"Experiments" for the elementary set?

[madteaparty]

Ugh, I'm so not hands on. Lots would be awesome.

DS will be gone most summer and what DD wants to do is "experiments"! She loves coming up with theories and then mixing random ingredients hoping for something magical to happen :)

Any tips for me?

We already have the life stuff like going to the pond, hatching eggs (hopefully!), planting things.

[fralala]

I know a lot of people (wisely) shy away from science kits because they end up taking up closet space and never getting used, and/or not being anything you couldn't hack yourself with a few hands-on science for kids books, BUT they've actually worked well for us. Right now we're working our way through the Science Art Fusion kits, which to my mind don't necessarily contain a whole lot of science OR art (standing alone) but do allow a person like me (who lacks creativity and the space to store supplies) to be somewhat spontaneous and host "Rainbow Science Camp!" or "Bubble Magic Camp!" for my 4 and 7 year olds. They get to do stuff with slime, and blow bubbles, and see things froth, and play with color, and so it's all good summer fun.

Edited April 11, 2017 by fralala

[SoCal_Bear]

Super Science Concoctions is a pretty fun book to do together. You can usually find it at the library.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Science-Concoctions-Mysterious-Williamson/dp/0824968034/ref=sr_1_143?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492149641&sr=1-143&keywords=experiments+kids

 

Candy Experiments is also fun as well. My library has this is circulation.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Candy-Experiments-Loralee-Leavitt/dp/1449418368/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492149719&sr=1-1&keywords=candy+experiments

 

[2_girls_mommy]

Books like Usborne's Science in the kitchen or Science with Water have easy experiments. Can be checked out at library. Simple things with simple instructions. 

[Farrar]

I like this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Science-Experiments-Neil-Ardley/dp/1465428267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492207305&sr=8-1&keywords=dk+101+great+science+experiments

 

It's mostly making little toys and things that demonstrate different scientific principles. Most of them are playful. Some are a bit elaborate, but most of them are pretty simple. I mean, you need materials, but most of them don't call for anything crazy.

 

It's not chemistry though. Honestly, I think physics and biology and earth science have lots of fun elementary things that are hands on... With physics you can play with toys and make things that illustrate basic forces, with biology you can grow and observe and catch things and look under the microscope, with astronomy you can observe things, with geology you can find things, with meteorology you can make tools like your own barometer... but with chemistry... kids envision cool reactions but the science of it is beyond them and there's only so many times you can combine baking soda and vinegar. And only so many times you can blow up balloons with baking soda and vinegar or launch soda bottle rockets with baking soda and vinegar. And nearly everything else you do... isn't *that* much fun or has a lot of hit or miss elements. Like, lemon juice secret writing in the oven? Meh, it works sometimes. When we did elementary chemistry, we did a lot of stuff with water - especially a lot of tricks with hot and cold water and a lot of stuff that used how water likes to dissolve things or water clinging to itself. And then we did a bunch of things about what everything is made up of and looked at the periodic table. But that's not experiments.

 

Oh, there is some candy chemistry stuff. You might try looking up that. We did some of that. But... again... it didn't have the "it blew up!" aspect that kids often wanted.

 

If you wanted to do something "cool" - I've heard MEL Chemistry kits are insane good. But they're also really pricey. And the science seems way before an elementary aged kid.

[KimberlyI]

Janice VanCleave has lots of books:

Biology For Every Kid

Chemistry For Every Kid

Engineering for Every Kid

And Lots more!!

 

Many of the projects could be done with simple materials that don't require that much effort to gather.  The library may have many of the books.  Some experiments paired with interesting books can be a good, easy mix.  

[SilverMoon]

I have one of those. My vote is vote is to get her in the kitchen! Pick something simple like muffins or pancakes and use various recipes to change flavors and types.