Customer Reviews

730 Easy Science Experiments: With Everyday Materials

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I love doing science experiments with my kids and we've gone through many books: magnet ones, slime ones, etc... This one tops them all. Get this one first and you'll find you don't need another until Jr. high! The experiments span the gamut of elaborateness from very easy (demonstrating how air pressure can hold up water with a straw) to very complex (building an electric motor with a nail, wrapped wire, a magnet, and a power source - battery or galvanic lemon, your choice). Science topics span the gamut as well, from weather, electromagnetism, aeronautics, chemistry, mechanical physics etc... Many of these experiments will, of course, be familiar, but many are fresh and astounding - and having such an encyclopedic array of them in one place (and with one narrative voice) is very useful and will encourage you to explore a wide range of topics with your kids.

Some of my favorites: lemons as electric power sources; coins and vinegar paper as electric batteries, compass and wire as galvanometer, plastic bottle and water as barometer, balloon rockets, bottle chemical rockets (with baking powder and vinegar), string spool clock, mobius strips, copper cleaning with lemon juice and then electroplating an iron nail. The mobius strip one astounded my kids - with just a piece of paper and an inch of tape, a pencil, and a scissors. You make the strip with the tape, then draw a line down the middle - amazingly drawing on "both sides" while kids just draw on one side. Then they cut it in half along the line they just drew and instead of getting two pieces of paper (like usually happens when you cut a piece of paper in half) you end up with just one (longer) piece of paper. A big discussion of geometry ensued.

Highest recommendation.

We bought this book in 2006 so I am writing this review after owning the book for 5 years. This book has SO many experiments that you really can do with kids. I have used this book in MANY ways with MANY age groups: Cub Scouts (at different years too), 8th grade science class as a long term sub, 4th grade science class as a long term sub, at home with our nephews starting from when the youngest was about 4.

This book is very much worth the purchase. It isn't cheesy. It is very well laid out, easy enough for a later elementary student to read and do many experiments, the index is easy to navigate, and this is the kind of experiment book you can pull out and do something in just about 30 min or less (with some of the more complex experiments taking longer).

What a great book! I found it in the bargain bin about a year ago and have been using it weekly ever since. While some experiments require prep work, I can find something on maybe every other page that uses only simple materials I already have in the house (e.g., index card and scissors for one--you can cut it in such a way that makes a huge hoop you can step through, button and string for another about inertia, baking soda and vinegar for the classic "volcano" experiment, glasses and water for a music experiment... plus 726 more--far more than enough to keep you busy for 2 years even if you did one per day). I keep it on the counter and whenever I'm trying to keep my three-year-old busy for a while, we flip through it and find something to do. And I love that I'm teaching her about science and the natural world, even though it just feels like "exploring."

After seeing through the wicked ploy to charge $20 for "magic crystals" in kids' science kits these days, I did a little research. I realized every basic chemical reaction came down to a couple key ingredients and the standard physical experiments included several key materials. I got this book hoping it would deliver the roster of experiments and materials I'd need for elementary science. I was not disappointed.

My kids loved flipping through this book, and I am srurpised how long it held their attention. At first they didn't understand why the experiments were so short--sometimes two per page--but when I explained to them that these were very simple experiments designed for them to do on their own with house stuff, they got it right away. I particularly like how they organize it by topic, and 75% of them are everyday type activities (i.e. no planning or weird things). I am NOT a science guru and I wanted something that my kids could basically do on their own. While some of the experiments are slightly stupid, and a couple are a little too flimsy to illustrate the principle well, I'm overall really happy with the book. Nothing fancy, but the kind of staple I was looking to find.