[1]
The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book: Boil Ice, Float Water, Measure Gravity --- Challenge the World Around You! [2]
Tom Robinson
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By
Published: Jun 23, 2009
Category: Children [4]
It’s summer, and because it’s important that our kids help us in the fields…
Oooops. Sorry. That was a while ago. The industrial farmers who grow our food have no need of help from sturdy youth. In fact, they want to keep sturdy youth as far as possible from fields and feedlots, lest the kids see how unnatural the production of our food has become and become organic-obsessed in reaction.
One more time…
It’s summer, time to supplement crushing school fees with extravagant camp fees, so that, by mid-August, our kid can present us with a $4,000 plastic lanyard. And because camp is so exhausting --- it didn’t used to be, but thanks to something that looks a lot like global warming, it’s hotter and more humid now where we live --- late afternoons and evenings mean a long stretch of kiddie TV in an air-conditioned room.
Result: by August, there’s considerable intellectual regression among our young.
Well, NOT HERE! Daddy has a long and well-known aversion to stupid, and he tends to get testy when kids who were quick-witted in May start counting on their fingers in July. So, every other night or so, we have abandoned bedtime reading for a session with The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book [5]. And guess what? The seven-year-old is thrilled.
This is not just a book of wonky science for kids seven and up. It’s got puzzles and quizzes. And terrible jokes: “Why did the young scientist bring art supplies to class?” “She wanted to draw some conclusions!” [Note to parents of daughters: This book is refreshingly generous with feminine pronouns.]
The meat of the book, of course, is “experiments”. Almost all require an adult as helper and supervisor --- if you don’t plan to share the fun of this book with your kid, please, in the interest of the child’s safety, stop reading this review and don’t buy the book.
Some samples of the book’s range:
Biology
How does water get from the ground into the leaves of a plant?
You’ll need: 3 white carnations, food coloring, water
How do you blow up a balloon with a banana?
You’ll need: a banana, bottle, balloon, time
Chemistry
Why does a pot of boiling water stop boiling when an ice cube is put in it?
Hint: The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Can you push an egg into a bottle without touching it?
How do you peel a raw egg?
Hint: Vinegar
Physics
How do you balance a seesaw?
You’ll need: a pencil, 10 pennies
Which color is hotter, black or white?
The Planet Earth
How do icicles grow?
Why aren’t rivers straight?
The Human Body
Why can’t I taste medicine when I plug my nose?
Is it harder to balance with my eyes closed?
There’s a series of “Everything Kids’” books. I have the uneasy feeling I’m going to be learning a lot this summer --- and beyond. So, I’m happy to report, will the seven-year-old. Which would be excellent, as I’m hoping she’ll be at Yale by age nine.
To buy “The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book” from Amazon.com, click here. [3]
To buy “Everything Kids’ Magical Science Experiments Book” from Amazon.com, click here. [6]
To buy “The Everything Kids' Nature Book: Create Clouds, Make Waves, Defy Gravity and Much More!” from Amazon.com, click here. [7]