🔭 Science, nature and the world
SciStarter
By SciStarter, with Arizona State University. Visit SciStarter
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
A free directory of thousands of citizen science projects people can join, online or near home. Families search by topic, age and place to find projects like tracking pollinators, mapping ghost forests or classifying animal diets, then sign up and log contributions in one dashboard. It partners with libraries, Girl Scouts and NASA, and offers educator trainings and projects sorted by grade level.
Our take: A good launchpad for families who want to do real science together; a parent should hold the account for younger kids.
| Ages it suits | about 8 and up with an adult; 13+ to upload data alone |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | 13+ or with an adult's permission, per the terms. The educators page says participants need to be 13 or older to upload project data on their own. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Free (Oct 2026). |
| Works on | Web |
| Account | A parent's account |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | No AI. |
What's good
- One place to find real science projects
- Filters by age and location
- Free educator resources
- Library and Girl Scout partnerships
Watch for
- 13+ to contribute alone
- Your use is part of a university research study
- Each project has its own rules and data practices
- No child privacy statement
Data and privacy
Shares your email with projects you join through it, and anonymized activity with university researchers; using the site enrolls you in an Arizona State University research study on the platform. Aggregated usage may be shared with advertisers and sponsors; no COPPA statement. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
The maker's own claims only; it cites a National Academies report backing citizen science for learning, not a study of SciStarter itself.
In the Big Index
- On the list 20 best sites for STEM projects at home
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Where these facts come from
- https://scistarter.org/
- https://scistarter.org/terms
- https://scistarter.org/privacy
- https://scistarter.org/about
- https://scistarter.org/educators
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.