Avoid the Black Friday crowds and deepen your holiday enjoyment with these citizen science projects to get you out of the house. Each of the “courses” below are paired to a project that needs your help accomplishing real scientific research, from the study of seasons to understanding the monarch butterfly migration. This meal is guaranteed to satisfy even the most insatiable curiosity.
Bon appétit!
The SciStarter Team
Hors d'oeuvres: Nature's Notebook
At Nature’s Notebook, nature is always in season; currently, the program features the spicy flavors of autumn! Deepen your connection with nature by making observations as fall turns to winter. It’s a giant smorgasbord of activities that feeds the soul, but still keeps you hungry for more.
Location: Global
Bread: Sourdough for Science
Leaven your Thanksgiving dinner with this hearty offering of yeasty science exploration: just add flour and water and discover how microbes affect the flavor and texture of bread.
Location: Global
Salad: Leaf Pack Network
Refreshing and flavorful, this organic, all-natural offering consists of free-range leaves that you collect yourself, place into distinctive mesh bags, stake into a stream, and then retrieve weeks later. You’ll harvest a delightful assortment of macroinvertebrates to sort and identify! (fees may apply)
Location: United States
Main Course: American Gut
Your gut bacteria work diligently and (mostly) quietly every meal, helping to regulate your appetite, metabolism, and even your mood. Shine a spotlight on these hardworking bugs with the American Gut project! Swab your sample (don’t ask…), put it in project-provided test tube and send it in! You’ll be contributing to important research, and get a report identifying your gut bugs, so you can thank each microbe by name. ($99 fee for sample kit).
Location: United States and Canada
Side Dish: Mushroom Observer
Bursting with B vitamins and potassium, mushrooms are a great complement to any Thanksgiving feast! Yet 95% of all species of fungi remain unstudied. This Thanksgiving, consider adding the Mushroom Observer project to your bill of fare, and start contributing to this thriving network of mushroom hunters.
Location: United States
Dessert: Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count
No matter how much you’ve indulged, there’s always room for butterflies! This year’s California- based monarch count runs from November 16 through December 8th. Not in California? No problem! Search the SciStarter Project Finder to find a butterfly project near you!
Location: United States (West Coast and Midwest States)
