in the Gifted Reach Out program.
For the origami night, it will be building a cube, like this:
I’m sure could be more or less complicated based on the age level. Only cost is paper! It might require some volunteers to go around and help assist with next steps, etc. when they get lost.
Yes! For the mandala night, we have a parent volunteer who makes them regularly. She’s designed her own template and set of instructions, including sample zen tangle-type designs that can be used for the repeating patterns. She uses a compass and ruler to create the circles and sections where the repeating patterns go. For the older kids, she walks them through using the compass, etc. But for the younger kids, she has a pre-drawn template that can be filled in. It might not be completed by the end of the night, but they can take it home and continue working. Materials: heavier weight paper, fine tip sharpies/markers, pencils, compass, ruler, colored markers, design “starters.” Feedback from previous sessions was that coming up with designs to fill in the mandala were the most challenging part. The design “starters” were a big help here!
Both are a cross-section of math and symmetry and art!
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These are great ideas. Are you still looking for suggestions for this project? I have something in mind but I don’t know if your deadline has passed.
@Nou. I am. I have about 2 more weeks to decide on my project. My problem still remains the time constraint, 5-7 minutes.
I made a spinning homopolar motor sculpture at Maker Faire. Mine was a flying dragon 
circling the battery but it can be anything the students imagine!
I’ve attached a diagram (not mine!) to show the concept. They’ve made a dancer, but again, any shape can be made to work.
You’ll need a AA battery, a magnet or two (two makes the sculpture spin faster), and a length of copper wire for each person (student). I’d also recommend a plastic (ziplock style or plain fold over) sandwich bag to take their project home in.
Prep work: You can set up the base by winding the wire around a small dowel to create a corkscrew type curl. Leave the rest of the length of wire straight for the student to sculpt (maybe 6 inches).
The students would arrive to see a few spinning wire sculptures set up on the table as examples. They could sit down at the table and be given a length of wire with one end already curled. Using small pliers (the jewellery making kind can be found at dollar stores like Dollar Tree), they create their sculpture. The pliers are left at the table, not taken home. An adult would be there to help them balance their little sculpture on the battery to make sure it spins.
There is no mess to clean up, the only hazard is keeping the copper wire from making contact with the battery while it’s not in use. It must only be used while supervised, in order to keep it from overheating. The wire will heat up when it is in contact with the battery for a while.
Examples: (not mine!)
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That is very neat!!
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Hm. I missed the time restriction previously. Though origami and mandalas could be scaled down for a mini session.
Other ideas: crayon resist painting with watercolors. I think there’s some science behind the two not mixing. They could do molecules or something to be extra science-y.
It would also be really cool if you could have a table of rocks that kids could try stacking/arching. Not sure feasibility of that though. Could be engineering component. We saw one of these at Green Man Brewery in NC and it was very cool.
Just throwing stuff out to see if something sticks! I know how hard it is to run something like this!
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I was going to suggest this. Coffee filters or similar, washable pens, pots with water and either droppers or scissors.
I did this at my sons birthday party - think it was his 5th or 6th. The kids all loved it and took home several bits of paper with chromatography separations on them. Really quick and easy to do.
This is so strange! I never saw this back at the start of the year! @Bajita, did you end up actually getting to have the event or was it canceled due to COVID? Some ideas that popped into my head are: mini hot air balloons (made from tissue paper and pipe cleaners… use a hair dryer or hot air popcorn maker to heat the air), zoetropes or phenakistoscopes (provide preprinted images for the kids to color), some sort of gear-driven automaton (cardstock gears, little crank made from a wood dowel).
I did a STEM night and at my “booth” the kids made little sailboats that ran on a double string track. The base of the boat was a rectangle of cardstock that had 2 straws taped on it. Kids had to design the sail. Once they assembled their boat, they threaded it onto the string- I think I used fishing line- and a fan was used to make it move. They competed to see how far it could go. I had a couple of kids who made more than one!
So, I realize that I am way past your deadline, but in case you get to do it again…
This sort of thread can be such a great resource for others looking for ideas.
I recently saw an episode of Top Chef Masters where contestants had to create a STEM experiment with food, and create a related dish for the kids to eat. IIRC, the winner did viscocity, and made different syrups and caramel, showed how they ran at different speeds, dripping down a petrie dish. The experiment was then served over ice cream.
Why didn’t they do stuff like that when I was a kid?
Though we did some kind of crystal experiment with coal and ammonia…(googlegooglegoogle) ah, here’s the directions https://loveandlaundry.com/how-to-grow-crystals-on-charcoal.html
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Our STEM night was canceled last year due to COVID. However, one of the local colleges has partnered up with our school and will be doing a virtual STEM night in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, there’s a limited number of slots so I won’t be participating.
I appreciate all of your ideas though! 
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