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Inside: A list of interesting research topics for kids in elementary school or homeschool!
Teaching research skills is so important in elementary school. We can help our students navigate the “how-tos” of research. Learning how to navigate text features in nonfiction books, finding credible sources online, and taking notes are all skills we’ve mastered and can pass on to our knowledge-thirsty students.
One of the tricky things is taking the time to come up with interesting research topics for kids and coordinating research units for each topic. Our students still need some scaffolding and guidance, and there are so many things they study in school. How can we possibly decide what topics they should research and have time to put together comprehensive units?
A ready-to-go research unit, that follows my 5-step research process, is also available for many of these topics for your convenience! These unit studies will allow you to expand on content taught in class or start fresh with science and social studies research units complete with everything from unit outlines, parent letters, and internet research lessons to help students find credible sources, projects, reports, journaling pages, and more.
Students will also build their research skills during the process, so these units are a great way to make time for science and social studies with an integrated curriculum since you will still teach the necessary language arts curriculum at the same time.
Learn how to skyrocket your students’ research skills by listening to this episode of Wife Teacher Mommy: The Podcast.
From the solar system to dinosaurs, scientists & inventors, and holidays around the world, below are good research topics for kids, possible research questions for kids to answer, and other interesting research topics for kids related to the topic.
It’s hard to meet a child that doesn’t have some interest in outer space. That’s why this is #1 on our list of research topics that kids will love. This Solar System Research Unit has students research a planet of choice (yours or theirs), create a model, and write a report. Research should be more than just taking notes and writing a report, and this unit really brings art into STEM!
Next to outer space, dinosaurs also top the curiosity list for elementary scientists. With our Dinosaur Research Unit, you can assign your student or let them choose a specific dinosaur to research. Besides the usual report, students will have a blast creating salt dough fossils of their dino. Dinosaurs are a very fun and engaging research topic that kids will love!
Landforms are cool! They are one of the best physical science or geography topics for kids to research. I like to learn all about different landforms together and then assign your students one specific landform to research.
Your students will research and write a report/presentation about their specific landform and create a salt dough model. Everything is ready to go for you in our Landforms Research Unit!
Animals and habitats are one of my favorite research topics for kids! The unit starts with students being assigned a habitat to explore and an animal that resides in that habitat to study. Accompanying the report/presentation about their animal is a creation of a terrarium of their habitat and animal. Check out this picture of a terrarium that one of my 3rd-grade students made when I used my Animals and Habitats Research Unit!
Kids love penguins, so why not use them as your next research topic? Your students may not know that there are various types of penguins. After learning about the types of penguins, they’ll have one of their own to study. On butcher paper, they’ll create a life-size penguin to share and integrate math and science measurement standards. This Penguin Research Unit shows us why penguins are such a fun research topic for kids!
What is a comprehensive research topic list without volcanoes? Kids love learning about these miraculous marvels. Of course, students will make their own volcano model after researching in our Volcano Research Unit.
Tornadoes, blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes, and more! Extreme weather and natural disasters are very fun and engaging research topics for kids in your classroom or homeschool. The students will create a poster and research paper about a specific weather phenomenon or natural disaster in our Extreme Weather and Natural Disasters Research Unit.
The presidents of the United States make a great research topic. With 45 presidents to choose from, each student is bound to bring something unique to the research. With our United States President’s Research Unit, students will write a report and create a paper plate mask of their chosen president.
The United States can be such a great research topic for kids in your classroom or homeschool group because each student can study a different state! Each student will research and write about one of the 50 states before creating a salt dough model to include landforms, bodies of water, and landmarks. This United States Research Unit is perfect for your state reports.
Black history is a great research topic for kids, especially during the month of February for Black History Month. Through studying black history and the civil rights movements, students will be assigned a black history leader to research and write about. Their final project will be a hand-drawn poster of their person complete with character traits. Be sure to check out our Black History Research Unit!
There are so many holidays celebrated around the globe. Even the way Christmas is celebrated in different countries is unique. The unit requires students to be assigned a holiday to research and write about, ultimately creating a holiday decoration to share. This unit even includes special info pages about each of the included holidays. The Holidays Around the World Research unit is a true gem, and it makes a really fun research topic for kids around the holidays.
Women in history is a very important research topic for kids. It is important for students to see the accomplishments that so many women have made, from the past and into the present. By having children research the accomplishments of women in history, our young girls will know that they, too, can do great things.
Students will either choose or be assigned an inspirational woman from history. Similar to the Black History unit, they’ll research and write, ultimately creating a hand-drawn poster. The Women In History Research Unit is perfect for Women’s History Month in March or any time of year.
Looking at different innovators and their creations can be fascinating, so of course, it made the cut on our list of research topics for kids. Your students will have a specific person to explore before creating a model of their invention or discovery. You can find everything you need in the Scientists and Inventors Research Unit.
A perfect pair with language arts, students will study particular authors. They’ll write their own biography of the author and create a bibliography of the author’s own books. You can get this biography template inside the Author Study Research Unit!
Greece, China, Egypt, and more! Ancient civilizations are the perfect research topic for kids, and you can find everything you need in the Ancient Civilizations Research Unit. There are so many ancient civilizations for your students to study and research. They’ll also make a model of an important structure in their civilization.
Learn more about Asian American-Pacific Islander History! Research AAPI Heritage during AAPI Heritage Month in May or any time of the year. Have your students research AAPI History and an AAPI leader such as Anna May Wong, Chien-Shiung Wu, Connie Chung, Daniel Inouye, Duke Kahanamoku, Sal Khan, and Yuri Kochiyama, plus more included in our AAPI Research Unit!
Encourage your students to learn more about Hispanic Heritage and Latino History! Ask them to research historical events or important Latinx leaders and their impacts. After researching, you can have your students create a poster about their Latinx leader. Find out more in our Hispanic Heritage and Latino History Research Unit.
After each research unit, your students will have a fair to present their models, posters, or other creations. Sharing their research with parents, teachers, other students, and even the community is an important part of taking pride and ownership in their own research.
Don’t stress about creating research units from scratch. Our science and social studies research bundles have you covered! Get all of our science & social studies research units for just $29 only through the link in this blog post.
Try out a few topics with your class! In addition, you can also find all of these research units in my Teachers pay Teachers store!
If so, you can grab a free sample of the units below. This freebie includes pages that will help your student understand how to use text features during their research such as:
Be sure to share this list of interesting research topics for kids with your friends on Pinterest or Facebook!
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One Response
This is very important it has helped the kids to discover themselves things in the world.
Children are becoming self-reliant.