Citizen Science Resources for Ages 4-12

Cornell Lab K-12 Education

Bird and nature lessons and activities by grade band (K-2, 3-5, 6-8).

Project FeederWatch

Count the birds at your feeder for science, anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. The season starts November 1.

3.0 ★ (68) App Store · Oct 2026

Journey North

Track wildlife migrations and seasonal change across North America: monarchs, hummingbirds and more.

Monarch Watch

Monarch butterfly education and a large-scale tagging program that follows the fall migration.

Budburst

Plant-observation science projects: record when plants leaf, flower and fruit, and how pollinators use them.

GLOBE Observer

NASA-supported app for citizen science observations of clouds, trees, land cover and mosquito habitats.

3.1 ★ (91) App Store · Oct 2026

Zooniverse

The largest platform for people-powered research: classify animals, galaxies and more online.

SciStarter

Directory of thousands of citizen science projects, searchable by topic, location, and age.

NestWatch (Cornell Lab)

Cornell Lab citizen science: find and monitor bird nests and report data that tracks breeding birds.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Four-day February event: count birds for as little as 15 minutes and submit sightings to scientists.

FrogWatch USA

Learn frog and toad calls, then monitor a local wetland and report what you hear each season.

CoCoRaHS

Volunteer rain, hail, and snow gauge network; families measure local precipitation daily for scientists.

Bumble Bee Watch

Upload photos of bumble bees; experts verify them and the data tracks where each species lives.