&gt; It&#x27;s not trivial for a middle-schooler to make an incubator<p>You don&#x27;t actually need an incubator. Bacteria won&#x27;t grow as fast at room temperature, but for the kind of experiment she was doing that should not be a problem.<p>Nevertheless, it is actually pretty easy to make an incubator. Google for &quot;homemade bacterial incubator&quot; and you&#x27;ll find many sites offering instructions. A typical design uses an aquarium tank, an incandescent lamp, a dimmer, and a thermometer. This should be well within the capability of any middle schooler.<p>If the kid is up for doing a little programming, they could even toss in an Arduino and use a dimmer that can be controlled by it and automate keeping the temperature constant.<p>The rest of the things needed, like Petri dishes, agar, and such are available from Amazon. There are even kits specifically aimed at people who want to grow bacteria for science fair projects.