Customer Reviews

365 More Simple Science Experiments with Everyday Materials

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My wife got this book when homeschooling and my daughter picked out the motor experiment. We followed the directions but could not get the motor to work. After looking at the design I realized the armature winding was incorrect. The winding must go around the cork in parallel with the axis, not around the axis. Needless to say a child trying to build this would be extremely frustrated. I have a feeling the author did not build all the experiments. The lack of explanation of how the motor works is also a drawback.

The activites in this book are enjoyable for children to perform, but there is very little science taught.

My daughter very much enjoys performing the activities listed, however, I need to heavily supplement the material and description given in order to provide any scientific explaination of what she is doing. Additionally, the scientific method is completely missing from the 'experiments.' The simple activites are prsented in a "do it and observe" form, with no specific idea or result which is tested by the activity.

A good book for entertaining activities, but not for teaching science.

I have got both these books (The first one being 365 Simple Science Experiments with everyday materials) for my kids (aged 8-12) and they find the experiments extremely fun and interesting because they don't need much adult intervention when trying them out , it helped them at school by providing them with a good background of practical science; the kind you encounter everyday but take for granted. It is written for kids, not for adults who then have to explain it to kids. The book covers many scientific concepts to do with physics, time, nature and space.

I would have given this 2.5 stars if possible. This review applies to all the books in this series, not just this particular one. The book's strengths: (1) Truly simple experiments that make science fun and give it a "Wow" factor for children. Everybody can follow the simple instructions in this book. (2) Seeing science done with ordinary objects takes science out of the elite laboratory and puts it into context of everyday life. (3) Even adults can learn so much about how everyday items and phenomena are related to science.

The book's weaknesses: (1) Explanations of the science behind the experiments are too brief and vague. (2) For too many of the experiments the directions are incomplete at best, and sometimes just not adequate at all. The big majority of the experiments will work, but for the several that don't, the teacher/parent is left saying, 'What went wrong?" You can follow all the directions perfectly, but poor directions don't make an experiment work. Sometimes it's an issue of needing more detail, but sometimes it's an issue of the directions themselves not working, no matter how much detail would have been given. For example, the directions for making Rock Candy (to see the shape of sugar crystal growth) are ludicrous. They wouldn't work no matter how hard you tried. But, the directions for making salt crystals are just fine, and we have some beautiful cubic salt crystals to see now.

Overall, I like these books. I'm very glad to have such easy-to-put-together and fun experiments for us to do at home. But...I'm always prepared for something to backfire, I read with a discriminating eye and the benefit of an extensive science background, and if an experiment promises to deliver something "too cool" with simple instructions, I always search the net first.

I am a science teacher and I use this book every year for 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th graders. It helps them learn while enjoying what they are learning. This book can even be used to do demonstrations when introducing a topic to older students.

Just the right sequence to "365 Simple Science Experiments With Everyday Materials". Experiment is slightly more difficult then the mentioned book but much more fun for kids. Sections such as Exploration in Outer Space is outstanding especially with all the buzz around Mars. My daughter won the first prize in Science fair thanks to one of the experiments list in above mentioned book. A must have series if you want to increase you children's interest in Science.

I loved it! The experiments are so much fun! They were interesting and fascinating! A *Must* for any scientific youngster.

I picked up this book to supplement my 6th grade Science curriculum and I feel it is a fabulous find!

This two-volume series is a great introduction to hundreds of simple scientific experiments, each involving modest materials that are easy to find and instructions that are easy to read, accompanied by friendly cartoon illustrations. The series seems to be written for children to read -- a precocious ten-year old should be able to do most of these experiments, although people of all ages will find these activities exciting and fun.

Adults can certainly use this book as a guide for science exploration -- you might want to read ahead and try some experiments in advance, to make sure the instructions make sense and get the intended results. Although the scientific principles are explained in general terms, the book is designed to keep the text to a minimum, so the scientific chatter is perhaps less thorough than some parents or teachers might like... If it's important, you can research the principles elsewhere had prepare more in-depth explanations using other sources of information. For the most part, though, these books are pretty brilliantly planned: the experiments are easy to reproduce and the scientific principles are mostly pretty self-evident. We've had a lot of fun using these books, and I'm sure you will as well... Highly recommended! (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)